Customer Reviews

Linear Algebra, Third Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This book is very well written along with many great examples. This book covers basically everything you need to know in an introductory Linear Algebra class about Vectors, Vector spaces, Matrices, Determinants, Linear transformations, Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors, orthogonality, Gram Schmitt process, Systems of equations and and so forth. The people who think this book is too hard, should go back and review their high school algebra books again. One of the great features of this book, as an INTRODUCTORY book, is that it teaches you everything in R^n space. Overall: great 5 star book.

After giving up on this book when I first learned Linear Algebra,
it has turned out to be a very good reference book on the subject.

If you need to, use Anton's book to learn the subject, but
I keep this one on my shelf.

The book presents linear algebra problems pretty much in outline form---an "ok" treatment for some, but not all, of the subject matter. Nevertheless, there are still many topic areas where the explanations are not thorough enough.
Also,its treatment of theorems is not accompanied by a step-by-step explanaton of a problem that relates to it.
After all, this book is supposed to be an aid for students taking this subject for the first time.

I have found a few editing type errors--in some problems: wrong signs, numbers misplaced. This seems to be an omnipresent problem with many of these type books. WHO IS OUT THERE DOING THE FINAL REVIEWS?

I think this subject matter needs some type of video teaching component, but good luck trying to find one.

I think the book has its advantages, but mainly to those already immersed in the subject matter of matrices and determinants, vectors and space. A didactic tool it is not!

Having passed all previous math courses (up to multivariable calculus) with compete understanding and great grades, I have earned the right to determine how unskilled this book truly is. Every other math book I have experienced is understandable and has examples for all types of problems. This book has few examples, and they are horribly explained. Then, to make it all worse, these examples are not the same types of questions as the chapter questions! This is quite honestly the worst textbook experience I have ever had. I would rate this book with no stars, but amazon will not take that as a rating, so one will have to suffice.

This book is very hard to understand, especially for students who are introduced to real conceptual mathematics for the first time, which is in this course. Not enough examples at all, written in a difficult manner to grasp for students. Professors may find it OK, but thats only because they have taken the material before, and probably taught it many times. Very bad choice for an Intro to Linear Algebra Course!

The book itself is difficult to read. When new symbols are first used, the explination are burried in the text and time consuming to find. The use of dark blue ink to "color" the items they are refering to is very difficult to distiguish from the normal black text. I waste more time trying to figure out what the symbols mean than I spend understanding the concepts.

The solutions manual covers every 3rd problem, not the compleete set of odd problems like it should (eg. 1,4,7,10...). Detail on the problems is average at best.

While it may be good for advanced math people, this book is definitely no good for the students who haven't learned linear algebra before. The texts are really hard to follow and most examples are written 50% in math symbols. Understanding concepts is quite impossible, at least for those who haven't studied linear before. I really dont understand why most schools still use this book as a text. This is my honest review as a student who took this class and as a representative of many other students who had the similar opinions about this book.

This book is very useful for reference. For most of the mainstream book that are available, this book is actually written by "human." By human I mean you literally see the author's idea being explained to you as if he was lecturing. Recommended for linear algebra students

I do not find the book suitable for an introductory course in linear algebra. It takes too much time to get through a page in this book due to the use of heavy mathematical language. The examples are not enough to help a student solve the exercices at the end of the book, so often times one has to always rely on the TA office hours to get a homework done. I do not recommend buying this text for a beginner in linear algebra, unless if it's required text for a course.

I've recently had the misfortune of having this book as my text for an introductory linear algebra book. The subject can be hard enough to understand on its own, but this book makes it even worse. The examples are sparse at best, and most of the time are wasted by displaying the proof of a cryptic concept instead of actually assisting to answer the questions in the book. Even worse, when the book does provide a practical example, it often only shows the steps used to complete the problem, not even bothering to explain it! If you are stuck with this book as a course text, I would highly recommend finding a second, more useful book if you wish to get more than a passing grade.