David Poole's innovative book prepares students to make the transition from the computational aspects of the course to the theoretical by emphasizing vectors and geometric intuition from the start. Designed for a one- or two-semester introductory course and written in simple, "mathematical English" the book presents interesting examples before abstraction. This immediately follows up theoretical discussion with further examples and a variety of applications drawn from a number of disciplines, which reinforces the practical utility of the math, and helps students from a variety of backgrounds and learning styles stay connected to the concepts they are learning. Poole's approach helps students succeed in this course by learning vectors and vector geometry first in order to visualize and understand the meaning of the calculations that they will encounter and develop mathematical maturity for thinking abstractly.

Vectors
Introduction: The Racetrack Game
The Geometry and Algebra of Vectors
Length and Angle: The Dot Product
Exploration: Vectors and Geometry
Lines and Planes
Exploration: The Cross Product
Applications: Force Vectors
Code Vectors
Vignette: The Codabar System
Systems of Linear Equations
Introduction: Triviality
Introduction to Systems of Linear Equations
Direct Methods for Solving Linear Systems
Exploration: Lies My Computer Told Me
Exploration: Partial Pivoting
Exploration: Counting Operations: An Introduction to the Analysis of Algorithms
Spanning Sets and Linear Independence
Applications: Allocation of Resources
Balancing Chemical Equations
Network Analysis
Electrical Networks
Linear Economic Models
Finite Linear Games
Vignette: The Global Positioning System
Iterative Methods for Solving Linear Systems
Matrices
Introduction: Matrices in Action
Matrix Operations
Matrix Algebra
The Inverse of a Matrix
The LU Factorization
Subspaces, Basis, Dimension, and Rank
Introduction to Linear Transformations
Vignette: Robotics
Applications: Markov Chains
Linear Economic Models
Population Growth
Graphs and Digraphs
Error-Correcting Codes.
Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors
Introduction: A Dynamical System on Graphs
Introduction to Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors
Determinants
Vignette: Lewis Carroll's Condensation Method
Exploration: Geometric Applications of Determinants
Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors of n x n Matrices
Similarity and Diagonalization
Iterative Methods for Computing Eigenvalues
Applications and the Perron-Frobenius Theorem: Markov Chains
Population Growth
The Perron-Frobenius Theorem
Linear Recurrence Relations
Systems of Linear Differential Equations
Discrete Linear Dynamical Systems
Vignette: Ranking Sports Teams and Searching the Internet
Orthogonality
Introduction: Shadows on a Wall
Orthogonality in Rn
Orthogonal Complements and Orthogonal Projections
The Gram-Schmidt Process and the QR Factorization
Exploration: The Modified QR Factorization
Exploration: Approximating Eigenvalues with the QR Algorithm
Orthogonal Diagonalization of Symmetric Matrices
Applications: Dual Codes
Quadratic Forms
Graphing Quadratic Equations
Vector Spaces
Introduction: Fibonacci in (Vector) Space
Vector Spaces and Subspaces
Linear Independence, Basis, and Dimension
Exploration: Magic Squares
Change of Basis
Linear Transformations
The Kernel and Range of a Linear Transformation
The Matrix of a Linear Transformation
Exploration: Tilings, Lattices and the Crystallographic Restriction
Applications: Homogeneous Linear Differential Equations
Linear Codes
Distance and Approximation
Introduction: Taxicab Geometry
Inner Product Spaces
Exploration: Vectors and Matrices with Complex Entries
Exploration: Geometric Inequalities and Optimization Problems
Norms and Distance Functions
Least Squares Approximation
The Singular Value Decomposition
Vignette: Digital Image Compression
Applications: Approximation of Functions
Error-Correcting Codes
Mathematical Notation and Methods of Proof
Mathematical Induction
Complex Numbers
Polynomials
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