Math 2573H Honors Calculus III Fall Semester 2002

I am hoping that in the first recitation the TA will lead you in some revision of material on partial derivatives from Chapter 4. It would be suitable to discuss whether you can do the questions at the end of Chapter 4 Section 4 on pages 132-135, and do some of them.

Assignment 1 - Due Thursday 9/12/2002

Read: Williamson and Trotter, Chapter 3, Sections 1, 2, 3.

Exercises:
Chap 3, Sec 1 (pages 54-55): 1c, 1e, 1f*, 2f*, 6, 8*, 9b*
Chap 3, Sec 2 (pages 63-64): 4, 5a, 5b*, 6, 10b*, 11a*
Chap 3, Sec 3 (pages 70-73): 2, 5, 5b*, 7, 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d*, 11b, 12, 13*

The questions with a * are the ones you should hand in on Thursday during recitation. You should do more questions than you hand in, so as to achieve fluency in these ideas. You should keep working at them until you can do what is asked without having to review the concepts first, and so that you can do the questions in a timely fashion. With questions of the kind that appear on exams, I say always that if you can do the question in 5 minutes you will be in good shape. Most of the questions listed above are more routine, so that you should be able to do them much faster than this. In any case it is a rule of thumb that you should be able to do each of the homework questions in 5 minutes, and if you cannot achieve this then you either need to practice more until you reach that speed (and then do one or two questions more so as to reinforce what you have done), or else you are approaching the question in the wrong way.

I have not listed enough problems above for you to practice in the way I have just suggested. There are more questions in the book than the ones I have listed. Also, you might find it helpful to consult other books on linear algebra (the treatment given by Williamson and Trotter is rudimentary and brief).

A book which is often used as a text in linear algebra courses is the one by O. Bretscher, which you may be able to find in a library. Unfortunately, if you want to buy it it costs $98. Two books which have caught my attention and are cheaper are
J.W. Dettman, Introduction to linear algebra and differential equations, Dover $11,
R.B.J.T Allenby, Linear Algebra, Edward Arnold 1995, $25.
If you go to a mathematics library you will find many other books on basic linear algebra.