
Strang's “Linear Algebra and Learning from Data” is printed and available - gballan
http://math.mit.edu/~gs/learningfromdata/
======
ultrasounder
_Execution of a determinant_. [0]

Always love it when a professor can bring in some comic relief in the midst of
a very heavy math topic. The students seem to enjoy it. I am self-teaching
myself background math for preparing me to the likes of PRML-Bishop, and I
wholeheartedly recommend his Linear algebra course available on MIT
Courseware[1] coupled with his book[2]

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amv58LCqCMI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amv58LCqCMI)
[1] [https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-
algebra...](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-algebra-
spring-2010/) [2] [https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Linear-Algebra-
Gilbert-S...](https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Linear-Algebra-Gilbert-
Strang/dp/0980232775/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1547067005&sr=1-5&keywords=linear+algebra)

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a-dub
I've never seen his lectures, but I've used one of his books for a course and
have leafed through another.

I have to be honest, I never have understood why everyone loves his texts so
much. I always felt that they were lacking in practical applications (even the
Linear Algebra with Applications version) and that a lot of the ideas were not
immediately clear when presented in his writing style. It often seemed that
ideas and definitions would be thrown out with not much connection to _why_
they were interesting. (Although I suppose this can be said of many math
courses).

I suppose the thing is, with this stuff, there are lots of really interesting
applications. I think I would have preferred something that started with the
applications and then worked backwards. Maybe this book is an improvement? I'd
like to check it out.

The exercises also didn't seem particularly enlightening, I just remember
doing lots of rote things like LU factorization by doing Gauss elimination by
hand.

~~~
gballan
Perhaps "Computational Science and Engineering" is a better fit for you?

[http://math.mit.edu/~gs/cse/](http://math.mit.edu/~gs/cse/)

~~~
a-dub
That book looks great! Also his writing style is different!

I will note, however, that I really like the fact that the new book has a
chapter on compressed sensing. I feel like that was the thing that was always
lacking when I was in school. It was like "ok, I get the idea of new bases,
now what are some cool ones and how do they tie together." Occasionally
someone would throw me a paper on compressed sensing or PCA/SVD or spectral
decomposition, but I always felt like I wanted to see a class/book that tied
them all together.

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ngmc
Ordered my copy a few days ago after learning about it from a talk at
JuliaCon[0]. It's been a decade since I took linear algebra, so I'm also
reviewing Prof. Strang's basic course[1]. What an amazing teacher.

[0] [https://youtu.be/gGYcSjrqbjc](https://youtu.be/gGYcSjrqbjc)

[1] [https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06sc-linear-
algeb...](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06sc-linear-algebra-
fall-2011/)

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jimbokun
Just from the title, this is a book I want to buy.

I had to rapidly teach myself Linear Algebra to get through some machine
learning graduate courses, and Strang's book and video lectures saved me. He
has a very special talent for making complex material understandable without
dumbing it down. He's up there with Norvig and Feynman for me in terms of
teaching talent.

That man with a piece of chalk and a big chalkboard beats any PowerPoint
presentation or video presentation using animation and whatever other
technological helps you can think of.

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bradneuberg
It looks like this is a boiled down subset of linear algebra sufficient for
deep learning? Is that a correct assessment?

~~~
tptacek
To some extent. Gilbert Strang is kind of a linear algebra education
celebrity.

~~~
yodon
He was pretty awesome to take linear algebra from. He had this perfectly tuned
"absent minded professor" persona that had people almost literally on the edge
of their seats trying to help him finish his points and his sentences. I've
never seen a class so engaged before or after.

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woodson
Wish there was an ebook/PDF version of the book.

~~~
GNU_IS_UNIX
Agreed.

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NPV_Computers
Great book to practice and learn Linear Algebra concepts, more importantly get
back again for a refresher when you need to.

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scitamehtam
For a critical perspective on Strang see:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgUB0pILNj8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgUB0pILNj8)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W65K-P7dxk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W65K-P7dxk)

~~~
GaryNumanVevo
This should be flagged. Just read the second video description: "Get it you
retard?! Hurry up and die. I will make sure everyone knows what a scumbag you
are."

This isn't a valid "critical perspective"

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dominotw
wow $100 on amazon. It it worth the money?

~~~
kqr2
$70 + postage if you order directly:

[https://math.mit.edu/~gs/linearalgebra/weborder.php](https://math.mit.edu/~gs/linearalgebra/weborder.php)

