Time Spent (min)

Learning

30% of the contents of MATH271 overlaps with MATH270. Most of them are in unit 1 and unit 2. However, I find that it does not mean that unit 1 and unit 2 takes less time to learn. Actually, they are the top two time-consuming units, which take me more than 2 hours to learn.

Linear Algebra is very beautiful in my opinion, especially linear transformation. I feel that it reveals the underlying law of this universe. I just read “Our Mathematical Universe” written by Max Tegmark, and I think the whole universe is the linear combination of the smallest element, the string.

Assignments

The assignment 5 took me over 4 hours partially because the deciphering task requires a lot of calculation. I can’t find a good website to automate both matrix operations and modular operations, so everything is done manually. It’s easy to make mistakes and it takes even more time to find the mistake.

But fortunately, in the final exam the deciphering matrix is 2 x 2, not 3 x 3 as required in the assignment.

Tips:

As it’s easy to make mistakes when processing matrix operations, I use some web site to calculate it automatically.

Exam:

The final exam is open book, but it’s actually harder than the close-book midterm exam. I had no time to use the book and used up 3 hours.

Especially in the question of least square quadratic fit, I made manual mistakes for several times in the matrix operations, and it’s just corrected in the last minute.

Grades:

Overall, I get A+ (92). My midterm score (85) is as low as MATH270. I don’t know why. To me, it’s easier than final exam and I finished it in 90 minutes. The good thing is that I get 96 in the final exam.