3,000 Solved Problems in Linear Algebra

Rating:
Summary: Very good book, worth the price
Review: I got an A in my Linear Algebra class. Part of it may be due to the countless hours upon hours that I studied every week. However, the tools at my disposal helped make the quality of the time worthy. This book is another valueable tool to keep in your toolchest and I'd recommend this as an accompanyment to your class. They do a great job with Vector spaces and Determinants as well as Gaussian elimination. I particularly liked some of the "trick" questions that they stuck in from chapter to chapter (great study aid as many teachers like to stick these types of trick questions). My only complaint is that they prefer to calculate the basis of a row space by non-transposition (whereas our teacher (in our course) used the transposition technique) so I could not really go by that section (thus the **** rather than ***** review) but I can't really fault the author as teachers have their preferences as to how they want their students to calculate certain answers.

I recommend this book. Heck, it's only $24 (you can get a used copy for half the price) and I suspect you'll spend "more" time with this book than you will your actual $100+ textbook (I know that I did).

I'd also like to recommend that you hunt down a used copy (or go to your library and see if they have it) of "Elementary Linear Algebra" by Howard Anton. We had to use the Grossman book (along with its confusing examples and below-average way of showing proofs). After getting frustrated with the Grossman book (and only using it to do the homework problems (but not using the book to actually understand the concepts as the book was way-below-par in doing so) as our teacher assigned us numerous problems), I stuck mainly with the Anton book (any edition after (or including) the 4th edition will do) and this book to get me thru the course with an A.

Get this book though. Even if it helps you understand just one topic more clearly then your textbook (and I'm sure it will help you with dozens), it will have paid for itself. You can never practice enough (as Linear algebra will take alot of your time) and this book will come in handy with their explanation and sample problems (that so many textbooks neglect to show). One word of caution though is that the author prefers to solve some of the problems in ways that your teacher may not. Never-the-less, a good book.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book
Review: This book contains 3000 Solved Problems (duh) for those who learn best by example. If you need to catch up on your linear algebra knowledge, or currently taking a class, this book will take the abstract concepts and lay them out in example. Some of the problems do ask for proofs (1 out of 15 or so) of certain theories. But don't let that scare you, if you don't like proofs. Practicing answering these proofs with the answer right in front of you, will not only help you construct proofs in the future, but also will also help you organize the thought processes and give you a better concept and intuition of the material.
The range of material covered is more than you will find in the lower undergraduate class. If you take the time to work through this book, you will be a master of the topic with a much wider foundation and with many different approaches to same problem. If you are a veteran of Linear Algebra, this will refresh your memory and may add new elements to the subject that you weren't presented initially, such as manipulations of a matrix in C not just R. It will also help you catch up on the little "details" which you might have absorbed for the duration that you thought you would be tested on it, but after such time the information vanished into the void of forgotten math.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book
Review: This book contains 3000 Solved Problems (duh) for those who learn best by example. If you need to catch up on your linear algebra knowledge, or currently taking a class, this book will take the abstract concepts and lay them out in example. Some of the problems do ask for proofs (1 out of 15 or so) of certain theories. But don't let that scare you, if you don't like proofs. Practicing answering these proofs with the answer right in front of you, will not only help you construct proofs in the future, but also will also help you organize the thought processes and give you a better concept and intuition of the material.
The range of material covered is more than you will find in the lower undergraduate class. If you take the time to work through this book, you will be a master of the topic with a much wider foundation and with many different approaches to same problem. If you are a veteran of Linear Algebra, this will refresh your memory and may add new elements to the subject that you weren't presented initially, such as manipulations of a matrix in C not just R. It will also help you catch up on the little "details" which you might have absorbed for the duration that you thought you would be tested on it, but after such time the information vanished into the void of forgotten math.

Rating:
Summary: A must have for any linear algebra student
Review: This book covers the basics and the more complex topics. The examples are well written and provide enough detail to help any student.

Rating:
Summary: It is a good book for mathematicians.
Review: This book has 3000 problems.However, many of them are similar.I recommend engineers to find a book that is better than this.

Rating:
Summary: Good book but without index.
Review: This book is a good complement for any course of Linear Algebra.
Is very clear and complete. Unfortunately it does not have a detailed index at the end of the book, in spite of being announced in the front cover. Only a Table of Contents is available. Other Schaum's Solved Problems books have a really great index that help students locate the type of problem they need to solve.

Jorge O. Henao