Math 308 Section A SPRING 1997
LINEAR ALGEBRA WITH APPLICATIONS
Instructor: Jim Burke
Phone: 543-6183 E-Mail: burke@math.washington.edu
Office: C-421 Padelford Hours: MWF 1:45-2:35
Pre-Requisites: Math 124--6 & by appointment

Text:

Johnson, Riess, and Arnold, Introduction to Linear Algebra, Third Edition, Addison--Wesley, New York, 1993.

Study Sessions:

Mondays and Wednesday, 2:30 - 4:30 in THO 135. These study sessions are self directed and are open to any student taking 300 or 400 level mathematics classes.

Course Content:

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.

Grading:

Quizzes: There are 8 15--minute quizzes each worth 50 points. The quizzes are given each Friday except May 2 and 23. The quizzes cover the homework of the previous week. The potential content of the quiz will be announced the Wednesday before the quiz. Each quiz will contain one vocabulary word to which you are to provide the definition plus one or two questions directly from the assigned homework. Only the top 6 of your quiz scores count toward your grade.

Midterms: There are two midterms: Monday, April 28 and Wednesday, May 21. The first midterm covers the material from Chapter 1 while the second covers the material in Chapter 2. Each midterm is worth 200 points. Sample midterms will be given before each exam.

Final Exam: The final exam is given on Tuesday, June 10 from 8:30am to 10:20am. The final exam is comprehensive and covers material from the first three chapters of the text. The final exam is worth 300 points.

Final Grade: The total number of possible points is 1000:

300 quiz points + 400 midterm points + 300 final exam points = 1000 points.
Your final grade will be based on these points. One class curve is computed after the final exam has been scored.

Time Conflicts with an Exam:

There will be no make-up exam except in the case of a documented emergency. In the event of an unavoidable conflict with a midterm (an athletic meet, wedding, funeral, etc...), you must notify me at least 1.5 weeks before the date of the exam so that we can arrange for you to take the exam BEFORE the actual exam date. In the event of an unavoidable conflict with the final exam, you will need to submit a written petition for this purpose to me by Friday, May 16.

Incomplete:

A grade of Incomplete will be given only if a student is doing satisfactory work up until the end of the quarter, and then misses the final exam due to a documented medical or family emergency.

Important Dates:

Holidays: Memorial Day, Monday, May 26.

Quiz Dates: April 4, 11, 18, 25: May 9, 16, 30: June 6.

Midterm Dates: Monday, April 28 and Wednesday, May 21.

Final Exam: Tuesday, June 10, 8:30--10:20am.

Studying:

I expect that you will spend about 2 hours of study time for each hour of class time. That is, you should be spending about 6 hours a week studying for this course in addition to the time spent in class. Of course, some students will need more and some less.

It is advised that you form study groups as soon as possible. Study groups have several advantages: (i) you can practice and learn how to solve more problems in less time (doing as many problems as possible is the key to success), (ii) the best way to really learn something is to explain it to someone else (misunderstandings that you never knew you had come to light under someone else's questioning), (iii) no two people solve the same problem the same way, in a group you may discover new and more efficient ways to solve the same problem, (iv) seeing that others also struggle with this material helps to put your own level of understanding in a better perspective and will hopefully reduce some of your anxiety, (v) in making the homework assignments, I assume that you will be working in groups.

Tentative Daily Schedule

Week of MondayWednesdayFriday
3/31 1.1 1.1, 1.2 1.2, 1.3, Quiz 1
4/7 1.3, 1.4 1.4 1.5, Quiz 2
4/14 1.6 1.7 1.8, Quiz 3
4/21 1.10 1.11 review, Quiz 4
4/28 First Midterm 2.1, 2.2 2.2, 2.3
5/5 2.3, 2.4 2.4 2.5, Quiz 5
5/12 2.5, 2.6 2.6, 2.7 2.7, Quiz 6
5/19 review Second Midterm 3.1, 3.2
5/26 Memorial Day 3.3 3.4, Quiz 7
6/2 3.5 3.8 3.8, Quiz 8