Description
This an introductory 1-credit hour course covering computational tools for Linear Algebra. In this class students will use computational tools such as Python to solve linear algebra problems in real world applications in science and engineering.
Instructors
Mariana Silva (mfsilva@illinois.edu) and Philipp Hieronymi (phierony@illinois.edu)
Teaching Assistant
Nicolas Nytko (nnytko2@illinois.edu)
Meeting times
Wednesdays at 10am in 2101 Everitt Laboratory.
Technology
We will use CoCalc to complete the in-class activities. Please create a CoCalc account and send us your login information. You will need to bring a laptop or tablet to class.
Lectures
You will be assigned to a group in the first week of class, and you will be working with the same group during the entire semester. Each group will be assigned to a CoCalc project. In some weeks you will be working with your group to complete IPython notebooks that will be available from your CoCalc project. In other weeks you will be working with a subset of your group towards the course final project. We would like to have projects of 3 students, but in some cases 2 students should be okay too.
Here is the schedule for the semester:
| Week 1 | Python tutorial |
| Week 2 | Working with vectors |
| Week 3 | Working with matrices |
| Week 4 | Project time: brainstorming |
| Week 5 | Spring-mass systems |
| Week 6 | Project time: decide on a topic |
| Week 7 | Audio and image compression |
| Week 8 | Graphs and network applications |
| Week 9 | Project time |
| Week 10 | Linear regression |
| Week 11 | Markov chains |
| Week 12 | Project time |
| Week 13 | SVD applications: image compression and PCA |
| Week 14 | Project presentation |
| Week 15 | Project presentation |
Grading Policies
The course grade will be based on attendance/participation, the notebooks you submit and a group final project with a presentation on the last day two weeks of classes. Your overall score will be calculated as follows: 70% attendance/participations, 20% notebook submissions, 10% final project (Ipython notebook submission and presentation). We will drop your lowest attendance score and your lowest notebook submissions score.
You are expected to be on time for class. If you are 15 minutes late (or more), you will not get the attendance for that class. You are also expected to work on the IPython notebook during the entire class. Students that are not working on the given activities (and instead playing with their phones or laptops) will NOT get the participation points (might as well not attend). Note that the attendance/participation points are not given for achievement and completion, you will receive all your points even if you don’t complete the activity, or you don’t get it perfectly correct. If you try, you will get the points!
Letter grades: Letter grades will be assigned using the following formula:
| Grade | Point Range |
|---|---|
| A | [90%,100%] |
| B+ | [80%, 90%) |
| B | [70%, 80%) |
| C | [60%, 70%) |
| D | [50%, 60%) |
| F | < 50% |
Final project
Each project group will create an IPython notebook similar to the ones used for the lecture activities. You will save the notebook (.ipynb) inside the CoCalc shared folder that your group has access to.
Each group will have 5 minutes to present the big picture idea of your project. This is not a lot of time, so you should only share a brief intro, indicate the method you used to solve the problem, highlight your main result, and conclusions. You will present using the IPython notebook (do not create slides). Every member of the group will have to present (so plan accordingly how you will split the 5 minutes).
The overall project is worth 160 points. The notebook submission is worth 80 points (same grade for all members of the team), and the presentation is worth 80 points (each student will receive their individual score). The grading rubrics are provided below.
Piazza
We will be using Piazza online message board for communication. The course staff will post important announcements there and it is your responsibility to check often for these announcements. If you have a question or a concern, please post it on Piazza. Please do not email the course staff. This is both to assist other students who may have similar questions and to ensure you receive the fastest response possible by making it visible to the entire course staff.
Office hours
We will not have pre-defined office hours. If you feel you need to talk to one of the instructors, reach out to us and we will schedule an appointment.