Student Study Guide for Linear Algebra with Applications

I have taught from this textbook (previous edition) and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you are a undergraduate/graduate math major, this is not the book for you. If you are an undergraduate engineering or science major, I doubt you can find a better book on Linear Algebra. What I liked the most about this book is that the author has managed to convey a lot with very few words. For those who want to teach themselves Linear Algebra, this is a great book iff you are willing to figure out missing steps in the theory presented. Trust me, it leads to much better understanding than reading a textbook with all details presented.

This is a good linear algebra book for those who are a little bit more advanced, and who have a good background in the language of mathematics. This book has a theoretical emphasis rather than applicable on a chapter to chapter basis even thought that it is title with applications because it does contain applications of the theory in every chapters, actually it contains lots of applications, but the actual teaching of the theory is more theoretical than other books. Is a very good book, but if you are buying a book to learn the basics of linear algebra this one might be a little confusing for the reader that does not contain a solid math background. In other words it is a book written for students with a little bit more mathematical maturity. perhaps for students at the junior level of a mathematical bachelor, rather than for the engineers. But it is a great book with "proofs" and "applications" is great.

Overall, I thought was well laid out. I would probably like to see more practical application of linear algebra to real world problems.

First of all, I would like to say this book is not for beginers. If you have no idea what a matrix is, don't use this book. However if you have taken an introductory course in linear algebra or you already have a reasonably well foundation in this subject, then you should have no problem in understanding following the text. Although the explaination in this book is not particularly outstanding, it does treat some advanced topics like eigenvalues, numerical linear algebra elegantly. I would like to recommend this book to persons who would like to seek a more advanced linear algebra book for reference or self studying.Finally, regarding to other reviews on this book, I would like to point out:1. Linear algebra courses usually won't teach you how to prove. Go and take analysis courses if you like proving theorems.2. If you are an absolute beginner, take some introductory courses on linear algebra FIRST before you take courses that use this book. I don't think any college will use this book in the first course in linear algebra.

I found this book great in order to "fix holes' in my mathematical weaponry or to get a quick review of things I needed; but I think that the way in which the theoretical stuff is developed is sometimes not very clear to those folks who have to tackle with the subject for the very first time. The applications are a remarkable feature of this book, introducing the reader to some very interesting applications of linear algebra in a variety of fields.