Math 270A (Fall 2021)

• MWF 10--10:50am in AP&M 2402

• MWF 9--9:50am in-person at AP&M 5707 or online at Zoom ID 961 9657 7561
• By appointment on Zoom

• Dante Wu: Tu 10--12pm at Zoom ID 310 671 2028

Piazza has been activated here to facilitate student discussions with each other

• We will try to cover parts of sections 1.1--1.5, 1.7, 2.1--2.5, 3.1--3.5, 4.1--4.6
• Other book resources:
  • Matrix Computations by Golub and Van Loan
  • Fundamentals of Matrix Computations by Watkins
  • Iterative Methods for Sparse Linear Systems by Saad

• A MATLAB introduction is available at www.math.mtu.edu/~msgocken/intro/intro.html.
• Use the "help" command in MATLAB.
• Matlab at UCSD.
• An alternative to Matlab is a free program called Octave.

Homework will be assigned regularly and due on Tuesdays at 11:59pm via Gradescope.
There are an additional fifteen minutes to upload the HW. After this time, the HW will
not be accepted.

There will be two exams, the midterm and final exam, both of which will be
available either in-person or online at Gradescope.


• The midterm will be on Wednesday, November 3.
  • Covers all material up to and including HW #3
  • Will be composed of two questions
  • You will be able to use books, notes, and computers, however, everything you
    write down should be in your own words and not copied from a source
  • You are not to discuss the exam with others
  • Starts at 10am and ends at 10:50am
  • Whether taken in-class or online, you will upload your exam to Gradescope by
    10:56am
  • Extra office hours will be on Friday, Oct 29 and Monday, Nov 1, both from
    11--11:50am (in-office and on Zoom at ID 920 9372 3793)
  • Questions during the exam can be answered through email: lcheng@math.ucsd.edu
  • Results:
    • Average: 26.5
    • Median: 27.5
    • Std dev: 8.35
    • Max score: 38
• Final exam will be on Friday 8--11am, December 10.
  • Covers all material up to and including HW #9
  • Will be composed of eight questions
  • You will be able to use books, notes, and computers, however, everything you
    write down should be in your own words and not copied from a source
  • You are not to discuss the exam with others
  • Whether taken in-class or online, exam will be released on Gradescope at 7:58am
    and you will upload your exam to Gradescope by 11:10am
  • We will have regular in-office hours (at regular Zoom ID) on Monday and
    Wednesday, and another in-office one on Thursday 10--10:50am (different
    Zoom ID 933 5889 1634)
  • Questions during the exam can be answered through email: lcheng@math.ucsd.edu

Your grade will be based on the scores of the homework, one midterm, and one final
exam. It will be calculated on a curve of the final score:


Score = (25% HW) + (15% Midterm) + (60% Final)


The grade will reflect your mastery of the material for the qualifying exam.