Linear Algebra and Its Applications by David C. Lay

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #1050543 in Books
Published on: 2003-01
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
492 pages
Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David C. Lay holds a B.A. from Aurora University (Illinois), and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles. Lay has been an educator and research mathematician since 1966, mostly at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Amsterdam, the Free University in Amsterdam, and the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. He has over 30 research articles published in functional analysis and linear algebra.

As a founding member of the NSF-sponsored Linear Algebra Curriculum Study Group, Lay has been a leader in the current movement to modernize the linear algebra curriculum. Lay is also co-author of several mathematics texts, including Introduction to Functional Analysis, with Angus E. Taylor, Calculus and Its Applications, with L.J. Goldstein and D.I. Schneider, and Linear Algebra Gems-Assets for Undergraduate Mathematics, with D. Carlson, C.R. Johnson, and A.D. Porter.

A top-notch educator, Professor Lay has received four university awards for teaching excellence, including, in 1996, the title of Distinguished Scholar-Teacher of the University of Maryland. In 1994, he was given one of the Mathematical Association of America's Awards for Distinguished College or Unviersity Teaching of Mathematics. He has been elected by the university students to membership in Alpha Lambda Delta National Scholastic Honor Society and Golden Key National Honor Society. In 1989, Aurora University conferred on him the Outstanding Alumnus award. Lay is a member of the American Mathematical Society, the Canadian Mathematical Society, the International Linear Algebra Society, the Mathematical Association of America, Sigma Xi, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Since 1992, he has served several terms on the national board of the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences.
Customer Reviews

Incredibly Accessible
I used this book to teach myself linear algebra using a lesson plan developed by a teacher. A few things I found really helpful:

Lay constantly admonishes the reader to carefully study the text, by reading and re-reading. He understands that students learning linear algebra are likely to to be embarking on more abstract/advanced mathematics in the future--and he cares enough to teach good study skills as well as math. I've followed his advice, and found that with proper effort, I am able to teach myself.

Many of the questions are conceptual or True/False, which helps me to retain new concepts.

The study guide (sold separately, but very important if you're self-teaching) only includes answers to odd-numbered exercises. However, the answers are nicely detailed.

I especially appreciate that Lay refuses to flat-out offer answers to conceptual and True/False questions. Instead, there are hints and references to page numbers where helpful information can be found. This is important, not only because it (again) helps reinforce good study skills, but it encourages students to really try a problem before giving up and looking up the answer.

The introduction of new concepts is always followed by one or more examples, which helps to link theory to practice. In general, there are many examples that illustrate good problem-solving techniques. Proofs are detailed and well-justified, and there are some simple proofs that are left as problems in the book. These proofs are simple enough to not be terribly daunting to the student who is new to more abstract mathematical ideas.

For the student who would ask, "well what is it good for?" there are plenty of sections dedicated purely to applications of material learned in previous sections.

Detail-oriented methodical learners like myself should benefit from this book.

a good teacher helps...
covers 75% of the detail and leaves the 25% up to you. it lacks clear explition is vector space secotion (row col vector nul basis etc). it seems like you do the first coumple of sections not understanding what you are getting at but when you get to chapter 6 or so the past stuff finaly makes sense. I found the book hard to understand when it was talking about maping, one to one on too. i suggest a TI-83 or higher and the solutions manual. The book also lacks pictures showing dimention row col nul basis etc.

Choose Another Book
The organization and the treatment given to most subjects are well below what one would expect for a Wikipedia entry on each respective topic.

Anyone who uses this book for any kind of self-study is unlikely to get more out of it more than a few examples on multiplying matrices, row reduction, and some poetry about eigen-spaces and vector spaces.

Take a look at ``Linear Algebra Done Right'' by Alxr.