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, how to reach me, and some good links.

The downloadable material below is mostly in PDF form, which is readable using the Acrobat Reader, available without cost.

What's Up?

I have an undergraduate text Linear Algebra. It is free, including the source code.

As an off-shoot of that, I got interested in the TeX typesetting system, and I'm managing the North American home of CTAN, the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network.

I'm also having a lot of fun with Logic, Linux, Scheme and Python, and ham radio. 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 phone number is (USA area code 802) 654-2677. One email address of mine is jhefferon (at) smcvt.edu.

Office hours in Fall 2007: not yet known.

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 notes 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 given us a brief and beautiful book aimed at talented nonmajors. 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 Fall 2007 classes.

• Probability and Statistics, MA 251.
  • The text is A Brief Course in Mathematical Statistics by Tanis and Hogg (it is the first edition of the "brief" version).
  • The syllabus
• Abstract Algebra, MA 406.
  • The text is Contemporary Abstract Algebra by Gallian, sixth edition.
  • The syllabus.
  • The notes on symmetric polynomials.

Other classes that I often teach.

• Finite Mathematics, MA 101.
  • The syllabus.
• Elementary Statistics, MA 102.
  • The syllabus.
• Calculus I, MA 109.
  • The syllabus.
• Discrete Mathematics, MA 207.
  • The syllabus.
  • The number theory slides.
  • The introduction to combinatorics.
  • The handout on Hofstadter's MIU system, which also serves as an introduction to Scheme. You can get the source documents, too. With the source you can work through some examples; one Scheme system that you can use is Dr. Scheme.
  • Some old exams: first exam and second exam and final exam.
• Theory of Computation, MA 208.
  • The syllabus.
• Linear Algebra, MA 213.
  • The syllabus.
  • See also my Linear Algebra text.
• Combinatorics. MA 216.
  • The syllabus.
• Number Theory. MA 214.
  • The syllabus.
• Numerical Analysis.
  • The syllabus.
• Geometries, MA 308.
  • The syllabus.
• Abstract Algebra II. MA 407.
  • The syllabus.
  • The notes on symmetric polynomials.
• Active Sites, CS 202. (Some of this material is from W. Anderson.)
  • The syllabus.
  • The course introduction.
  • Some Unix commands. There is also a Linux cheat sheet.
  • A sketch of HTML. There is an HTML cheat sheet and an associated test page (of course, you can view its source by clicking around in your browser). There is also a tables cheat sheet and a test page for tables.
  • An overview of XML.
  • The introduction to Perl and a Perl tutorial.
  • Perl regular expressions.
  • The database material.
    • databa~1.ppt and
    • databa~1.ppt database Power Point slides
    • usingm~1.ppt Using MySQL slides
    • createsp.txt create the supplier-parts database
    • create~1.txt create the student database
    • wherec~1.txt comparisons and data types
    • wherec~2.txt Introduction to SELECT
    • wherea~1.txt ANDs and ORs
    • ooosql~1.txt orders of operations (the NOT example)
    • jex3sq~1.txt examples of JOINs
    • groupb~1.txt and groupb~2.txt examples of GROUP BYs
  • An overview of HTTP and Perl objects.
  • An introduction to CGI scripting and CGI.pm. There is also a CGI.pm cheat sheet.
  • Using Perl with databases.
  • Using CGI with databases.

  Note, please. Corrections or other assistance would of course be greatly appreciated.

Saint Michael's-related links.

• Our departmental home page.
• The Saint Michael's College page.

A Few Good Links.

• The home page for my machine.
• The page for the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network.
• The page for the Vermont Lake Monsters minor league baseball team.
• The Radio Amateurs of Northern Vermont club page. I also know a way to look up amateur radio call signs. (I'm KE1AZ, by the way. CW QSO?)
• Sometimes, I just like to read the Hacker's Dictionary.