MATH 170A: Numerical Linear Algebra
Summer 2026

Instruction

Instructor: Prof. Jiawang Nie
Office: AP&M 5864.
Phone: (805) 534-6015.
Email: njw "AT" math.ucsd.edu.
Office hours: 3:00-4:00pm, MWF, in-person (APM 5864) and in canvas zoom links.

Lectures

Time: 10:00-12:00 MWF
Location: remote instruction (through canvas zoom links).

Course Description

Matrix-vector operations, positive definite matrices and Cholesky factorization, Condition Number, Perturbation Theory of Linear Equations, Floating Point Arithmetic, Stability of Algorithms, LU Decomposition--Gaussian Elimination, Partial Pivoting, Least Squares, Rotation and Reflection matrices, QR factorization, Singulvar Value Decomposition , Eigensystems, Power Method, Hessenberge and tridiagonal forms, sensitivity of eigenvalues and eigenvectors.

See the tentative course syllabus.

Prerequisite

Linear Algebra and Mathematical Reasoning

Textbook

David S. Watkins, Fundamentals of Matrix Computations, 3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2010.

TA Office Hours

Linghao Zhang: 2:00-3:00pm (TuThFri, in-person HSS4085 and via zoom links), liz010@ucsd.edu
Yaotian Ji: 1:00-2:00pm (Wed. in-person HSS 4044 and via zoom links) and 1:00pm-2:00pm (ThFri via zoom links), yaj013@ucsd.edu
Robert Chen: 4:00-5:00pm (WedFri via zoom links) and 4:00-5:00pm (Th, in-person HSS 4073 and via zoom links), roc010@ucsd.edu
Binh Duc Nguyen: 4:00-5:00pm (WedThFri, in-person HSS 4008 and via zoom links), bdn006@ucsd.edu

Discussion Sessions

Session A01(10:00-10:50TuTh): Linghao Zhang, liz010@ucsd.edu
Session A02(11:00-11:50TuTh): Yaotian Ji, yaj013@ucsd.edu
Session A03(10:00-10:50TuTh): Robert Chen, roc010@ucsd.edu
Session A05(11:00-11:50TuTh): Binh Duc Nguyen, bdn006@ucsd.edu

Homework

Homework will be assigned regularly. The HW policy and due time will be shown in each assignment.
Notes:
(i) Please write your names, id nubmers, and section numbers on your assignments.
(ii) No late homework will be accepted for any reasons.
(iii) All homework assignments must be completed by hand-written writting. This means that the submitted homework must be scanned directly from hand writting on hard copy papers. If a HW submission file is generated by any software or IT devices, it will be treated as violation of academic integrity.
(iv) All homework must be submitted through Gradescope. Submit each HW assignment as a single pdf file. For the solution to each question, write it on a new page (add more new pages if necessary).

Midterm and Final Exams

There will be one midterm exam and one final exam. Exam rules will be announced slightly before the exam time.
  • Midterm : 10:00am-12:00pm, August 21, Friday, 2026.
  • Final: 11:30am-2:30pm, September 5, Saturday, 2026.
    • To take the exams, the students must enter the provided zoom session and show their faces to the screen. Their faces and nearby enviornment must be viewable in the screen during the entire exam time. The exam answers must be completed by hand-written writting. This means that the submitted exam answers must be directly scanned from hand writting on hard-copy paper. The exam submission cannot be generated/proceed by any computer software or IT resources (e.g., AI, overleaf, Tex).

    Any violation of the above exam rules will be treated as violation of academic integrity.

    Make-up exam policy

    There are no make-up exams. If you miss the midterm for some reasons, then your course grade will be based on your performance of HW completion and the final exam. To pass the course, the student must take and pass the final exam.

    AI Policy

    AI can be used when students study contents of this course. However, for completing homework assignments and exams, AI cannot be used. It is violating Academic Integrity for students in this course to use AI recourses to complete homework assignments and exams. Please follow the policy for homework and exams. There will be serious checking for AI usage in homework and exam grading.

    Grading Policy

    The final course grade will be based on homework assignments, midterm and final exams. Your final grade will be the best of the following two weighted averages.
  • 20% Assignments + 30% Midterm + 50% Final Exam
  • 20% Assignments + 80% Final Exam

    • Academic Integrity

    Every student is expected to conduct themselves with academic integrity. Violations of academic integrity will be treated seriously.
    See http://www-senate.ucsd.edu/manual/Appendices/app2.htm for UCSD Policy on Integrity of Scholarship.