Linear Algebra in Action (Graduate Studies in Mathematics)

Linear algebra permeates mathematics, perhaps more so than any other single subject. It plays an essential role in pure and applied mathematics, statistics, computer science, and many aspects of physics and engineering. This book conveys in a user-friendly way the basic and advanced techniques of linear algebra from the point of view of a working analyst. The techniques are illustrated by a wide sample of applications and examples that are chosen to highlight the tools of the trade. In short, this is material that the author wishes he had been taught as a graduate student. Roughly the first third of the book covers the basic material of a first course in linear algebra. The remaining chapters are devoted to applications drawn from vector calculus, numerical analysis, control theory, complex analysis, convexity and functional analysis. In particular, fixed point theorems, extremal problems, matrix equations, zero location and eigenvalue location problems, and matrices with nonnegative entries are discussed. Appendices on useful facts from analysis and supplementary information from complex function theory are also provided for the convenience of the reader. The book is suitable as a text or supplementary reference for a variety of courses on linear algebra and its applications, as well as for self-study.

"It is a wonderful book: very accessible and rigorous [at] the same time, containing basic and not-so-basic facts, discussing many (sometimes unexpected) applications... Given that and the wonderful way this book was written and organized, I think it can be used by many readers: engineering students, mathematics students, research mathematicians, and researchers in any other field where linear algebra is applied. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in "working" linear algebra." ---- MAA Reviews

"This book will find its grateful readership as it bridges the gap between the theory of ordered vector spaces as cultivated in functional analysis and the theory of positivity as requested in applications to economics." ---- Zentralblatt MATH