MAT 211: Introduction to Linear Algebra, Fall 2026

Instructor: Johan Asplund, johan.asplund[at]stonybrook.edu, Office: Math Tower 4-105.
Class time and location: MW 5:00–6:20pm, Physics P112.
Office hours: MW 2:30–3:30pm (Math Tower 4-105) and Tu 5–6pm (MLC via Zoom).
Grader: Daniel Johnson, Daniel.A.Johnson[at]stonybrook.edu.

Syllabus: Here.
Textbook: Linear Algebra with Applications (5th edition) by Otto Bretscher.

Quizzes and suggested problems: Most weeks there will be an in-class quiz. It will be held at the end of the class at the dates indicated in the tentative schedule below. Each quiz consists of one or two problems.


Tentative schedule

Date Topic Read Problems Quiz
Mon Aug 24 Linear systems, matrices and vectors 1.1, 1.2 (notes) 1.1.9, 1.2.4, 1.2.5, 1.2.11
Wed Aug 26 Gauss–Jordan elimination, matrix operations 1.2, 1.3 (notes) 1.2.21, 1.3.4, 1.3.6, 1.3.20
Mon Aug 31 Linear transformations 2.1 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.5, 2.1.20 Quiz 1
Wed Sep 2 Linear transformations in geometry 2.2 2.2.2, 2.2.7, 2.2.19, 2.2.20
Mon Sep 7 No class (Labor day)
Wed Sep 9 Matrix products 2.3 2.3.3, 2.3.4, 2.3.14, 2.3.20 Quiz 2
Mon Sep 14 Inverses of linear transformations 2.4 2.3.3, 2.3.4, 2.3.14, 2.3.20
Wed Sep 16 Image and kernel of linear transformations 3.1 3.1.5, 3.1.14, 3.1.21, 3.1.24 Quiz 3
Mon Sep 21 Subspaces and bases 3.2 3.2.1, 3.2.5, 3.2.14, 3.2.27
Wed Sep 23 Dimension 3.3 3.3.3, 3.3.11, 3.3.22, 3.3.27 Quiz 4
Mon Sep 28 Coordinates 3.4 3.4.5, 3.4.10, 3.4.15, 3.4.23(a)
Wed Sep 30 Orthogonal projections 5.1 5.1.2, 5.1.5, 5.1.10, 5.1.15 Quiz 5
Mon Oct 5 Midterm review 1.1–3.4
Wed Oct 7 Midterm I (In class)
Mon Oct 12 No class (Fall break)
Wed Oct 14 No class (Fall break)
Mon Oct 19 Gram–Schmidt process 5.2 5.2.5, 5.2.7, 5.2.29, 5.2.32
Wed Oct 21 Orthogonal transformations 5.3 5.3.3, 5.3.7, 5.3.8, 5.3.15, 5.3.16
Mon Oct 26 Least squares 5.4 5.4.1, 5.4.3, 5.4.5, 5.4.8(e) Quiz 6
Wed Oct 28 Inner product spaces 5.5 5.5.1, 5.5.5, 5.5.8, 5.5.22
Mon Nov 2 Determinants 6.1 6.1.4, 6.1.9, 6.1.23, 6.1.28 Quiz 7
Wed Nov 4 More determinants 6.2 6.2.3, 6.2.8, 6.2.17, 6.2.38
Mon Nov 9 Midterm review 5.1–6.2
Wed Nov 11 Midterm II (In class)
Mon Nov 16 Cramer's rule 6.3 6.3.1, 6.3.22, 6.3.25
Wed Nov 18 Diagonalization 7.1 7.1.1, 7.1.4, 7.1.8, 7.1.15 Quiz 8
Mon Nov 23 Eigenvalues 7.2 7.2.3, 7.2.9, 7.2.11, 7.2.17
Wed Nov 25 No class (Thanksgiving)
Mon Nov 30 Eigenvectors 7.3 7.3.4, 7.3.10, 7.3.22, 7.3.24 Quiz 9
Wed Dec 2 Applications of diagonalization 7.4 7.4.2, 7.4.9
Mon Dec 7 Final review 1.1–7.4
Mon Dec 14 Final Exam: 11:15am–1:45pm, TBA