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To those of you who have taken elementary linear algebra.

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Did you like vector spaces?
Yes 67%  67%  [ 8 ]
No 8%  8%  [ 1 ]
Waffles 25%  25%  [ 3 ]
Total votes : 12

Wyldfaery
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06 May 2011, 5:54 am

Did you enjoy the part of the class that dealt with vector spaces?

We covered them in my class a few weeks ago and I think that it may end up being the part that I enjoyed the most ^_^
I "may" *ahem* have actually gone a little overboard and typed up the entire homework assignment for that section using an emacs-like LaTeX editor n_n;; (don't worry, I got 100% on that assignment)



ruveyn
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06 May 2011, 7:38 am

It is not a matter of like or dislike. One cannot do the mathematics required by physics and the other "hard" sciences without vector spaces.

ruveyn



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06 May 2011, 8:02 am

Wyldfaery wrote:
Did you enjoy the part of the class that dealt with vector spaces?

We covered them in my class a few weeks ago and I think that it may end up being the part that I enjoyed the most ^_^
I "may" *ahem* have actually gone a little overboard and typed up the entire homework assignment for that section using an emacs-like LaTeX editor n_n;; (don't worry, I got 100% on that assignment)


I like most maths courses.



Jono
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06 May 2011, 8:03 am

ruveyn wrote:
It is not a matter of like or dislike. One cannot do the mathematics required by physics and the other "hard" sciences without vector spaces.

ruveyn


I think he was asking whether or not people enjoyed the class.



Twirlip
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06 May 2011, 8:30 am

I enjoyed reading Sheldon Axler's book Linear Algebra Done Right, a couple of years ago. I read it on my own, and did all the exercises (except for one which needed symbolic computation software, which I don't have), so it must have been fun!

Many, many years before that, I read most of Roger Godement's Algebra (which is mostly linear algebra), and Hartley and Hawkes' Rings, Modules and Linear Algebra, but I didn't bother doing many of the exercises (correction: I do seem to have done nearly all of the exercises in H & H, but I can't remember a thing about it!), and I can't say I actually enjoyed reading either book, nor am I much good at retaining anything I've read (for more than a week or so at most).

I have only recently, very late in life, slowly started to enjoy doing mathematics more, but for the last couple of years I've been hitting a brick wall in my mind again, and haven't been able to study much at all.

I used to treat my own mind like an unconscious machine which I could exploit to get good results in examinations, but I never, until recently, seem to have treated my own mind as a human being - if that makes sense to anybody!

(I fear it may not! Not all my problems are Aspie problems, and I feel I must be a bit mad, even by the Aspie standard of sanity, which probably makes far more sense to me than the NT standard of sanity. So, just ignore me if I seem to be spouting nonsense.)


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Josieposie
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06 May 2011, 10:31 am

:roll:



mcg
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06 May 2011, 12:24 pm

You mean the entire class?



Wyldfaery
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07 May 2011, 5:15 am

As there seems to be some confusion about this: I am specifically asking about the portion of the course that dealt specifically with vector spaces as the main topic of discussion as opposed to any of the prerequisites or the material that follows from it (like subspaces and orthogonal compliments).

@ruveyn: it is certainly a matter of like and dislike for me; the fact that a thing or topic that has practical uses does not automatically imply that it cannot be liked or disliked (look at trigonometric substitution, for instance, which is generally though of as particularly loathsome but was quite useful until calculators capable of handling complicated integrations were created).

I am a pure mathematics major and, no offense intended, honestly couldn't care less about doing physics or other hard sciences; they bore me.



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07 May 2011, 5:26 am

Josieposie wrote:
:roll:

Why the eye-rolling? I assume it was aimed at me. (Pardon me if it wasn't.) I don't mind, so long as I know what specifically I did that was annoying.


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ruveyn
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07 May 2011, 7:16 am

Wyldfaery wrote:

I am a pure mathematics major and, no offense intended, honestly couldn't care less about doing physics or other hard sciences; they bore me.


If you study "pure" mathematics then you must know the theory of linear spaces and operators is a thing a beauty.

ruveyn



Josieposie
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07 May 2011, 5:13 pm

Twirlip wrote:
Josieposie wrote:
:roll:

Why the eye-rolling? I assume it was aimed at me. (Pardon me if it wasn't.) I don't mind, so long as I know what specifically I did that was annoying.


No not at all. I have just handed in my final assessment for this semesters linear algebra course. Felt stressed and let it out a little on the entire thread. More Ruveyn then you, it must be said. :wink:



ryan93
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07 May 2011, 6:22 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Wyldfaery wrote:

I am a pure mathematics major and, no offense intended, honestly couldn't care less about doing physics or other hard sciences; they bore me.


If you study "pure" mathematics then you must know the theory of linear spaces and operators is a thing a beauty.

ruveyn


Hell, I only did one year of algebra, and I thought it was fantastic. I made a n x n matrix calculator in R so I wouldn't have to deal with the (very tedious) calculation side. I only like dealing with information in vector/matrix form now, because the operations are so useful.


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Twirlip
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08 May 2011, 3:42 am

Josieposie wrote:
Twirlip wrote:
Josieposie wrote:
:roll:

Why the eye-rolling? I assume it was aimed at me. (Pardon me if it wasn't.) I don't mind, so long as I know what specifically I did that was annoying.


No not at all. I have just handed in my final assessment for this semesters linear algebra course. Felt stressed and let it out a little on the entire thread. More Ruveyn then you, it must be said. :wink:

Whew! :)


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Wyldfaery
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09 May 2011, 12:44 am

ruveyn wrote:
Wyldfaery wrote:

I am a pure mathematics major and, no offense intended, honestly couldn't care less about doing physics or other hard sciences; they bore me.


If you study "pure" mathematics then you must know the theory of linear spaces and operators is a thing a beauty.

ruveyn

Of course I do. Why? Did I make a statement that seemed to have imply otherwise? :P

Recently I have begun to suspect that there is a very strong chance that I will end up becoming an algebraist; though I have been giving strong consideration to eventually pursuing dual graduate degrees in mathematics in order to allow for a second specialty.



ruveyn
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09 May 2011, 4:01 am

Wyldfaery wrote:

I am a pure mathematics major and, no offense intended, honestly couldn't care less about doing physics or other hard sciences; they bore me.


The physical sciences that bore you are the source of most of our good mathematics. Newton and Leibniz did not invent calculus and differential equations in a search for beauty. They did so to deal with motion and change in the physical world.

ruveyn