Math 308 is an introductory linear algebra course. The course is based on the first three chapters of the text. This course stresses some difficult abstract ideas in concrete form (e.g., linear independence and dependence, subspaces), but a substantial amount of time is also spent on examples of applications of linear algebra.
Matlab is a programming language that is ideally suited to investigating concrete linear algebra problems. We will not be using this language in this course. However, if you intend to pursue a degree in engineering or the sciences, then it is advised that you learn this language at your earliest convenience. After taking this course, getting started in Matlab takes about one half hour of your time if you have any prior programming experience at all. Below I have provided links to postscript files for a Matlab primer and a Matlab 4 user update. Matlab 5 has just been released and should be available on University machines before the end of the term.