Re: good text for linear algebra?

In article <d4p1bh$ut2$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, mk <mk@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Can someone suggest a good text book for linear algebra? One suggestion
> made to me was "Linear algebra done right" by Sheldon Axler.

Ouch! I guess it depends on why your students are learning linear
algebra...

My only experience with "Linear Algebra Done Right":

I was teaching our honors differential equations course. The previous
term they studied linear algebra. So we discussed linear differential
equations, linear independence of solutions, Wronskians. At one point
I said: "This system of linear equations can be solved by Cramer's
Rule." After class one of the students informed me that none of the
students in the class had ever heard of Cramer's Rule. I found that
hard to believe. So I find out what text they used the previous
quarter. Yes, indeed, it was "Linear Algebra Done Right". I got a
copy of the book to check. No mention of Cramer's Rule. In fact, not
even any mention of determinants until the last 20 pages of the book.
So in the end I gave the differential equations class some exercises on
determinants and Cramer's Rule. Now, whether linear algebra had been
done "right" I cannot say, but at least it was not done well enough for
applying linear algebra to subsequent courses...

--
G. A. Edgar http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/~edgar/
.

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