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Schaum's Outline
Schaum's Outline of Linear Algebra
Schaum's has Satisfied Students for 50 Years. Now Schaum's Biggest Sellers are in New Editions! For half a century, more than 40 million students have trusted Schaum's to help them study faster, learn better, and get top grades. Now Schaum's celebrates its 50th birthday with a brand-new look, a new format with hundreds of practice problems, and completely updated information to conform to the latest developments in every field of study. Schaum's Outlines-Problem Solved More than 500,000 sold! Linear algebra is a foundation course for students entering mathematics, engineering, and computer science, and the fourth edition includes more problems connected directly with applications to these majors. It is also updated throughout to include new essential appendices in algebraic systems, polynomials, and matrix applications.
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 29, 2013
Goes well beyond an "outline" of elementary linear algebra, especially when compared to the course textbook I was assigned (Elementary Linear Algebra with Applications). Schaum's Outline provided all the same relevant theorems and proofs in rigorous mathematical language while taking time to define common mathematical notation for non-initiates. There are plenty of exercises at various stages of difficulty and application with thorough explanations for most solutions and step-by-step guides for some of the initial problems. There were very few typos or errors that I noticed and the narrative progression of concepts is well-chosen and explained.
This "outline" is pretty much all you need to get through an elementary linear algebra course.
This "outline" is pretty much all you need to get through an elementary linear algebra course.
January 20, 2025
An older edition of this book was my lifesaver as a young student. Since I'm now teaching part of the material, I decided to get the current version - and it's still just as good and as clear as it was 30+ years ago. It takes you from very basic and simple concepts through all kinds of -morphisms to the dual space, all with a lot of exercises, clear definitions, and very good explanations.
It's also cheap for a modern textbook for over 400 letter-sized (nearly A4 for the rest of the world) pages - the recommended price is 26US$, I got it for EUR 16.99. The paper quality isn't the best, but it's functional, and the binding is reasonably robust. If you're struggling in university, or if you plan to study any STEM subject, this is highly recommended.
It's also cheap for a modern textbook for over 400 letter-sized (nearly A4 for the rest of the world) pages - the recommended price is 26US$, I got it for EUR 16.99. The paper quality isn't the best, but it's functional, and the binding is reasonably robust. If you're struggling in university, or if you plan to study any STEM subject, this is highly recommended.
April 27, 2024
I wonder if the people who write these math textbooks ever stay up at night thinking about just how many engineering students they torture monthly. Anyway wish me luck on my final 🥲
July 28, 2017
The outstanding feature of this book is its awful proofreading and editing.
The book is intended for beginning math students – to show them all the steps in doing calculations and simple proofs, but many of the “solved” problems contain errors. There are typos, mistakes in simple arithmetic, and just plain errors in copying a list of numbers in the middle of calculations. I can imagine some poor frustrated undergraduate trying over and over to get the same answer as the book, and not understanding why he or she doesn’t get the “right” answer.
It is a shame, because the format and design of the lessons are good. Someone should have gone through the book and checked the calculations. It is amazing that such a sloppy product was published. (And I have the FIFTH edition!)
The book also has the goofy feature that some quite intricate historically important proofs are suggested as problems, along with problems that only require simple arithmetic. But this doesn’t hurt anyone.
The book is intended for beginning math students – to show them all the steps in doing calculations and simple proofs, but many of the “solved” problems contain errors. There are typos, mistakes in simple arithmetic, and just plain errors in copying a list of numbers in the middle of calculations. I can imagine some poor frustrated undergraduate trying over and over to get the same answer as the book, and not understanding why he or she doesn’t get the “right” answer.
It is a shame, because the format and design of the lessons are good. Someone should have gone through the book and checked the calculations. It is amazing that such a sloppy product was published. (And I have the FIFTH edition!)
The book also has the goofy feature that some quite intricate historically important proofs are suggested as problems, along with problems that only require simple arithmetic. But this doesn’t hurt anyone.
July 28, 2017
The outstanding feature of this book is its awful proofreading and editing.
The book is intended for beginning math students – to show them all the steps in doing calculations and simple proofs, but many of the “solved” problems contain errors. There are typos, mistakes in simple arithmetic, and just plain errors in copying a list of numbers in the middle of calculations. I can imagine some poor frustrated undergraduate trying over and over to get the same answer as the book, and not understanding why he or she doesn’t get the “right” answer.
It is a shame, because the format and design of the lessons are good. Someone should have gone through the book and checked the calculations. It is amazing that such a sloppy product was published. (And I have the FIFTH edition!)
The book also has the goofy feature that some quite intricate historically important proofs are suggested as problems, presumably for the exceptional freshman. But this doesn’t hurt anyone.
The book is intended for beginning math students – to show them all the steps in doing calculations and simple proofs, but many of the “solved” problems contain errors. There are typos, mistakes in simple arithmetic, and just plain errors in copying a list of numbers in the middle of calculations. I can imagine some poor frustrated undergraduate trying over and over to get the same answer as the book, and not understanding why he or she doesn’t get the “right” answer.
It is a shame, because the format and design of the lessons are good. Someone should have gone through the book and checked the calculations. It is amazing that such a sloppy product was published. (And I have the FIFTH edition!)
The book also has the goofy feature that some quite intricate historically important proofs are suggested as problems, presumably for the exceptional freshman. But this doesn’t hurt anyone.
August 12, 2018
I used this book for a proof based course on Linear and Abstract Algebra. I wouldn't recommend this book for anyone seeing Linear Algebra for the first time, as the book doesn't emphasise the geometric intuitions behind the subject. However, it works well for students who have already seen Linear Algebra from a more intuitive standpoint and want to understand the subject more rigorously. The style is very problem focused, and you learn the material in the book from doing the problems, which increase in difficulty. Solving all the problems in sequence and reading all of the proofs enabled me to pick up the underlying themes behind many of the difficult problems, and this gave me a lot of confidence heading into the exams. This may not be an easy read (the material is dense), but it is well worth reading.
April 14, 2018
Well laid out. Covered most of the material for my first year linear algebra course (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)
Major problems with some of the answers in the book, many had mistakes in them... highly recommend double checking the answer with something like Wolfram Alpha...
Major problems with some of the answers in the book, many had mistakes in them... highly recommend double checking the answer with something like Wolfram Alpha...
February 17, 2017
Good book.
I learned a lot with this book and I recommend to everyone.
I learned a lot with this book and I recommend to everyone.
October 9, 2023
This is Schaum's outline at its best. It contains concise explanations of concepts and full proofs and worked examples and plenty of exercises for the reader. My sixth edition contains hardly any errors, which is not the case for every Schaum's book.
My only quibble is that it gives too little motivation for the introduction of new theory and proofs. Especially chapter 10 needs some and should be expanded as it was difficult going for me.
My only quibble is that it gives too little motivation for the introduction of new theory and proofs. Especially chapter 10 needs some and should be expanded as it was difficult going for me.
June 19, 2022
this is a great way to practice linear algebra and overall it's a nice read!
June 17, 2010
Exactly what it promises to be, and not an iota more.
October 13, 2012
Covers the content well enough, but has quite a few mistakes in the content and the exercises
Read
July 3, 2015Inexhaustible works in Algebra here, a good read too on Linear systems.
Read
April 5, 2017Of course I didn't read it entirely : I just glanced through reading chapters on vector spaces. I found this book very useful. Maybe the best things are 1) the methods given and 2) the massive number of corrected exercices.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews