Jim Hefferon

Mathematics
Saint Michael's College
Colchester, Vermont USA

This page will get you to some documents, including my Linear Algebra text. It also has information about my classes, and how to reach me.

What's Up?

I have an undergraduate text Linear Algebra. It is free, including the PDF, LaTeX source code, in-class beamer slides, and lab manual.

I'm also having a lot of fun with Logic, Python, Scheme, and ham radio. (I'm KE1AZ by the way. CW QSO?) And, jogging.

Reaching Me.

Here at Saint Michael's, my office is STE 217C, my postal mail address: is Box 285, One Winooski Park, Colchester, VT USA 05439, and my office phone number is (USA area code 802) 654-2677. The email address that I check most often is jhefferon (at) smcvt.edu.

Office hours: MW 2:30-3:15, Tu 2-3.

Documents.

My undergraduate Linear Algebra book.

I have a text available for download. It covers the material in a standard course, in a developmental way. Have a look.

An undergraduate Number Theory book.

This book is also available free for downloading. It covers a first course, and is based on a writeup by W Edwin Clark, of the University of South Florida. It also comes with LaTeX source. (Note. This book is rougher than the Linear Algebra above. Prof Clark has written a brief and beautiful book. However, my revision is still lacking in some areas, for instance in exercises. Nonetheless, I have used it here at St Michael's, in an introductory course for majors that contained nonmajors who did well.)

A Calculus lab on the Local Growth Rates of Polynomials, and the LaTeX and Gnuplot source.

This lab is intended to be used right away---in the first week---as a way of developing derivatives that complements the tangent line development. My approach is that (i) labs in Calculus should focus on Calculus as much as possible, not on the software, and (ii) students will get more out of a lab if they prepare for it ahead of time. This lab has three parts---Before the Keyboard, At the Keyboard, and After the Keyboard. In the first part they do some by-hand problems, which get expanded in the second part to problems best suited to machine calculation. Then the third part is a quite short, ``where do we go from here''-type thing. All three parts have a few exercises.

I intend to write some more in the same style when I get a chance. (if someone sends me mail telling me how great this one is, that would be an inducement!).

Material for classes.

My classes.

• Calculus I, MA 150.
  • The syllabus.
• Proofs, MA 240.
  • The syllabus.
• Scientific Computation, MA 305.
  • The syllabus.