http://www.math.columbia.edu/~bayer/F22/LinearAlgebra
Section 001
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:40am - 9:55am
328 Milbank Hall (Barnard)
Section 002
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:10am - 11:25am
328 Milbank Hall (Barnard)
Dave Bayer
Office Hours
dbayer@barnard.edu
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There will be a Zoom problem session on Wednesday, December 14, 2pm EST. The Zoom link is available on our CourseWorks page.
Including our final, there will be a total of three exams. Course grades will be determined by these exams and graded homework:
Exams will be in-class. Makeup exams will be only be given under exceptional circumstances.
Both final exams are in Milstein LL002, where we have nice desks and room to spread out.
I receive emails at both dbayer@barnard.edu and bayer@math.columbia.edu.
In general, one should use a work email address for work communications. In college, you should write professors using your university email address. Otherwise your message could be classified as spam, and go unread. If your university email address is not your uni, then please include your uni in your message.
In my case, I use Sanebox to prioritize my email, and I’ve whitelisted Barnard and Columbia email addresses to give them top priority.
Each homework set consists of ten practice exam problems. The first two sets are due the day of our first two exams. The third set is due on the last Study Day.
Homework completed on paper may be handed in using the homework box for your section, across from 410 Mathematics. You have until the end of each exam date to submit homework. Please don’t ask to submit homework in class or at an exam; I do not visit the homework box, and it will get lost.
Homework completed digitally (such as on a tablet) may be uploaded via the Assignments tab on CourseWorks. You may also scan and upload your homework, using a scanner or a scanner app, or print out your homework and hand in the paper. We will not accept camera photos.
Our classes will normally be held in person. We will use Zoom meetings only as necessary.
The Zoom Class Sessions tab on CourseWorks gives a link for joining our Zoom sessions. Our two sections are combined on Courseworks, so this link is the same for both sections. All Zoom sessions will be recorded for later viewing. In-person classes are not recorded.
I will make an email announcement if it becomes necessary to use Zoom meetings for our classes.
Assistance with linear algebra is available from the Columbia Help Room. Here is its current schedule.
I will include information here about our teaching assistants and preceptors once they are assigned.
This page hosts PDF files from this semester and previous semesters:
In Fall 2016, Columbia Disability Services videotaped my linear algebra course:
Here are some resources others have found helpful:
Linear Algebra with Applications (Classic Version), 5th Edition, by Otto Bretscher. Pearson, 2019. ISBN-13: 9780135162972 (Print), 9780321916914 (eText). Columbia University Bookstore, Amazon, or Addall. Other options can be found by internet search.
The most recent edition of Bretscher is the text required by our department for Linear Algebra.
Homework assignments are distributed as PDF files. They will serve as exam preparation, and are not taken from Bretscher. Therefore, I will have no direct way of knowing which edition, if any, of Bretscher that you obtain. Students have found many alternative resources online that serve their needs, supplementing or replacing this text.
I nevertheless urge you to read as much linear algebra as possible. To have confidence in your understanding, you need to be able to decipher references to linear algebra in more advanced textbooks, after our course. My examinations test your computational abilities; I aim to provide an intuitive grasp of theory that makes sense of these computations. To be able to easily read linear algebra later, one needs to practice reading linear algebra now. I have no practical way to test that you have been reading linear algebra; this is your responsibility.
Here are photographs of our blackboards from class:
October 11, 2022 is the last day to drop a class, for Barnard, Columbia College, General Studies, Arts, GSAS, and Professional Studies. Check with your school’s academic calendar to confirm the dates that apply to you.
University Academic Calendar
Barnard Academic Calendar
Final Exam Schedules
Barnard Classrooms
Alternate Side Parking (religious holidays)
This calendar gives our schedule of classes and exams:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 5 Sep | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 12 Sep | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 19 Sep | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 26 Sep | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 3 Oct | 4 Exam 1 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 10 Oct | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 17 Oct | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 24 Oct | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 31 Oct | 1 Nov | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 7 Nov | 8 | 9 | 10 Exam 2 | 11 |
| 14 Nov | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 21 Nov | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 28 Nov | 29 | 30 | 1 Dec | 2 |
| 5 Dec | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 12 Dec | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 Final |
| 19 Dec | 20 | 21 | 22 Final | 23 |