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Title: Matrices and Linear Algebra (Dover Books on Advanced Mathematics)
ISBN: 0486660141
Author:
Hans Schneider
George Phillip Barker
Publicate Date: 1989-06-01
Publish: 1989-06-01
List Price: $16.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $5.00
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $4.92
Amazon Merchant Price: $12.71
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Not good for engineering students
This book, as already pointed by one reviewer, is filled with theorems and proofs, barely is there any application. If you wish to use linear algebra, look for another book. I found David Lay's book to be a good choice. I give it low rate not to denouce it but to emphasize this fact.
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2: Cheap, formal, well written
On my desk right now, books by: David C. Lay, Terry Lawson, Sheldon Axler, Klaus J??nich, Robert Valenza, and this one by Schneider and Barker. I tend to go back again and again here.
I'm using this book as a supplement for the textbook in my class. Some of the books cited above don't quite fit the bill because they're so different from the linear algebra for engineering you so often see in classes. But this one is excellent for a matrix-heavy approach.
This book is "bare bones", indeed, but it is very well written. Some might not be used to definitions, propositions, theorems and lemmas but in this case this makes it a whole lot easier for finding (and referencing) the important results. The notation is careful and formal, but the explanations are crystal clear. On the back cover it says it's geared towards students "outside the field of mathematics" but I think they say that because it avoids a purely algebraic approach (like in Valenza where e.g. Ker is defined in the context of group homomorphism). The approach is the one of matrixes, matrixes everywhere (row echelon algorithm, etc.) There are, however, no "modern" applications (such as networks, or ecology) as examples.
Another reviewer complained about the difficulty in exercises. While you have "drill" ones, you do have more conceptual ones, but I think they're on par with the text. There are no pretty illustrations here, and you will see that you don't need them.
In some other books, material might be presented in a wordy manner, but in this book, you just say "ah, so what so-and-so is saying is just Theorem number X.X.X in S&B."
On the whole, this is an excellent acquisition for your undergraduate library. It is cheap and good. What more do you want?
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3: Surf the web instead.
For about three years, I haven't thought about linear algebra at all. But recently, I've been interested in it again, and went to this book for reference.
I'm lucky if I can find one nice clear example of anything in this book. This is a proof book all the way, and it's not for your general type of audience. This is bare bones stuff. That's probably why the price is 14 bucks instead of 140.
Instead of getting a book like this, I recommend getting a more expensive book that's easier to understand, or just surf the internet for information. I have had some success with the latter option.
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4: Supplemental Superiority
As a physics major, i've been told by my E & M teacher that Linear Algebra is one of the two games to be played in physics. (The other naturally being calculus). So, what happens when it comes time to take Linear Algebra and the teacher only serves to confuse the material, and the college textbook is a normal college math book? (a.k.a. not well written or useful). Get Dover books. And this book delivers for me. Everything i'm supposed to learn in Shifrin's text is presented here with much clearer writing. (Especially in drawing your eye to the thereoms, any one who wants to Linear Algebra without knowing the thereoms or applying them to the homework should probably stop now and go back to Trig.) It seems this book would make a good stand alone text, provided you are willing to not expect calculus cookbookness, because it's my side text that trumps my main textbook for 1/10th the price. And in closing, thank God for Dover for making life as a physics major that much cheaper.
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5: You can do much, much better
First, the text of this book is extremely well-written, the theorems are clearly stated and the proofs are well-presented. Unfortunately, there are LOADS of typos in this book, but that doesn't bother me.
What bothers me are the exercises at the end of each section - the difficulty level of several (not all) of them is far beyond the depth of the text. The text is supposed to be for "undergraduates with little mathematical experience". Don't you believe it. There are problems early in the book that ask you to write proofs that require a depth of understanding that the text does not come close to providing. Many times I was absolutely convinced that the text and the exercises were from completely different textbooks! If the author is going to include difficult or "let's see how well you got this" problems I'm all for it, but at least include some hints in the back to help students get started. Otherwise you're just stranded on your lonely little mathematical island....hungry and cold and completely screwed.
If you just want a book for reference, then this is a very good choice. However, if you are attempting to learn the material and are interested in trying your hand at more than a few problems then I strongly suggest you look elsewhere.
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