W Stephen Wilson email: wsw@math.jhu.edu
Textbook: Linear Algebra, 4th edition, Friedberg, Insel and Spence. ISBN 0-13-008451-4
Monday, Wednesday, 1:30-2:45, Krieger 308. Section, Friday, 1:30, Krieger 308.
Office hours are Monday, 2:45-3:45. However, the way this works is I'll be there for the first 15 minutes, and if no one comes, I'll feel free to leave unless someone has emailed me and told me they are coming but won't be there in the first 15 minutes.
Your TA is Kalina Mincheva, and her office hours are Thursday 2-3pm in Krieger 411.
In addition, you should all know about the math department help room that is open nearly all day and most evenings during the week. It is in Krieger 213. Your TA will be there in the help room on Wednesdays, 3-5pm.
Linear algebra videos relevant to the course. These will be updated all during the semester.
The Honors Linear Algebra course is designed for students with the mindset of a math major even if the student is not majoring in math. It is for students who have self selected because they are brighter, harder working, and more motivated. In particular, they are happy to be free to learn. The prerequisites are 113, Calc II, or a 5 on the AP BC exam.
Students are expected to make the transition to proving things in this course if they have not already made that transition. Few will have done this already. It is a great introduction to proving things because everything in the course is simultaneously geometric and algebraic. Great material, and you use linear algebra in nearly every math, science, and engineering course you take.
The transition to proving things is a difficult one, but the course will be fast paced. It is best for students to keep an eye on the regular linear algebra course so they can drop down to it if it looks like the honors course will not go well.
The first few minutes of class on Monday (at exactly 1:30) will be for a short test to determine if you have read the material. It will not test your understanding, just whether or not you read it and paid some minimal attention to it. This will count as 20% of your grade.
On random Mondays after the brief quiz on whether or not you have read the material, there will be another quiz. It will be a problem that was on a previous handed in problem set. These quizzes, even if very few of them, will count for 20% of the grade.
After the test, I will give a short lecture explaining what was really important in the material you read.
On Mondays, the reading will be assigned for the quiz for the next Monday, and this material will also have a homework assignment that will be due in Section on Friday of the following week. That's 11 days for homework. No excuses for late homework. Do it early if it is going to be a problem.
The rest of class time will be discussion. In particular, we can work on the homework problems in class.
Homework will be the other 60% of the grade. We can talk about the homework in class, endlessly if desired. Students can talk about the homework outside of class and in class. They can work on the homework together. In the end, students must write up the homework by themselves in their own words. If students appear to have "shared" the writing duties, they will also share the points for the homework (i.e. for two students, 30 points on a homework will give each 15 points). If this class format breaks down for any reason, we will revert to regular midterm tests and there will be a different formula for grades.
The second quiz discussed above will act as a check on how effective group work is.
I will give you your class standing every week. Students in the bottom half of the class will be required to attend class and if they don't, their grade will suffer significantly.
The draft syllabus, subject to, but not likely to, change.
Mon, Jan 28, first class. Reading assignment # 1 (and homework on) Chapter 1, Sections 1-4. (Homework # 1 due Fri, in section, Feb 8.)
Mon, Feb 4: Quiz # 1 (on 1.1-4). Reading assignment # 2 (and homework on) Chapter 1, Sections 5-6. (Homework # 2 due Fri, in section, Feb 15.)
Mon, Feb 11: Quiz # 2 (on 1.5-6). Reading assignment # 3 (and homework on) Chapter 2, Sections 1-3. (Homework # 3 due Fri, in section, Feb 22.)
Mon, Feb 18: Quiz # 3 (on 2.1-3). Reading assignment # 4 (and homework on) Chapter 2, Sections 4-6. (Homework # 4 due Fri, in section, Mar 1.)
Mon, Feb 25: Quiz # 4 (on 2.4-6). Reading assignment # 5 (and homework on) Chapter 3, Sections 1-3. (Homework # 5 due Fri, in section, Mar 8.)
Mon, Mar 4: Quiz # 5 (on 3.1-3). Reading assignment # 6 (and homework on) Chapter 3, Section 4 and Chapter 4, Section 5 (skim 4.1-4). (Homework # 6 due Fri, in section, Mar 15.)
Mon, Mar 11, Quiz # 6 (on 3.4 and 4.5). Reading assignment # 7 (and homework on) Chapter 5, Sections 1-2. (Homework # 7 due Fri, in section, Mar 29.)
Mon, Mar 25: Quiz # 7 (on 5.1-2). Reading assignment # 8 (and homework on) Chapter 5, Section 4 and Chapter 6, Section 1. (Homework # 8 due Fri, in section, Apr 5.)
Mon, Apr 1: Quiz # 8 (on 5.4 and 6.1). Reading assignment # 9 (and homework on) Chapter 6, Sections 2-3. (Homework # 9 due Fri, in section, Apr 12.)
Mon, Apr 8: Quiz # 9 (on 6.2-3). Reading assignment # 10 (and homework on) Chapter 7, Section 1. (Homework # 10 due Fri, in section, Apr 19.)
Mon, Apr 15: Quiz # 10 (on 7.1). Reading assignment # 11 (and homework on) Chapter 7, Sections 2-3. (Homework # 11 due Fri, in section, Apr 26.)
Mon, Apr 22: Quiz # 11 (on 7.2-3). Reading assignment # 12 (and homework on) Chapter 7, Section 4. (Homework # 12 due Fri, in section, May 3.)
Mon, Apr 29: Quiz # 12 (on 7.4). No reading or homework assigned. Last week of class. Final homework due that Friday. Some material not covered will be discussed.