The Little Book of Linear Algebra

#1

Post by scapbi » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 2:17 PM UTC

The Little Book of Linear Algebra
github.com

Re: The Little Book of Linear Algebra

#2

Post by ivansavz » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 4:14 PM UTC

Wow very nice. Lots of content in here, with no lengthy explanations but useful point-form intuition.

The .epub has very clean math done in HTML (no images), which is a cool way to do things. I've never seen this before. I wonder what the author used to produce the .epub from the .tex?

Re: The Little Book of Linear Algebra

#3

Post by michelpp » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 4:42 PM UTC

Beautiful, a great intro to and reference to core concepts. Definitely keeping this one around for mental refresh!

Re: The Little Book of Linear Algebra

#4

Post by ddavis » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 4:58 PM UTC

The organization and formatting of the single .tex file is such that one could almost read the source alone. Really nice. Also, I had no idea that GitHub did such a good job rendering the LaTeX math in markdown, it's imperfect but definitely good.

Re: The Little Book of Linear Algebra

#5

Post by snarfy » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 5:27 PM UTC

michelpp wrote: post #3

Beautiful, a great intro to and reference to core concepts. Definitely keeping this one around for mental refresh!

Yep, same here. It is a good refresher.

Re: The Little Book of Linear Algebra

#6

Post by csunoser » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 5:34 PM UTC

At around 7.4 orthonormal basis and there after, the tex rendering stops working on the github readme preview page.

Instead, it is replaced with a red error box saying: [ Unable to render expression. ]

I wonder if there is an artificial limit for the amount of latex expression that can rendered per page.

Re: The Little Book of Linear Algebra

#7

Post by rw_panic0_0 » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 5:38 PM UTC

how is it beginner friendly, first paragraph and already an obscure formula for non math people

Re: The Little Book of Linear Algebra

#8

Post by barrenko » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 5:42 PM UTC

Tried to pick a book to get into linear algebra recently, the experience was fairly hellish. First course this, second course that, done right, done wrong... I'd to the LADR4e route, but I don't have the proof-it chops yet...

Re: The Little Book of Linear Algebra

#9

Post by cybrox » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 5:43 PM UTC

rw_panic0_0 wrote: post #7

how is it beginner friendly, first paragraph and already an obscure formula for non math people

You will never find a level of "beginner friendly" that suits everyone.

I agree that this is not an ideal start - at least without any further clarification - for beginners but I think it works well for people that already known mathematical notation but not many specifics of linear algebra.

Also, I don't want to be the preacher bringing this into every argument but this is one of the genuinely good uses for AI that I have found. Bringing the beginning of a beginner friendly work down to my level. I can have it explain this if I'm unsure about the specific syntax and it will convey the relevant idea (which is explained in a bit of unnecessary complexity / generality, yes) in simple terms.

Re: The Little Book of Linear Algebra

#10

Post by cybrox » Tue, Sep 02, 2025, 5:44 PM UTC

barrenko wrote: post #8

Tried to pick a book to get into linear algebra recently, the experience was fairly hellish. First course this, second course that, done right, done wrong... I'd to the LADR4e route, but I don't have the proof-it chops yet...

I found the book "Linear Algebra" and accompanying lecture recordings by Jim Hefferon very approachable and solid.

It's free, including exercises and an (also free) solutions book.