Math 18: Linear Algebra

Instructional Staff

We will be communicating with you and making announcements through an online question and answer platform called Piazza (sign up link: piazza.com/ucsd/winter2018/math18). We ask that when you have a question about the class that might be relevant to other students, you post your question on Piazza instead of emailing us. That way, everyone can benefit from the response. Posts about homework or exams on Piazza should be content based. While you are encouraged to crowdsource and discuss coursework through Piazza, please do not post complete solutions to homework problems there. Questions about grades should be brought to the instructors, in office hours. You can also post private messages to instructors on Piazza, which we prefer over email.

Our office hours can be found in the following calendar.

Calendar of Meeting Times

Class Meetings

	Date	Time	Location
Lecture A00 (Eggers)	Monday, Wednesday, Friday	8:00am - 8:50am	LEDDN AUD
Lecture B00 (Kemp)	Monday, Wednesday, Friday	10:00am - 10:50am	CENTR 119
Lecture C00 (Kemp)	Monday, Wednesday, Friday	12:00pm - 12:50pm	CENTR 119
Discussion A01 (Singh)	Thursday	8:00am - 8:50am	APM 2301
Discussion A02 (Singh)	Thursday	9:00am - 9:50am	APM 2301
Discussion A03 (Sang)	Thursday	10:00am - 10:50am	APM 2301
Discussion A04 (Sang)	Thursday	11:00am - 11:50am	APM 2301
Discussion A05 (Loschen)	Thursday	12:00pm - 12:50pm	APM 2301
Discussion A06 (Loschen)	Thursday	1:00pm - 1:50pm	APM 2301
Discussion B01 (Nayak)	Thursday	8:00pm - 8:50am	WLH 2208
Discussion B02 (Nayak)	Thursday	9:00am - 9:50am	WLH 2208
Discussion B03 (Elliott Smith)	Thursday	10:00am - 10:50am	WLH 2208
Discussion B04 (Elliott Smith)	Thursday	11:00am - 11:50am	WLH 2208
Discussion B05 (Lybrand)	Thursday	12:00pm - 12:50pm	WLH 2208
Discussion B06 (Lybrand)	Thursday	1:00pm - 1:50pm	WLH 2208
Discussion C01 (Ravichandran)	Thursday	2:00pm - 2:50pm	APM 2301
Discussion C02 (Ravichandran)	Thursday	3:00pm - 3:50pm	APM 2301
Discussion C03 (Luo)	Thursday	4:00pm - 4:50pm	APM 2301
Discussion C04 (Luo)	Thursday	5:00pm - 5:50pm	APM 2301
Discussion C05 (Ravichandran)	Thursday	6:00pm - 6:50pm	APM 2301
Discussion C06 (Ravichandran)	Thursday	7:00pm - 7:50pm	APM 2301
First Midterm Exam	Wednesday, Jan 31	8:00pm - 10:00pm	GH 242 & YORK 2622 & YORK 2722
Second Midterm Exam	Wednesday, Feb 28	8:00pm - 10:00pm	GH 242 & PETER 108 & PETER 110
Final Exam	Saturday, Mar 17	11:30am - 2:30pm	GH 242 & PETER 108 & YORK 2722

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Syllabus

Course:  Math 18

Title:  Linear Algebra

Credit Hours:  4  (Students may not receive credit for both Math 18 and 31AH.)

Prerequisite:  Math Placement Exam qualifying score, or AP Calculus AB score of 2, or SAT II Math Level 2 score of 600 or higher, or Math 3C, or Math 4C, or Math 10A, or Math 20A, or consent of instructor.

Catalog Description:  Matrix algebra, Gaussian elimination, determinants, Linear and affine subspaces, bases of Euclidean spaces. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors, quadratic forms, orthogonal matrices, diagonalization of symmetric matrices. Applications. Computing symbolic and graphical solutions using Matlab. See the UC San Diego Course Catalog.

Textbook: Linear Algebra and its Applications, by David C. Lay, Steven R. Lay, and Judi J. McDonald; published by Pearson (Addison Wesley).

Subject Material:  We will cover parts of chapters 1-7 of the text.

Lecture:  Attending the lecture is a fundamental part of the course; you are responsible for material presented in the lecture whether or not it is discussed in the textbook.  You should expect questions on the exams that will test your understanding of concepts discussed in the lecture.

Reading:  Reading the sections of the textbook corresponding to the assigned homework exercises is considered part of the homework assignment; you are responsible for material in the assigned reading whether or not it is discussed in the lecture.

Calendar of Lecture Topics:   The following calendar is subject to revision during the term. The section references are only a guide; our pace may vary from it somewhat.

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	Jan 8 1.1 Systems of linear equations	Jan 9	Jan 10 1.2 Row reduction & echelon forms	Jan 11 Discussion	Jan 12 1.3 Vector equations	Jan 13
2	Jan 15 Martin Luther King Day	Jan 16	Jan 17 1.4 Matrix equation Ax = b	Jan 18 Discussion	Jan 19 1.5 Solution sets	Jan 20
3	Jan 22 1.7 Linear independence	Jan 23	Jan 24 1.8 Linear transformations	Jan 25 Discussion	Jan 26 1.9 The matrix of a linear transformation	Jan 27
4	Jan 29 2.1 Matrix operations	Jan 30	Jan 31 Catch up & Review Exam 1 8:00pm-10:00pm	Feb 1 Discussion	Feb 2 2.2, 2.3 Inverse of a matrix Last Day to Drop w/o 'W'	Feb 3
5	Feb 5 4.1 Vector spaces and subspaces	Feb 6	Feb 7 4.2 Null spaces & column spaces	Feb 8 Discussion	Feb 9 4.3 Linear independent sets; bases	Feb 10
6	Feb 12 4.5 Dimension	Feb 13	Feb 14 4.6 Rank 4.4 Coordinate systems	Feb 15 Discussion	Feb 16 3.1 Determinants 3.2 Properties of determinants	Feb 17
7	Feb 19 Presidents Day	Feb 20	Feb 21 3.3 Determinants and volume	Feb 22 Discussion	Feb 23 5.1 Eigenvectors and eigenvalues	Feb 24
8	Feb 26 5.2 Characteristic polynomial	Feb 27	Feb 28 Catch up & Review Exam 2 8:00pm-10:00pm	Mar 1 Discussion	Mar 2 5.3 Diagonalization	Mar 3
9	Mar 5 6.1, 6.7 Inner product, length, & orthogonality	Mar 6	Mar 7 6.2 Orthogonal sets	Mar 8 Discussion	Mar 9 6.3 Orthogonal projections Last Day to Drop w/o 'F'	Mar 10
10	Mar 11 6.4 Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization	Mar 13	Mar 14 7.1 Spectral Theorem	Mar 15 Discussion	Mar 16 Review	Mar 17 Final Exam 11:30am-2:30pm

Homework:  Homework is a very important part of the course and in order to fully master the topics it is essential that you work carefully on every assignment and try your best to complete every problem. We will have two different kinds of homework assignments in this class: online homework (which will be graded) and "paper-and-pen" homework (which will not be graded).

• Online homework will be assigned through MyMathLab and will be accessible via TritonEd.
  • Unless otherwise stated, you have unlimited attempts at each homework problem.
  • Your total homework score will be based on the total possible homework points available; no homework assignment scores will be dropped at the end of the quarter.
  • Homework should be turned in on time. Extensions may be given in some cases with a small window after the deadline, but typically homework turned in after the deadline will score at most 50% of the total points on the assignment.
• The "paper-and-pen" homework assignments will be announced on the course homework page. These assignments will not be turned in and will not be graded; however, you are responsible for the ideas illustrated by these exercises and exam questions could be based on them.

MATLAB:   In applications of linear algebra, the theoretical concepts that you will learn in lecture are used together with computers to solve large scale problems.  Thus, in addition to your written homework, you will be required to do homework using the computer language MATLAB.  The Math 18 MATLAB Assignments page contains all information relevant to the MATLAB component of Math 18. The first assignment is due in week 2 of the course.  You can do the homework on any campus computer that has MATLAB.  Questions regarding the MATLAB assignments should be directed to the TAs.  There are also tutors available beginning Thursday or Friday of the first week of classes in B432 of AP&M.  Please turn in your homework via Gradescope, as described on the MATLAB page, by 11:59pm on the indicated due date (as indicated on the Math 18 MATLAB Assignments page). In general, MATLAB homework will be accepted up to 48 hours after the deadline, but a 10% late penalty will be assessed if it is not uploaded before the deadline. In case you have to miss one MATLAB assignment, your lowest MATLAB homework score will be dropped.  There will be a MATLAB quiz at the end of the quarter.

Midterm Exams:  There will be two midterm exams given during the quarter.  See above for the dates and times of the midterm exams.   You may bring one 8.5 by 11 inch sheet of paper with handwritten notes (on both sides) with you to each midterm exam; no other notes (or books) will be allowed.  No calculators, phones, or other electronic devices will be allowed during the midterm exams.   There will be no makeup exams.

Final Examination:  The final examination will be held at the date and time stated above.

• It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not have a schedule conflict involving the final examination; you should not enroll in this class if you cannot take the final examination at its scheduled time.
• You may bring two 8.5 by 11 inch sheets of paper with handwritten notes (on both sides) with you to the final examination; no other notes (or books) will be allowed.
• No calculators, phones, or other electronic devices will be allowed during the final examination.   There will be no makeup final exam.

Administrative Links:    Here are two links regarding UC San Diego policies on exams:

• Exam Responsibilities  An outline of the responsibilities of faculty and students with regard to final exams
• Policies on Examinations  The Academic Senate policy regarding final examinations (These are the rules!)

Regrade Policy:  

• Your exams and MATLAB homework will be graded using Gradescope.  You will be able to request a regrade directly from your TA for a specified window of time.  Be sure to make your request within the specified window of time; no regrade requests will be accepted after the deadline.

Administrative Deadline:  Your scores for all graded work will be posted to TritonEd.

• It is your responsibility to check your scores and contact your TA before the end of the 10^th week of the quarter to resolve recording errors.
• Questions regarding missing or incorrectly recorded scores will not be considered after the last day of instruction.

Grading: Your course grade will be determined by your cumulative average at the end of the term and will be based on the following scale:

A+	A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-
97	93	90	87	83	80	77	73	70

• Note:  The above scale is guaranteed: for example, if your cumulative average is 80, your final grade will be at least B-. However, your instructor may adjust the above scale to be more generous.

Your cumulative average will be the best of the following two weighted averages:

• 10% MATLAB (5% homework and 5% quiz, or 10% homework, whichever is greater), 10% Homework,  20% Midterm Exam I,  20% Midterm Exam II,  40% Final Exam
• 10% MATLAB (5% homework and 5% quiz, or 10% homework, whichever is greater), 10% Homework,  20% Best Midterm Exam,  60% Final Exam

In addition,  you must pass the final examination in order to pass the course.  Note: Since there are no makeup exams, if you miss a midterm exam for any reason, then your course grade will be computed with the second option. There are no exceptions; this grading scheme is intended to accommodate emergencies that require missing a midterm exam.

Academic Integrity:  UC San Diego's code of academic integrity outlines the expected academic honesty of all students and faculty, and details the consequences for academic dishonesty. The main issues are cheating and plagiarism, of course, for which we have a zero-tolerance policy. (Penalties for these offenses always include assignment of a failing grade in the course, and usually involve an administrative penalty, such as suspension or expulsion, as well.) However, academic integrity also includes things like giving credit where credit is due, and treating your peers respectfully in class. In addition, here are a few of our expectations for etiquette in and out of class.

• Entering/exiting class: Please arrive on time and stay for the entire class/section period. If, despite your best efforts, you arrive late, please enter quietly through the rear door and take a seat near where you entered. Similarly, in the rare event that you must leave early (e.g. for a medical appointment), please sit close to the rear exit and leave as unobtrusively as possible.
• Noise and common courtesy: When class/section begins, please stop your conversations. Wait until class/section is over before putting your materials away in your backpack, standing up, or talking to friends. Do not disturb others by engaging in disruptive behavior. Disruption interferes with the learning environment and impairs the ability of others to focus, participate, and engage.
• Electronic devices: Please do not use devices (such as cell phones, laptops, tablets, iPods) for non-class-related matters while in class/section. No visual or audio recording is allowed in class/section without prior permission of the instructor (whether by camera, cell phone, or other means).
• E-mail etiquette: You are expected to write as you would in any professional correspondence. E-mail communication should be courteous and respectful in manner and tone. Please do not send e-mails that are curt or demanding.

Accommodations:

Students requesting accommodations for this course due to a disability must provide a current Authorization for Accommodation (AFA) letter issued by the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) which is located in University Center 202 behind Center Hall. Students are required to present their AFA letters to the instructor (please make arrangements to contact your instructor privately) and to the OSD Liaison in the department in advance (by the end of Week 2, if possible) so that accommodations may be arranged. For more information, see here.

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