What major is generally for smart persons? Is Linear Algebra generally hard or is just me that is dull?

I use to think that physics, engineering and computer science are for people who are naturally gifted for them. ie. good mathematics persons. A course like linear algebra is kinda very abstract for me to comprehend. Am I dull or the course is generally hard? How may I help myself? Do I change my major?What major is generally for smart persons? Is Linear Algebra generally hard or is just me that is dull?
I consider myself pretty good at math. I've got over 60 college credit hours in math. Linear Algebra kicked my butt. It's very difficult to ';visualize'; the concepts. It's VERY abstract. It requires a lot of memorization. Get the REA Linear Algebra Problem Solver. There are examples of EVERY type of problem you'll encounter. You can get it at many used book stores, or even your local library. If you can't find it at a used or new bookstore, try looking at http://www.half.ebay.com



It's only one course, so don't use it to decide if you should change your major. Look at how you do in your other math courses. They will be a better meter of how you'll do.What major is generally for smart persons? Is Linear Algebra generally hard or is just me that is dull?
Having spent a few years teaching college math, I have to say that Gymdude pretty much nailed it.

Fact is... There is a -huge- difference between being able to do a thing and teach a thing. (And that's true in everything, not just math) I don't think I ever taught Diff.Eq. without someone asking at least one question that made me actually wonder if I understood it as well as I thought I did鈽? And the fact is that for all my students said that they learned from me, I usually learned even more from them.

Try another teacher. And remember that everybody 'learns' differently because no two people ever have the exact same referential background to which they relate new knowledge. The wise teacher knows how to say the same thing at least 3 or 4 different ways. After the 3'rd or 4'th time, if you see all of the headlights in the class are on, you're ready to move on to the next item. If not, you should start asking yourself, ';What am I doing wrong?';

The other problem is that -way- too many teachers are willing to give a student a passing grade just to get rid of them. And all that does is screw the student up even more later on. You really have to have it all together before you start to hit the more abstract areas. Don't be afraid to go find one of the 'worked problem' outlines (either in a bookstore or online) and work through a few of the problems. Don't just look at them, take paper and pencil and do the steps to make certain you understand what was done and, more importantly, -why- it was done that way.



HTH,

Doug
Engineering is the hardest major because it is basically having a major in Mathematics and a major in Science.
Linear algebra can seem basic, or it can seem quite difficult depending on who is introducing it to you. For instance, I tried it the first time as a freshman at USC with a man who spent the entire first day talking about subspaces. He also did not provide one non-abstract example the entire class. 2 girls even cried during this class - though he was very rude to them. I dropped it immediately. The next year I transferred to a different university and took it again, and this time it was introduced correctly and I breezed through it.



So it may not be you that is dull. If you professor started off with a review of matricies and vectors, and started you off solving systems, finding inverses, adjoints, transposes, etc of matricies .....and then started talking about vector spaces, subspaces, spanning sets, basis, diagonalization, and maybe THEN the tough stuff, then he or she has done it correctly. Otherwise you may well feel lost in a sea of confusion.



If they have followed this format and you are still sinking, remember that linear algebra is cumulative just like high school algebra. See if you can try to narrow down where your most basic problem lies. If rank, spanning sets, and other introductory ideas are giving you fits you can forget about hermitian operators and real hard stuff.

Make SURE you are solid with matrix manipulation, as you'll work with them extensively. Make sure you know properties of determinants like det(AB)=det(A)det(B) and that A^(-1) exists iff det(A) not equal to 0. Make sure you know the definition of a vector space, and the definition of a subspace. Make sure you know lots of examples of vector spaces and subspaces, as professors LOVE to ask for examples of such. If you can do these things, you should get through any introductory linear algebra course as the final should test mostly the basics.



Now, if you're taking advanced linear algebra or a linear algebra graduate seminar, you gotta know undergrad LA inside and out!!!!



Also, I assume you ARE reading your book. If it is too in the clouds for you, go to the library and look for another text book. There are some real nice linear algebra books out there (modern day) written with the idea in mind that not all taking linear algebra intend to become mathematicians - and most are incorporating some differential equations into it.



Best of luck :-)