Re: linear algebra question

On 2009-08-22, fishfry <BLOCKSPAMfishfry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article
<68e41af1-49ec-4921-9696-99833c0687e4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
genericaudioperson <genericaudioperson@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hello,

After taking calculus III, it seemed to me that the main part of the
course was multiple integration with volumes, surface integrals, etc.
There were other topics, but that seemed to be the gravitational
center of the course. I could throw out a topic such as linear
approximation, and not feel like I missed the entire point of the
course. If multiple integration was discarded, it would seem that the
main part of the course was removed.

For linear algebra, what is the main part of the course? Is it
determinants, linear transformations, eigenvalues, LU factorization,
something else? Now, there are obvious introduction computations such
as solving basic nxn systems for unknowns, finding inverses of
matrices, etc. But once you know how the basics work, what theme
seems to best represent the main idea of linear algebra?

Thank you.

Depends on the orientation of the course. For math majors, the concept
of a vector spaces and linear transformations between them are extremely
important. For engineers, the use of invertible matrices to solve
systems of linear equations is probably more useful.

If an engineer wants to solve a system of linear equations she will not be
interested in the inverse of the matrix. Ask Google.


--
Maarten Bergvelt
.

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