BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:researchseminars.org CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:researchseminars.org BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:James McClure (Purdue University) DTSTART:20250415T160000Z DTEND:20250415T170000Z DTSTAMP:20260423T005719Z UID:ESME/50 DESCRIPTION:Title: Ma king linear algebra student-friendly by re-ordering the topics and adaptin g the tone\nby James McClure (Purdue University) as part of Online Sem inar On Undergraduate Mathematics Education\n\n\nAbstract\nLinear Algebra is often an obstacle for students whose only prior experience is with calc ulus. I discuss a textbook I'm writing that takes a very different approac h from existing textbooks. The target audience is ordinary students\, not honors students. A key organizing principle is for the course to have a na rrative arc\, with near term and longer-term goals pointing the way forwar d at each stage. The arc for the first part of the course focuses on diago nalization\, first for the 2 x 2 case\, and then using the $n x n$ case as motivation for concepts like linear independence. Another important organ izing principle is to introduce a concept only when it is necessary for th e arc—for example\, the transpose of a matrix isn't introduced until cha pter 18—and then to give the students an intensive experience of using t he concept. Proofs are a basic part of the course\, and most homework prob lems are proofs\; however\, the usual emphasis on formal language is avoid ed (set theoretic language isn't used until chapter 16 and quantifiers are never used) without loss of mathematical correctness. The approach is bot h student-friendly and mathematically rich.\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/ESME/50/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR