OK you math fans... I need a good book to teach myself LINEAR ALGEBRA!

[slugg]

One of my favorite math books of all time (well, book series) is The Streetwise Guide to Calculus. This book series was actually FUNNY with all the corny math jokes and explained calculus in a fun and enjoyable way without the unnecessary complicated vocabulary that makes MOST math text books completely useless.

I don't mind getting two books. In fact, when I taught myself calculus, I had 3 books. Two were the 2 books in the Streetwise Guide series, the third was a standard calculus textbook. I used the Streetwise Guide to learn the material, and I used the textbook for practice questions and formal definitions.

So anyways... I will be taking a course on discrete wavelets next semester. This is a senior level and sometimes graduate level course, while this is currently only my second semester in college. A prerequisite for the course is linear algebra, however I have never taken a linear algebra course nor is it required for my degree, so I can either waste a semester on it, or I can learn it myself and just take a test to get credit for the course. This is what I did with some of calculus

I'd really like a book that does a good job of explaining the subject material. I don't really need anything with many work problems, but at least a few examples and some very clear, easily understood explanations. Remember that this is for SELF STUDY and most text books are designed to solely be a supplement to a professor's lecture. I need a book that is designed for self study, not an actual class.

Thanks in advance to all you math geeks out there

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

That's not a bad idea... study math on your own and test out of the classes so you don't have to take them.

 

[BrownTown]

wow, your doing wavelets in second semester of college, thats crazy. I don't think they are taught at any course I have see in the electrical engineering program although I know they are in at least one math class. All I know is that its another way of representing the frequency domain that has advantages over the Fourier transform. Do you know exactly what you need the linear algebra for?, might just be best to learn the part that applies to the class. I guess it has to do with the discrete wavelet transform and such. But usually a person doesn't actually do all that math without the aid of a computer, so unless you know you need to be able to do the math you might just get away with understanding the basic concepts. Personally I think linear algebra is a very useful tool in math, and also much simpler to understand than calculus from a beginners point of view.

 

[slugg]

Yes we will be using Mathematica, so yes it'll be computer aided.

I'm not sure what kind of linear algebra will be used, since I've never taken this "discrete wavelets" course before, but we will be covering "digital image compression, image edge detection, and signal de-noising, including complex numbers, convolutions, Fourier series, and the Haar wavelet transform" as per the syllabus.

Regardless of what is REQUIRED for the course, I'd really just like to learn the whole spectrum of linear algebra. Besides, in order to take the discrete wavelets course, one of the many prerequisites is linear algebra. I have no choice but to learn the whole thing

I think I may go with this book and combine it with MIT's open-course-ware lectures. It's not the same book as what they assign in their course, but at least I can use MIT's lectures to supplement the reading material in this book. The reviews look good and its a VERY good price. I was just hoping for something more enjoyable, such as the streetwise guides to calculus. Oh well, lol

Any suggestions, please let me know!

 

[CraKaJaX]

Hmm.. I posted a thread a while back on naming some good calc books. I'll look into the one you mentioned.

Right now I am using Schaum's outline book on calc. It's helpful, but for some reason I remember the corny stuff better

 

[Chaotic42]

I asked the Streetwise people to make a linear algebra book. They said they'd look into it. All I can say is avoid the linear algebra book with a picture of a money on it surrounded by smaller pictures of monkeys. I think it's by Anton.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

lol, i thought the title said LIBERAL AGENDA.

 

[skyking]

I've got ISBN 0-201034774-1
It was new in 2000~2001
Too old for you?

 

[slugg]

^^ can't find a book with that ISBN

I think I might just save up the money and get the book they use at MIT - that way the open-course-ware will work nicely :-D