
Jim Hefferon's Linear Algebra: A free textbook with fascinating applications - hhm
http://www.randomhacks.net/articles/2007/03/07/hefferon-linear-algebra-review
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rkowalick
I prefer books that are much the opposite, like Priciples of Mathematical
Analysis. I like to fill in the gaps in terse presentations and poke around on
the internet for applications and other things. A good professor, however, can
make any book a good one.

I had a teacher last year that used Artin's Algebra. He made a game out of the
massive amount of typos and errors:

Show that question X is false as stated. Give the correct hypothesis and prove
the new theorem.

How can we strengthen question Y?

On page ABC, what is the error in the proof of such and such. How can it be
fixed?

Honestly, any good professor can make even the worst of books enjoyable.

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plinkplonk
"I prefer books that are much the opposite, like Priciples of Mathematical
Analysis"

Can you recommend a similar book for Linear Algebra? (terse comprehensive
rigorous).

Thanks in advance,

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antigravity
(1) Axler's "Linear Algebra Done Right"

...a nice introduction to abstract linear algebra, but not quite abstract or
terse enough.

(2) These course notes:
<http://www.math.mcgill.ca/goren/AlgebraII07-08/AlgebraII.htm>

...good, though the duality section is a bit lacking. Riesz Representation
Theorem FTW!

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charlesju
I hated math in college, I never thought that any math past basic Algebra
would ever be used again in my life. But as I progressed further in Computer
Science, I learned that if anything, Linear Algebra is involved in so many
cool fields; AI, Graphics, Searching, etc.

My biggest regret in college was not learning linear algebra as well as I
should have, thanks for the great link.

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yummyfajitas
It looks like a nice book. My only criticism after a quick skim is that it
seems to neglect stability issues (condition numbers, etc). I realize that
that is technically linear analysis (and nearly all textbooks neglect it), but
it still belongs in any intro book.

He touches on it slightly on page 68, but inadequately in my view. The issue
is not that it's hard to program, but that the problem of ill-conditioned
matrices is fundamentally hard.

Nevertheless, I like this book. I'll strongly consider using it in the event I
teach linear algebra.

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kqr2
My favorite text on Linear Algebra is Gilbert Strang's _Linear Algebra and Its
Applications_ although the current edition is ridiculously expensive:

[http://www.amazon.com/Linear-Algebra-Applications-Gilbert-
St...](http://www.amazon.com/Linear-Algebra-Applications-Gilbert-
Strang/dp/0030105676/)

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jimbokun
I managed to find an older version of the book, but somehow still unused, for
a much lower price. I haven't found anything missing yet that I really need to
know. I'm sure Linear Algebra as a field of knowledge has advanced a lot in
that time, but the basics are still the basics.

I bought it because I checked several Linear Algebra books out from the
university library, including an even older version of Strang's, and found
that I liked it far more than the rest. Good transitioning between motivation,
explanation, proofs, and examples for each topic. Also, it follows the on-line
Strang lectures.

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dylan
Always interesting to see if someone can write a great linear algebra book. I
like Axler's "Linear Algebra Done Right" [1] because he puts off the
determinant until it's clear why you want to define such a map. That the book
continually treats the case when your field is the complex numbers slows
things down at times, though.

[1] <http://linear.axler.net>

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davo11
Looks a good book. Would any readers know of a good book on more advanced
linear algebar particularly all things eigen - eigenvalues eigenfunctions and
so on theory and application, but not just lists of theorems (much like the
recommended book)

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dangoldin
Thanks. I'll take a look as soon I have time.

The direct links for the book:
ftp://joshua.smcvt.edu/pub/hefferon/book/book.pdf

The direct link for the answers:
ftp://joshua.smcvt.edu/pub/hefferon/book/jhanswer.pdf

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manny
Looking at the Table of Contents it seems fairly decent.

The most helpful Linear Algebra book I have used is Linear Algebra by
Friendberg, Insel, and Spence.

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Dilpil
It's a beautiful thing, linear algebra.

