Introduction to Linear Algebra

Linear algebra is the language for reasoning about systems of equations, vector spaces, and the linear maps between them — the framework that quietly underlies most of the math, physics, and engineering you'll meet later. You'll spend the semester moving from concrete row-reduction and determinant computations to the more abstract machinery of bases, rank, eigenvalues, and diagonalization, with two written exams testing whether you can actually carry out and reason about both. As a sophomore-level requirement, it sits between your calculus sequence and almost everything that follows — differential equations, numerical methods, ML, quantum mechanics — where thinking in vectors and matrices stops being optional.