MCS 221 Exam 1
Exam 1 will be given in class on Thursday, September 25.
It will be a closed-book, closed-notes exam,
but you will be allowed to use one handwritten
3"-by-5" note card.
You may use a calculator for elementary arithmetic,
but not for built-in matrix functions.
Principal references:
Matrices and Linear Algebra chapters 1-2
Class notes
The exam will consist of problems and questions similar to those
covered in class and in the homework assignments.
Specific skills and knowlege you should be able to demonstrate
- Correct use of notation and terminology
- Doing matrix operations by hand, including
- Matrix addition
- Scalar multiplication
- Matrix multiplication
- Direct sums of matrices
- Matrix transpose
- Reduced row echelon form calculation
- Matrix inverse calculation.
- Writing simple proofs of basic matrix properties,
or supplying missing steps or reasons in a proof.
- Ability to translate between systems of linear
equations and matrix-vector equations (Ax = b).
- Ability to solve systems of linear equations
and knowledge of the nature of the solution set.
You should understand
- The elementary row operations
- How to find and represent a solution in terms of parameters
- How to find the rank of a matrix
- Ability to answer questions like those in the end-of-chapter
quizzes in Matrices and Linear Algebra chapters 1-2.
- In this exam the only field of numbers occurring will be the
field of real numbers.