College level Linear Algebra.

[luis911]

Who has taken it? Any usefull tips.

[lcs]

Study.

[PointyFox]

Get a graphing calculator.

[luis911]

Get a graphing calculator.

Oh, Actually Graphing calculators are useless for exams. We can only use a ti-30. (Mechanical Engineer, NYU)

Now, I do own a ti-89, but I still want to understand the fundamental concepts in Linear.

[smknjoe]

Hook up with someone who seems to be doing well and study with them. I'd say talk to your instructor after class, but I had some that were real jack-asses (my Calc2 instructor was a real *******.)

[luis911]

Hook up with someone who seems to be doing well and study with them. I'd say talk to your instructor after class, but I had some that were real jack-asses (my Calc2 instructor was a real *******.)

Ugh...Calc 2

[Charizard^]

You could always try Khan Academy or Wolfram Alpha

[kmiller8]

Took it last semester, I'd give you the same advice as any other college class. Go talk with the professor during their office hours, they love that ****. At the very end of the day, it's the professor who decides your grade, not your work.

[HoffmanMyster]

Do the practice problems and study.  Do you have a tendency to struggle in math courses?  If you do then you might have some difficulty, but if you tend to do alright then it shouldn't be too much harder than usual.

[Charizard^]

Took it last semester, I'd give you the same advice as any other college class. Go talk with the professor during their office hours, they love that ****. At the very end of the day, it's the professor who decides your grade, not your work.

This is great advice, the only thing is that it may be more difficult if the class is large.

[smknjoe]

Took it last semester, I'd give you the same advice as any other college class. Go talk with the professor during their office hours, they love that ****. At the very end of the day, it's the professor who decides your grade, not your work.

This is great advice, the only thing is that it may be more difficult if the class is large.

That and most of these guys/gals aren't "professors" but udergrads teaching for a professor. NYU is a VERY good school. I don't know how much "hands-on" help you can expect.

[Hak Foo]

What Linear Algebra class is "large"

I took it in university, but that was over ten years ago.  It was a fourth-year math class, so your roster was 80 percent math majors, 20 percent CompSci majors who could take  it as fulfilling an "additional maths or science" requirement.

The way I was taught it, it was basically three different structural techniques to apply to the exact same problems.  I recall one involved matrices.  If you can find materials that use the same structure, that might give you an "escape plan"-- if you can't solve the problems with one methodology, switch to the other.

[Charizard^]

What Linear Algebra class is "large"

I took it in university, but that was over ten years ago.  It was a fourth-year math class, so your roster was 80 percent math majors, 20 percent CompSci majors who could take  it as fulfilling an "additional maths or science" requirement.

The way I was taught it, it was basically three different structural techniques to apply to the exact same problems.  I recall one involved matrices.  If you can find materials that use the same structure, that might give you an "escape plan"-- if you can't solve the problems with one methodology, switch to the other.

Oh okay, I just made the assumption. Sorry.

[iri]

Who has taken it?

I have.

[PointyFox]

Who has taken it?

I have.

Who has taken it? Any usefull tips.

[n0rvig]

Study.

Seriously.

DO NOT FALL BEHIND. I wasted the first month and had to struggle so hard just to scrap past.

Study.

[Findecanor]

Oh, Actually Graphing calculators are useless for exams.

Calculators were even forbidden at exams where I studied linear algebra, and other math.

Yes, and it was a way to fulfill "additional math or science" requirement as a Comp Sci major.. 

[FinancialWar]

Maths is the best, had to study heaps for my actuarial degree.

[Photoelectric]

I took it and it was actually very easy for me, so I'm probably not the best person to give advice.  But I think reading carefully and doing a lot of practice exercises will help if you're having trouble.  Thing about linear algebra is that it's extremely logical and methodical--at least the introductory course.  There's really not that much abstraction there.

[iri]

Who has taken it?

I have.

Who has taken it? Any usefull tips.

whoops, forgot that part. useful tips: study well, study good.

[FinancialWar]

be Asian.

[luis911]

be Asian.

ok i'm on it 

[jacobolus]

Most introductory linear algebra courses are pretty straight-forward; all the more interesting and potentially challenging part typically comes in courses aimed at grad students.

The undergraduate linear algebra courses I’ve seen spend inordinately much time on the “invertible matrix theorem” (sometimes called something else), which is basically a big list of 10-20 (depending on the textbook) equivalent statements about a linear transformation / matrix. Then they usually have sections about determinants, orthogonal matrices and orthogonalizing, dealing with symmetric and positive definite matrices, and finding and using eigenvalues and eigenvectors, etc. Frankly, all of this material can be learned by a motivated student in 3-4 weeks of a couple hours a day of dedicated effort, and padding it out to a semester makes it all feel pretty slow.

If you have any specific linear algebra topics that you’re having trouble with or are curious about, I’m sure there are folks around here who’d be glad to offer advice.

[FinancialWar]

For calculus, the undisputed author is Stewart.

What is the gold standard textbook for linear algebra I'm curious?

[jacobolus]

For calculus, the undisputed author is Stewart.

You have to be kidding.

[adhoc]

What useful tips? Linear algebra is probably the easiest you can get when it comes to uni maths. Are you good with maths? You'll have no trouble with it whatsoever. If you're not, well I don't know, you might have some problems or something?

[davkol]

I took a linear algebra course few years ago and then an algebra course (universal algebra, lattices). Two tips.

First, practice even the simplest proofs, the stupid-looking one-liners. This sort of stuff should better become completely natural.

Second, most stuff (like homomorphisms and congruences) is actually pretty similar across various algebraic structures. If you understand the bigger picture, studying gets much easier.

Obviously, it's almost irrelevant, if you take only an introductory class that doesn't include definition-theorem-proof lectures.

[n0rvig]

This site might have some helpful info too.

https://gumroad.com/l/noBSLA

[eth0s]

Linear algebra is an intermediary course, that you have to take to bridge from intro calculus to the more interesting and useful mathematics like partial differential equations and statistics and probability.  I agree with the above GH'ers who said Linear Algebra is totally formulaic and logical.   The concepts are not difficult from an intellectual perspective, and it really can be mastered in about 3-4 weeks.  But it's better to master it in the first 3-4 weeks, and not wait until the last 3-4 weeks of the semester, or even worse, don't wait until the last 48 hours of the semester.  You can do this however, if you are like me, but you're going to need to be tutored by a mathematical genius like my college room-mate: Vernon Lin.  I dunno if 'ol Vern is still out there, but if he is, he can prolly teach you a whole semester of linear algebra in about 8 hours.  I think he became a doctor or something.

[Voixdelion]

Purplemath is a wonderful site which is very good at explaining concept clearly and simply .  Highly recommended. 

[Novus]

Do drugs and/or pick up smoking.
It helps dull the pain.
...
Unless you're a masochist and like that class.

[Xowie]

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