# John Jones - MAT 442

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## MAT 442

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• 12/5 Final exam scores and course grades are available above. The high score on the final was 105.
• 11/19 The material for the final exam consists of the sections we covered from Chapters 1-5, Sections 7.1-7.3, and Section 6.1.
• 11/15 The last day of class will be reserved for a question/answer session related to the final, so bring questions.
• 11/15 Next week, office hours are cancelled on Wed, Nov 21.
• 11/15 The results of test 2 are available above. The high score was 96, and the median was 66.
• 11/14 Here are solutions for test 2.
• 11/6 Here are scans of homework problems for 7.1, 7.2, 7.3. In some cases, you may need to rotate the pdf, but it should then be readable.
• 11/1 Here are the files used today in class with gp, one which mainly has examples used for Jordan canonical form examples, and one we didn't actually use but which computes reduced row echelon form of a matrix (rre(m) where m is a matrix.

To use these, know that row vectors are written as [1,2,3], a column vector as [1;2;3], and a matrix as [1,2,3;4,5,6;7,8,9] (rows are separated by semicolons). The first file has a function so that this same matrix can be produced with makemat([[1,2,3],[4,5,6],[7,8,9]]).

• 10/31 Test 2 is coming up. It will cover the sections we covered in the range 2.4-5.4.
• 10/17 As announced in class, we will go from Chapter 5 to Chapter 7, and then finish with Chapter 6.
• 10/9 Scores for test 1 are available above. The high score is 117 and the median score was 56.
• 10/3 Here are solutions for test 1.
• 9/26 Here is the promised handout on the direct formula for the determinant of a matrix. It is provided if people are interested, but it is not a required part of the course. Since it is not part of the course, it cannot be used in homework or on exams.
• 9/20 Here is a solution to problem 16 from section 2.3. The password to access solutions will be e-mailed to the class.
• 9/19 Test 1 is coming up soon. It will cover through section 2.3. Test questions will be of the following types:
• Defining terms (e.g. Null space of a linear transformation) and stating theorems (e.g., State the dimension theorem)
• Proving theorems from the course (e.g., Prove that a finite spanning set for a vector space contains a basis). These could include homework problems from the course.
• Proofs of statements you haven't seen before. These are like homework problems, but not the same problems.
• Short answer questions which ask if something is true or not, and give a brief reason why it is true or a counterexample showing it is false (e.g. for the statement "for all n by n matrices A and B, AB=BA").
• 9/17 The 77th Annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition will take place on Saturday, December 1, 2018. This 6-hour, 12-problem competition features problems which require creativity in addition to mathematical knowledge to solve. Anyone who is interested in signing up for this competition ("the Putnam Exam") should contact Christopher Heckman (christopher.heckman@asu.edu) before October 8. Futher information can be found at https://math.asu.edu/putnam
• 9/17 SoMSS has Instructional Aide opportunities, working in the classroom for 100 level classes, for qualified students. The requirements are at least one semester of calculus and a GPA in mathematics (this includes statistics) of at least 3.5. We frequently have openings during the semester, so we accept applications at all time. Time commitment can be as little as 4 hr/wk. If interested, you can apply online http://math.la.asu.edu/~gia

• 9/12 Today's office hours will be just 1:35-2:30. I have to teach a class for another faculty member during the first part of the normal office hours.
• 8/19 Several students have asked what edition we will be using we will be using. It is the current edition, which is teh 4th.
• 8/5 The definition of field pdf, and of vector space pdf to be used in class.
MAT 442 studies theorems and proofs in linear algebra. The first part of the course deals with concepts which have been introduced in prior linear algebra courses, such as MAT 342 or MAT 343. These include vector spaces, span and linear independence, bases, dimension, linear transformations, matricies, determinants, and inner products. Note, methods of computation are studied in other courses. As a result, facility with proofs is the most important skill a student can bring to this course.

The second part of the course covers material which may be new: dual spaces, cyclic subspaces, the Cayley-Hamilton theorem, normal operators and orthogonal diagonalization, quadratic forms, Jordan canonical form, and the minimum polynomial of an operator.

• Exams:
• Test 1: October 2
• Test 2: November 13
• Final: December 4
• Office hours: Wednesdays 12:00-1:30 and by appointment
• ASU Student Code of Conduct, especially F1 and G.
• ASU policy on rescheduling final exams: ACD 304-01
• ASU policy on missed classes.
Last Update: December 5, 2018