About

This page contains more explanation about this project. The preface 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 development page.

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 will have taught linear algebra to sophomores on thirty-nine occasions (as of May 2014).

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 more recent paper on algebraic topics appeared in Expositiones Mathematicae, a journal devoted to good expository writing.

I assist Tom Judson with the production of his very successful open source text book on abstract algebra. I have been the Lead Principal Investigator on a National Science Foundation education grant which featured open textbooks prominently.

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 (Version 3.00, December 2012)

• 8 Chapters
• 37 Sections
• 103 Definitions
• 230 Theorems
• 252 Examples
• 24 Archetypes
• 95 Sage Vignettes
• 1344 Sage Cells
• 420 Exercises
• 351 Solutions

In the News

• A mention in Seth Godin's blog, February 25, 2009
• EDUCAUSE Review Cover Story [FCLA Section], January/February 2009
• Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 24, 2008
• Hattiesburg American, August 20, 2008
• American Public Media, Marketplace, August 18, 2008
• Los Angeles Times, August 18, 2008
• USA Today, July 9, 2008
• SlashDot, April 26, 2008
• New York Times Editorial, April 25, 2008
• Internet Scout, April 25, 2008
• Inside Higher Ed, April 16, 2008
• SchoolZone Blog, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 14, 2008
• Review in The Assayer
• Letter to the Editor, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 7, 2008
• The Oregonian, September 8, 2007
• Notices of the American Mathematical Society, August, 2007
• Arches (UPS Alumni Magazine), July, 2007
• LifeHacker, September 25, 2006
• USA Today, August 16, 2006
• The Trail (UPS Student Newspaper), March 24, 2006

Milestones