Customer Reviews

Schaum's Easy Outline of Linear Algebra

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I really, really don't like learning mathematics, but unfortunately some maths is required by my university's computer science course.

If you're a person like me who can't understand any of the stuff in your mathematics professor's cryptic notes, then I strongly advise you to buy this book. It's very easy to read (for a maths book), has examples explaining everything, and it's dirt cheap compared to the hardcore maths books out there which often contain too much information for a (undergraduate) student's needs! It has made studying and understanding linear algebra easy (as the title says), and it also got me through the exam the first time.

Here's what this book covers:

Chapter 1: Vectors in Rn
Chapter 2: Algebra of Matrices
Chapter 3: Systems of Linear Equations
Chapter 4: Vector Spaces
Chapter 5: Inner Product Spaces; Orthogonality
Chapter 6: Determinants
Chapter 7: Diagonalisation: Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors
Chapter 8: Linear Mappings
Chapter 9: Canonical Forms

(this little book is, unlike the information given here, 156 pages long)

This is a review of the kindle version. As this book attempts to convey a large amount of information in a small book, it relies heavily on the examples. I normally like this form of teaching as it helps me understand the concepts. The problem is that in the kindle version, a large number of the examples are scrambled. This makes it much harder to understand the text as it refers to the example. Not all of the examples are this way, but around 1/3 of them are so far. I stopped at around 80% of the way through.

If you're new to linear algebra, this book may clarify some concepts in a traditional textbook. If you understand your college text ok or are looking for a more in depth study, this is not the book for you. I found it to be helpful and easy to understand.

This book gives you the theorems, with examples of how to use the theorems. However i was disappointed because i was hoping to that it would make linear algebra clearer for me. Specifically, i was hoping for proof's of the theorems, which this book doesn't contain. It is a good reference book to look things up in, but not a book for obtaining a deeper understanding.