Honors Linear Algebra — Mathematics 540
*** The homework assignments and due dates on this page have been changed ***
*** Instructions concerning remote classes, homework submission, etc. will be sent by email ***

Detailed Syllabus and Homework Assignments
Brown University — Spring, 2020
Professor Joseph Silverman

There may be some additional homework problems that are not in the text. They are labeled X.1, X.2, ... You can find them by following this link, or by clicking on the links provided below for each problem.

Click on the indicated links for solutions to selected homework problems.

For material on determinants, we will be using Chapter 3 of the book
       Linear Algebra Done Wrong by Sergei Treil.
(Yes, Professor Treil's title is adapted from Axler's title!) You can download the book for free by clicking the following link:
       Download Linear Algebra Done Wrong.
You can get further information about the book, including errata (if any), at
       Home page of Linear Algebra Done Wrong.
In the reading and homework assignments, material from Treil's book will be denoted by LADW.

For the last few classes we may use material from
       Additional Topics in Linear Algebra
which you should download by clicking the above link. In the reading and homework assignments, material from these notes will be denoted ATLA, and exercises are labeled C.1, C.2, etc.

Return to the Math 540 Home Page


Homework Assignments for Math 540

Class # Date Topic ChapterSectionsHW Assignment HW Due Bonus Problems*
1Thurs Jan 23, 2020Vector Spaces1A-Bp 11. 1.A # 2, 3, 10, 11, 15 Tues Jan 28
2Tues Jan 28, 2020Vector Spaces1B-Cp 17. 1.B # 1, 2, 4 / p 25. 1.C # 1, 4, 5Tues Feb 41.B.6
3Thurs Jan 30, 2020Vector Spaces / Finite Dim'l Vector Spaces1 / 2C / A p 25. 1.C # 10, 12, 15, 19 / p. 37. 2.A # 1, 3, 6Tues Feb 41.C.6, 1.C.8, 1.C.13
4Tues Feb 4, 2020Finite Dim'l Vector Spaces2A-Bp. 37. 2.A # 8, 11, 14 / p 43. 2.B # 1, 3, 4Tues, Feb 112.A.16, 2.A.17
5Thurs Feb 6, 2020Finite Dim'l Vector Spaces2B-C p 43. 2.B # 6, 8 / p.48. 2.C # 1, 3, 6, 12, 14Tues, Feb 112.C.7, 2.C.8, 2.C.13, 2.C.16, 2.C.17
6Tues Feb 11, 2020Linear Maps3Ap. 57 3.A # 1, 3, 4, 11, 14Tues, Feb 253.A.8, 3.A.9, 3.A.12
7Thurs Feb 13, 2020Linear Maps3Bp. 67 3.B # 1, 2, 3, 9, 20, 21, 24Tues, Feb 253.B.29, 3.B.30, 3.B.31
Tues Feb 18, 2020Brown closed
8Thurs Feb 20, 2020Exam #1 (Chapter 1 & 2)
Exam 1 Solutions
9Tues Feb 25, 2020Linear Maps3Cp. 78 3.C # 3, 4, 9, 12, 13Tues Mar 33.C.6
10Thurs Feb 27, 2020Linear Maps3Dp. 88. 3.D # 1, 4, 7Tues Mar 33.D.16, 3.D.18, 3.D.19
11Tues Mar 3, 2020Linear Maps / Polynomials3D / 4p. 88. 3.D # 10, 20Tues Mar 10
12Thurs Mar 5, 2020Polynomials4p 129. Ch.4 # 2, 3, 4, 7, 9Tues Mar 10Ch 4. #5, 6
13Tues Mar 10, 2020Invariant Subspaces and Eigenvalues5Ap.138. 5.A # 2, 5, 8, 10, 15, 21, 25Tues Mar 315.A.6, 5.A.11, 5.A.12, 5.A.16, 5.A.18, 5.A.19, 5.A.20
14Thurs Mar 12, 2020Invariant Subspaces and Eigenvalues5Bp 153 5.B # 1, 3, 4, 5, 10Tues Mar 315.B.6, 5.B.8
Tues Mar 17, 2020Brown classes canceled
Thurs Mar 19, 2020Brown classes canceled
Tues Mar 24, 2020Brown closed
Thurs Mar 26, 2020Brown closed
15Tues Mar 31, 2020Invariant Subspaces and Eigenvalues5B-Cp 153 5.B # 7, 14, 15 ; p 160. 5.C # 1, 3, 6 Tues Apr 75.C.4
16Thurs Apr 2, 2020Invariant Subspaces and Eigenvalues5Cp 160. 5.C # 7, 8, 10, 14 Tues Apr 75.C.16
17Tues Apr 7, 2020DeterminantsLADW** 3LADW 3.1-3.3LADW p 85 # 3.4, 3.5, 3.7Tues Apr 14
18Thurs Apr 9, 2020DeterminantsLADW** 3LADW 3.3-3.5LADW p 94 #5.1, 5.3 ; p 96 # 7.1, 7.2., 7.3Tues Apr 14
Distributed Mon Apr 13
Due Fri Apr 17 at 5:00pm EDT
Exam #2 (Take-home)
19Tues Apr 14, 2020Inner Product Spaces6Ap 175 6.A # 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12Tues Apr 216.A.11, 6.A.13, 16
20Thurs Apr 16, 2020Inner Product Spaces6A-Bp 175 6.A # 19, 24, 25 ; p 189 6.B # 1, 2, 3Tues Apr 216.A.20, 6.A.21, 6.A.26, 6.A.31; 6.B.4, 6.B.6, 6.B.9, 6.B.12
21Tues Apr 21, 2020Inner Product Spaces6Bp 189 6.B # 5, 8, 11,14, 16 Tues Apr 28
22Thurs Apr 23, 2020Operators on Inner Prod Spaces7A-Bp 217 7.A # 1, 3, 4, 5, 14 Tues Apr 287.A.7, 7.A.8, 7.A.12, 7.A.16, 7.A.17
23Tues Apr 28, 2020Operators on Inner Product
Characteristic Polynomials
7 LADW
1 ATLA***
7.B
1.1–1.2
p 223 7.B # 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 Tues May 57.B.12
24Thurs Apr 30, 2020Characteristic Polynomials
Jordan Normal Form
1 ATLA***1.3–1.4p 13 Section 1 - # C.1, C.2, C.4, C.5 Tues May 5 C.3, C.6
25Tues May 5, 2020Linear Recurrences2 ATLA***1.4p 24 Section 2 - # C.8, C.9, C.10
Distributed Tues May 5
Due Weds May 13 at 5:00pm EDT
Take-home Final Exam

*Note on Bonus Problems: Bonus problems are for those who enjoy working on challenging problems for the sake of working on challenging problems. They will not earn you extra credit, but doing them will earn you the warm satisfaction of doing a hard problem or gaining further mathematical insight.

**LADW: These readings and problems refer to Linear Algebra Done Wrong by Sergei Treil. (Click on the link to download a free copy.)

***ATLA: These readings and problems refer to Additional Topics in Linear Algebra. (Click on the link to download a free copy.)


Return to the Math 540 Home Page