About

This page contains more explanation about this project. The preface from version 1.00 contains more specific details about how and why I wrote this book and is a good place to begin. The News section below lists some of the milestones in the development of the book, while greater detail can be found in the current Change Log, which is available off the Download page. The Download page also includes a link to two sample sections.

About the Author

On Ben Crowell's site, where he distributes copies of his Light and Matter textbook, he says "Who am I and why should you trust me to tell you about science?" So why would you trust me to tell you about linear algebra? Especially when there is no publishing house in sight to have put some real money behind this project to manufacture a warehouse full of physical copies of the book.

I have been teaching undergraduate mathematics since 1978. The first six years were at the University of Illinois as a graduate teaching assistant with sole responsibility for my own sections. Since 1984, when I received my Ph.D. in mathematics from Illinois, I have taught at the University of Puget Sound, a small liberal arts college which emphasizes excellent teaching, while also valuing the faculty's role as scholars. I have taught linear algebra to sophomores on twenty-six occasions (as of December 2006).

My research interests are in graph theory and combinatorics, and often involve the interplay between these disciplines and algebra. I have published three times in the journal Linear Algebra and Its Applications. Several other of my articles contain topics from linear algebra and have been published in journals such as Journal of Graph Theory and The Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series A. A recent paper on algebraic topics appeared in Expositiones Mathematicae, a journal devoted to good expository writing.

You can learn more about me, and my work, by visting my home page. The proof is in the pudding. Read the book, use it. Study the proofs. If you come to understand the major ideas and subtleties of linear algebra, then it is doing its job.

By The Numbers (December 2006)

• 7 Chapters
• 37 Sections
• 784 Pages
• 113 Definitions
• 223 Theorems
• 254 Examples
• 24 Archetypes
• 288 Exercises
• 192 Solutions

Milestones