Appendix C: Vector and matrix algebra
James T. Smith · 1999
Concepts ScalarsVectors, rows and columns, matrices Adding and subtracting vectors and matrices Multiplying them by scalars Products of vectors and matrices, scalar and dot products Systems of hnear equations, linear substitution Transposition Unit vectors and identity matrices Gauss and Gauss-Jordan ehmination Invertible and singular matrices, inverses Determinants This appendix summarizes the elementary linear algebra used in this book.Much of it is simple vector and matrix algebra that you can learn from the summary itself, particularly if you devise and work through enough twoand three-dimensional examples as you read it.Some of the techniques summarized here require you to solve systems of linear equations by methods covered in school mathematics and commonly subsumed under the title Gauss elimination.There are no examples here to lead you through a full review of elimination, so if you need that, you should consult a standard hnear algebra text. 1 Almost all the hnear algebra used in the book is two-or three-For example, Larson and Edwards 1991, chapter 1. 429 c Vector and matrix algebra Methods of Geometry by James T. Smith