There will be two problem sessions before our final exam.
Alex Phu Dang
Saturday, December 19, 2015
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, 633 Mudd
Dave Bayer
Sunday, December 20, 2015
7:30 PM to 11:00 PM, 504 Diana (Barnard)
Our final exam will be held on Tuesday, December 22, 9:00am-Noon, in 202 Altschul (Barnard). Note that this is not our usual classroom.
Our final exam will be partly review, and partly new material, from Chapters 8 and 9 (Quadratic Forms, Linear Differential Equations) of Bretscher (any edition). As always, one can work problems from the text for additional practice.
There will be three review questions. These will be modeled on problems that have appeared on our three midterms, all of which have been posted. So one may review by studying our exams. Expect problems that many people found difficult the first time around.
There will be five questions based on material since our last exam. They will be modeled on problems from our fourth set of homework exercises. So one may prepare by studying these exercises.
The last question on our final may combine ideas in a novel way. It will be intended to test understanding of the concepts in our course; it is unlikely that anyone will be able to solve it by rote. Please budget your time wisely, and do not attempt to solve this last question until you are certain that your answers to the other seven questions are correct.
Homework is due at the latest by our final exam; it is in your interest to complete the homework sooner. Each problem will be scanned, graded, and returned as a PDF file. Collaboration on problems is encouraged, but each student must submit their own work.
Homework can be handed in online using your CourseWorks drop box, or at the start of our final exam, or using our math department homework box. Our homework box is on the fourth floor of the Mathematics building, on the left as one walks toward my office, 426 Math. Look for Bayer on our box; several students have lost homework by placing it in boxes for other sections of Linear Algebra.
If for any reason you are not present at our final exam, your homework is still due by the time of our final exam. For example, Disability Services takes several days to forward exams to me. You can not give them your homework; it will be late.
I have posted a practice set with solutions, to serve as a model for completing this assignment.
The following is the university policy regarding exam scheduling:
Students will occasionally have two exams scheduled for the same time. If one of the exams is a departmental exam for a class with several sections, the student should contact the department to arrange a make-up exam. Similarly, no student is obliged to take three exams on any given calendar day. Students with three exams on the same day should visit the Student Service Center in 205 Kent Hall to fill out a form which can then be submitted to each instructor or department. An attempt will then be made to arrange for one of the instructors to schedule a make-up exam on a different day. Examinations are not rescheduled to accommodate travel plans.
Previous semester study guides include many links to other problems:
There are many ways to solve eigenvalue problems. We have covered a number of methods in class, not all of which are documented in this semester’s solution sets. Many of these and other methods appear in older solution sets. It is highly recommended that students study solution sets from previous semesters, in addition to this semester’s course materials.
What is the point of understanding more than one method? Ideally, one solves a problem several times by different methods, to be certain one is correct. However, even imagining the process of solving a problem by a second method is useful for comprehension.
This page hosts the above files, and many other PDF files from previous semesters.