Time: | 12:30-2:00 TuTh (0501) or 2:00-3:15 TuTh
(0601) |
|
Room: | MTH 0103 | |
Instructor: | H. King | |
Office: | MTH 3111 (301) 405-5132 | |
Office Hours: | 11-12:30 Tu and 10-11:30 Th or by appointment | |
Course web page: | www.math.umd.edu/~hck/461.html |
This course will present the main concepts and terminology of linear algebra that play an essential role in science and engineering. For example, linear algebra is used in signal processing, control systems engineering, structural analysis, large-scale computations, robotics, computer graphics, physics, and environmental science.
Texts | Order of Topics | Exams |
WebCT | Online Quizzes | Homework |
Tutor Center | MATLAB | Grading |
Schedule of Lectures and Quizzes |
Texts: | Lay, Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 3rd ed., Addison-Wesley, 2003. |
Lay, Study Guide, 3rd ed., Addison-Wesley, 2003. Recommended. | |
The Student Edition of MATLAB, Version 7, Prentice-Hall, 2002. Recommended. |
Chapter | Topic | Sections | # Lectures |
1 | Linear Equations in Linear Algebra | 1.1 - 1.5, 1.7 - 1.9 | 5 |
2 | Matrix Algebra | 2.1 - 2.5 | 3 |
3 | Determinents | 3.1 - 3.3 | 1 |
4 | Vector Spaces and Linear Transformations |
4.1 - 4.7 |
4 1/2 |
5 | Eigenvalues | 5.1 - 5.5, 5.7 | 5 1/2 |
6 | Inner Products, Orthogonality and Least Squares | 6.1 - 6.5, 6.7- 6.8 |
4 |
7 | Symmetric Matrices and Quadratic Forms | 7.1, 7.2, 7.4 | 3 |
Total: 26 Lectures |
Exams: | Hour Exams: Feb. 24 (Tu), April 15 (Th) | Half Hour Mini Exams: March 18 (Th), May 6 (Th) |
Final Exams: | (0501) Tuesday. May 18, 1:30-3:30 PM | (0601) Monday, May 17, 10:30-12:30 PM |
WebCT: These sections of MATH 461 are one of nearly 300 courses that are using the WebCT course management program at the University of Maryland this semester. It provides a means of communication between instructors and students, and ties the courses into the Internet and the University's registration and record systems. You have been assigned an account on the University's WebCT course page: www.courses.umd.edu. To login to WebCT, click on myWebCT@Maryland. Your WebCT space has a copy of this syllabus, a daily lecture schedule, and a tentative list of homework assignments. Additional information, such as review sheets and sample exams, will be added during the semester. For help with WebCT (including a student manual), go to the web site and click on Student Resources.
Quizzes:
An important use of WebCT will be to administer online open-book
quizzes, to help you learn the course material. Most quiz questions can
be answered by reading the text carefully, word by word. Taking these
quizzes will help you develop study skills that are essential for
success in this and subsequent mathematics courses. By the end of the
course, anonymous students evaluations typically give the quiz system
high ratings.
Quiz Organization
The schedule of lectures shows the tentative date each
quiz is to be completed and identifies the text section on which the
quiz is based. Usually, each quiz is available on WebCT any time
between 2:00 on the day of the lecture and 2:00 on the day of the next
lecture.
Usually there will be one quiz to take in the time period 2:00 Tu -
2:00 Th, and two quizzes to take in the time period 2:00 Th - 2:00 Tu.
Most quizzes will consist of five questions: true/false questions or
multiple choice questions that ask you to decide whether a certain
statement is always true, sometimes true, or never true.
Taking a Quiz
You should read the text carefully before starting a quiz, and
keep your text open for reference while taking the quiz. Once you start
a quiz, you will have twenty minutes in which to complete it.
(Typically, students spend between five and ten minutes on a quiz.) If
your internet connection fails, sign on again immediately in order to
complete the quiz within the 20 minutes. Most quizzes will consist of
five questions: true/false questions or multiple choice questions
(which ask you to decide whether a certain statement is always true,
sometimes true, or never true). After you read each question, select an
answer and "save" it. You may change an answer and resave it at any
time until you press Finish. After that, press Display
Results. WebCT will grade your quiz and display the results, with
comments about each question.
Honor System
The quizzes are conducted on the honor system. No two students
will have exactly the same quiz, but the questions will be similar and
cover the same basic material. You should have your book open for
reference, but you must not communicate with any other person about the
quiz while taking the quiz. Also, you should not look at any other
student's quiz before taking your own quiz.
Getting Started
To help you learn the quiz system, you may take each of the first
two quizzes two times each, with only the higher scores counted. In
WebCT, click the "Quiz and Survey" button. Some quizzes will be course
surveys instead of tests of knowledge. They have the same format
as a quiz and
count as a quiz, but are anonymous.
Grading
Each quiz and survey counts 5 points. (The points for a survey
will be added manually about one week later to the student quiz
grades.) A few quizzes have a bonus question that allows a possible
score of 6 points. Makeup quizzes will not be given, but some
of your lowest quiz grades will be dropped from the final "quiz" total.
[In
previous linear algebra courses, the quiz grades have been somewhat
higher than the averages of the four hour exams, so the quiz scores
tend to help most students.]
Problems
Occasionally, a student feels that a quiz is worded or graded
incorrectly. If this happens to you, you may write to the instructor (hking@math.umd.edu). Please make a copy of the quiz
question and answer from your screen, and paste this into your email.
Explain what you think might be wrong with the quiz question or answer.
If there is an error, your grade on this question will be adjusted, and
all other students who had this same question will be treated in the
same way. (This situation occurred more often during the early
semesters of using WebCT, but it still could happen to a few of the
newer quiz questions now.) IMPORTANT: To receive a
response to your email, you must include your course name and section
number (MATH461-0501 or MATH461-0601) in the message header. Your
student name should
be in the text message, of course.
Homework:
Success in the course is highly correlated with regular attendance and
punctual completion of homework. Homework will be assigned each day, to
be completed before the next class meeting. Students m
be selected at random to explain their solutions to problems.
Tutor Center:
If you have questions about the text or exercises in the text, you can
get detailed help from a Tutor Center provided by the textbook
publisher. Help with MATLAB for this course is also available. The
Tutor Center is staffed by qualified college instructors (with a Ph.D.
or M.A. degree in math or science) from 5 pm to midnight, on Sunday
through Thursday. You may call 1-888-777-0463 to speak with a tutor, or
you may send your questions by email to tutor@aw.com.
Each telephone call to the Center is limited to fifteen minutes, but
you can make up to three calls a night.
For more information, go to http://www.aw.com/tutorcenter
and click on Student Information. If you have
both a phone and an internet connection, you can call the Center and
make an appointment for an interactive online conference with a tutor.
For details, go to the Tutor Center website and click on Interactive Web.
The first time you contact the Tutor Center,
you will need to supply the following information: (1) the textbook
ISBN number (0-201-70970-8), and (2) a registration number (found on
the white card inside The Tutor Center envelope that came with your
textbook). If you bought a used text, you can use a credit card to
purchase a registration number from the Tutor Center.
MATLAB:
We will be using MATLAB routinely throughout the course—in the
classroom, for homework, and for special assignments, discussed below.
MATLAB is available in all WAM labs and on the GLUE system. You will
need either a WAM account or a Glue account. In addition, you may wish
to purchase a student version of the program.
Each MATLAB assignment will contain a brief
explanantion of the MATLAB commands you will need to complete the
assignment. If you feel the need of more infromation there are
many books available. For example, the optional Study Guide
contains all you need
to know about using MATLAB. An "Introduction to MATLAB" is in the first
appendix in the Guide, followed by an index of useful commands.
At appropriate points in the course, the Guide also explains
how to use special MATLAB programs that have been designed for this
course.
You may work on the MATLAB assignments singly
or in a group of two or
three students. Each group should submit one set of answers, including
an edited diary of the MATLAB calculations (or a script file plus
output). The first page of an assignment should show the names of the
group members, the date, and the assignment description. Late
assignments might not be accepted, but if accepted will have the grade
reduced. MATLAB problems should be started soon after being
assigned, to allow sufficient time to solve technology problems that
might arise. Claiming to have difficulty with technology that is used
at the last possible moment is not a sufficient reason to avoid a
penalty for late submission of an assignment.
Grading: Your final grade will be based on a point total probably with some sort of curve. There will be 700 points as follows: The final exam is 200 points. Exams 1 and 3 are 100 points each and exams 2 and 4 are 50 points each, but 50 points worth of your worst exam is dropped, to make a total of 250 points for the four exams. Quizzes will be scaled to count a total of 100 points. There will be no makeup quizzes but some of your lowest quizzes will be dropped. Matlab projects will count a total of 150 points.
You may send any comments or questions to H. King: hking@math.umd.edu. Please include
the course name and section (MATH461-0501 or MATH461-0601) in the
message header.
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Last Revised: January 29, 2004