Instructor: Ali Mostafazadeh (Office: SCI-154, Office hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:00 & 13:00-13:30)

Textbook: ‘Linear Algebra Done Right,’ S. Axler Second Edition (Springer, New York, 2002)

Topics to be covered:

            1. Vector spaces, subspaces, their sums and direct sums (Chapter 1)

            2. Finite-dimensional real and complex vector spaces (Chapter 2)

            3. Linear maps between vector spaces (Chapter 3)

            4. Eigenvalue problem (Chapter 5)

            5. Inner product spaces (Chapter 6)

            6. Linear operators between inner product spaces, self-adjoint, normal, and positive operators, the spectral theorem (Chapter 7)

            7. Generalized eigenvectors, minimal polynomials, and Jordan decomposition (Chapter 8)

            8. Basis transformations, trace, and the determinant (Chapter 10, These topics will or will not be covered depending on the progress of the class.)

Evaluation method: The students’ progress will be evaluated according to their performance in four quizzes (10% each), two midterm exams (20% each), and a term-paper (20%). Quizzes will be held during the PS hours and will take up to 50 minutes. They will include one or more of the suggested exercise problems which will be posted in the webpage of Math 320 regularly.

Attendance & Bonus: The students are required to attend the classes and PSs. At the end of the semester, a total of n bonus points will be added to the students’ average grade in the quizzes, if they attend 15+n lectures.

Make-ups: The first midterm exam given after a missed quiz will serve as the make-up for the latter. A make-up exam will be given for the missed midterm exams On Monday, May 25. Students requesting a make-up should arrange for a valid medical report or an official letter from one of the deans explaining why they did not take a quiz or an exam.

Auditing students: In order to get an AU in this course, a student must attend at least 20 lectures.

Suggested Method of Study: Students are advised to study the material covered in class immediately after the lectures. Reading the lecture notes and the book is necessary for grasping the subject, but it is by no means sufficient. The students must try to reproduce the results derived in class and solve the related problems on their own. They are expected to spend an average of six hours per week on studying the material covered in class in addition to the time they need to spend on the term-paper.