Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory

Book excerpt: Advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate students have long regarded this text as one of the best available works on matrix theory in the context of modern algebra. Teachers and students will find it particularly suited to bridging the gap between ordinary undergraduate mathematics and completely abstract mathematics. The first five chapters treat topics important to economics, psychology, statistics, physics, and mathematics. Subjects include equivalence relations for matrixes, postulational approaches to determinants, and bilinear, quadratic, and Hermitian forms in their natural settings. The final chapters apply chiefly to students of engineering, physics, and advanced mathematics. They explore groups and rings, canonical forms for matrixes with respect to similarity via representations of linear transformations, and unitary and Euclidean vector spaces. Numerous examples appear throughout the text.