Auditing Honors Linear Algebra at UCLA, A Gratitude and Retrospection.
When we started this class I told you it would be a hard class. So, I did not fool you for sure. Mathematics is always difficult to learn and it takes alot of work –prof. R. Elman
Playing The Video
At the bottom right of the above picture, There is a hyperlinked caption. Click on it to play the video. (The record generated by zoom is corrupted beginning from 7:30, but luckly we catched a good part).
In Brief
This is a very nice memory of my enrollment in UCLA’s Math115AH honors linear algebra course, taught by prof. Richard Elman. It all started with TCS’s subreddit where I was very fortunate to meet a wonderful student, Kyle Hess. I was consulting his advices for a while. He even recommended me to prof. R. Elman’s course, So that I get a chance of building up a community and meeting other math enthusiasts. Don’t miss the video, It contains really very kind words by him.
Table of Contents
Quotes
Kyle Hess
Over the years it became apparent to me that you, Mostafa, are very dedicated to learn mathematics and I found it tragic you have no resources like a community.
It was clear to me how hard you are trying but you don’t have the basic fundamentals, that you needed an extra support in a form of class.
I was able to have these resources, so I wanted to share that with other people because is such a beautiful thing, and I am glad you were able to have this experience.
Richard Elman
When we started this class I told you it would be a hard class. So, I did not fool you for sure. Mathematics is always difficult to learn and it takes alot of work.
Learn things and follow what you like. Don’t let anybody say you should do this for any reason. If you find something you like, Follow it.
Course Work
| Homework | My Solution |
|---|---|
| HW-1 | sol-1 |
| HW-2 | sol-2 |
| HW-3 | sol-3 |
| HW-4 | sol-4 |
| HW-5 | sol-5 |
| Midterm | sol-mid |
| HW-6 | sol-6 |
| HW-7 | sol-7 |
| HW-8 | sol-8 |
| HW-9 | sol-9 |
Personal Remarks and Retrospections
At the moment of writing these lines, Less than one week separates me from completing my 7th semester, out of a total of 8 semesters of my university’s program. I have been so ambitious to achieve something big during the past years. The conclusion I arrive at now is: I lack undergrad foundational basics, Usually mastered by an average student. I feel really bad.
I will always be indebted to Kyle for alarming me by a great pitfall I had fallen into. Namely, Approaching inaccessible problems with no good foundational toolboxes.
If there is a big lesson that, I learned before, and keep continually learn, It would be:
I will never be on the right pathway. At best scenarios I learn from mistakes to get nearer of doing things right, but I would never be right 100%. Being a skeptic and continually learning from mistakes is not a temporary phase of a young kid. It is a morale to be reserved for someone’s whole life.