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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Matrix Algebra for Engineers by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

4.9
stars
4,194 ratings

About the Course

This course is all about matrices, and concisely covers the linear algebra that an engineer should know. The mathematics in this course is presented at the level of an advanced high school student, but it is recommended that students take this course after completing a university-level single variable calculus course. There are no derivatives or integrals involved, but students are expected to have a basic level of mathematical maturity. Despite this, anyone interested in learning the basics of matrix algebra is welcome to join. The course consists of 38 concise lecture videos, each followed by a few problems to solve. After each major topic, there is a short practice quiz. Solutions to the problems and practice quizzes can be found in the instructor-provided lecture notes. The course spans four weeks, and at the end of each week, there is an assessed quiz. Download the lecture notes from the link https://www.math.hkust.edu.hk/~machas/matrix-algebra-for-engineers.pdf And watch the promotional video from the link https://youtu.be/IZcyZHomFQc...

Top reviews

JS

Jan 16, 2022

With regards to my course and program, this was relevant. Although I was behind on some weeks, it was because some of the topics were not in concurrence with my course, but this course really helped.

JR

Aug 4, 2021

This is a carefully sequenced, content-rich introduction to Matrices; beware skimming over details: eg. the use of matrix formalism to solve the least squares problem is little short of magic.

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1 - 25 of 1,006 Reviews for Matrix Algebra for Engineers

By David S

Feb 1, 2020

I'll give course five stars because it really does offer excellent value, a competent personal and well-organized professor, and a manual of lecture notes and exercises. At the same I think prospective students need to be aware of the amount of content covered and previous knowledge required. As I understand it, this Coursera offering covers half a semester of a second year university course. In other words it covers in one month what students cover in about two and a half months. And in the universiry syllabus, this course has math prerequisites. So while basic concepts are introduced, they are done so in a way that I found to imply previous familiarity. And once a concept is introduced, the material assumes students understand and can manipulate it. Whoosh! This course moves quickly.

The prof is personable and lectures in an engaging manner. Lectures are well set out. It was great that he facilitates screen capture at the end of each lecture.

The text and exercises are sparse but adequate. It is great to have both in pdf form included with the course. This comment is not to complain, but to encourage a little more filling out of details in the lectures and worked examples of the problem sets.

In conclusion if you have completed senior high or secondary school math and are willing to put in the effort, or want a concise review of matrix algebra, this is a worthwhile course.

By Joel M

Jun 13, 2019

Jeff Chasnov teaches matrix algebra in a way that avoids almost all abstraction. He simplifies things, and presents tangible examples. This is a great preparation course for studying systems of linear differential equations as well.

By Robert H

Nov 7, 2018

Very well-prepared and presented course on matrix/linear algebra operations, with emphasis on engineering considerations. Lecture notes with examples in PDF form are especially helpful.

By Nikhil J

Dec 1, 2021

This course was great in terms of learning the mechanics for solving linear algebra problems. After completing the course, I feel like I have a better understanding of linear algebra but also that much more self-motivated learning will be required to gain even better understanding.

There are several areas for improvement in the course content and also some additional things I would love to see as far as building upon this foundational course from Professor Chasnov:

1) Professors Chasnov's teaching style is excellent and the use of the lightboard is impactful. Future courses taught in this way and style would be beneficial for students.

2) Although the lecture content is great, the solutions to many of the follow-on exercises that required proofs were too condensed and didn't seem adequate with regards the rigorous steps required to prove things.

3) The flow of video content going from vectors spaces to solving the least squares problem took a big conceptual leap that wasn't easily apparent to newcomers to linear algebra. I think there needs to be one more video prior to the discussion of the least squares problem designed to fill this gap.

4) It would be great to have a follow-up course dedicated to four or five engineering and business problems and using the linear algebra tools from this course to solve those problems. This would solidify not only the concepts learned in this course but also why these concepts are critical and impactful to solving real world problems.

5) It would be great to have another follow-up course dedicated to computer coding of the content from item 4 using a language like Python.

6) Specifically, it would be great to have a course on machine learning and the critical role of linear algebra in the context of developing machine learning solution. This course would take smaller tasks within the broader machine learning solutions and demonstrate how to use linear algebra to tackle those tasks (for example PCA to perform dimensionality reduction).

Thank you for an insightful class.

Nick Jathar

By 胡齐琦

Jul 15, 2019

The presentations of the lecturer are very clear with support of those simple but vivid examples. I do get a better understanding of linear algebra. This course is kind of short, only the core ideas are introduced. Many questiona of mine is unsolved especially the whys behind the matrices. I will continue to learn to a better grasp of the matrices.

By Dennis L

May 1, 2020

Very in-depth class for matrix algebra. I am a biochemistry student and have learned this in the past but re-taking this online course again has revamped my learning for linear algebra.

By Christos G

Mar 3, 2019

Chasnov is outstanding! You will love the course but above all you will adore the way Chasnov marches on through the course and you are acquiring knowledge... He is a real instructor!

By Rongfa Z

Oct 5, 2019

The professor’s dedication and explanation of the problem are great. This course is a basic course for advanced mathematics for engineers and is a good introduction to linear algebra.

By Gaurav V

Jun 5, 2019

One of the finest and well-structured course I have ever taken on Matrix Algebra. Professors Chasnov's way of teaching will certainly make you fall in love with matrices. The course starts from scratch and then cover some advanced topics in linear algebra also. One of the most exciting thing about this course is it has the answer to all the question except the grades quizzes to understand your learning of the subject.

By Okto T

Jan 5, 2020

Very good and straight-forward course. Very engineering-oriented (not many proofs). I had already learnt matrix algebra before so this was a good way to recall my previous knowledge.

By Swati A

Apr 6, 2019

Very informative and well organized. The faculty is very responsive when it comes to queries. This is the second course that I have taken by this faculty. Looking forward to more!

By Stefano L

Sep 16, 2020

Pros:

Very nice video lectures, with good explainations.

Not too much in depth, and everything that something seems confused it's later explained with a simple example.

That's it. You got your 2 stars.

Now to the Cons:

Too few exercises. I understand that I'll not be doing those things by hand in my work life, but the exercises are SO FEW AND SIMPLE THAT YOU CANNOT BE SURE TO KNOW THE TOPIC even after completing all of them. Especially in "weeks" 3 and 4 when things get a bit more complex. If the teacher alone cannot provide more exercises, it would be very appreciated if he could suggest for every topic some other ones from another online source.

Also, multiple choices questions for the quizzes are NOT able to evaluate my ability to do the calculations or apply the learnt algorithms, as I can just try the 4 different options and see which is the most probable actual result.

By MAYANK K

Nov 5, 2020

This is very useful to the school and engineering college students. Jeffrey’s explanation is very good. Easily understandable to learners.

I am engineering graduate but I got some additional knowledge of null space range space Lu decomposition methods.

This course covers all about matrices, and briefly covers the linear algebra that an engineer should know. Professor Jeffrey R. Chasnov (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) described the Gaussian elimination algorithm used to solve systems of linear equations and the corresponding LU decomposition of a matrix. He explained concept of vector spaces very well.

Ultimately Excellent course, thank you so much! This is fantastic fact that the videos were backed by a comprehensive set lecture notes with problems and solutions, including proofs. This made consuming the concepts much easier and this is the butter of this course. Jeff Thank you!

Special thanks for: http://www.math.ust.hk/~machas/matrix-algebra-for-engineers.pdf

By Cornu B

Dec 24, 2020

Excellent course / Excellent cours !

I had not practice algebra and matrix calculation for a few years and I had to review this topic before starting a new training in Data Sciences for which an excellent level of mathematics is required. This MOOC really helped me to get back on track. It is definitely a plus to start my new career!

Je n'avais pas pratiqué l'algèbre et le calcul matriciel depuis plusieurs années, or je devais revoir cette matière avant de commencer une nouvelle formation en Data Sciences pour laquelle un excellent niveau de mathématiques est demandé (Validation des Acquis Professionnels). Ce MOOC m'a vraiment aidé à me remettre à niveau et c'est un réel atout pour débuter ma nouvelle carrière !

Thanks Professor! / Merci beaucoup Professeur !

By Fei G

Jan 6, 2021

Generally this is a very good introductory course to matrix algebra. But I think learners really need to do more exercises or read other materials in order to understand the material well. The first two weeks are easy, but when I move on to Week 3 and 4, I feel overwhelmed because I felt my understanding of some concepts were really untenable. Then I took another course in college (similar to Calculus 3 but not much integrals) and came back, I had a much better understanding of some material in this course and finally felt confident to move on and finish this course.

In short: Take your time to absorb the material. Don't rush, unless you want to fool yourself that you've understood matrix algebra.

By piaoyang

Mar 14, 2021

A really great course! The concepts are concise and taught with examples. I have learnt a lot even thought I had learnt linear algebra in my university course.

The course is for the people who want to apply the matrix algebra to the application of engineer fields, as what the teacher said in the end of the course "I've left out some of the more abstract material that a math student might learn, but engineers don't usually need that level of abstraction, and whatever you might need that's not in this course, you'll be able to learn on your own.".

By Knz

Jun 23, 2019

Jeffrey R. Chasnov, is a very good teacher. He teaches very clearly, enthusiastically and answer efficiently to the questions. We approach fundamental concepts, step by step, in a way to have a big picture in the end. The exercises help to better understand and assimilate the lectures. Thank you!

I strongly recommend this course to people who have, at least, a high school level in mathematics and want to get a full introduction in Matrix Algebra.

By James B

Jun 5, 2019

Professor Jeffrey Chasnov patiently demonstrates and explains many sorts of common matrix operations. The practice problems are quite useful. I enjoyed the course and look forward to going through his next course, Differential Equations for Engineers.

By Jeffrey A B

May 29, 2019

Excellent course! Lectures were succinct and illuminating. I enjoyed taking it and learned some new concepts along the way. Highly recommended. Any chance a multivariate calculus course is coming?Thanks!

By IBE, E J (

Mar 23, 2020

Matrix Algebra for Engineers is fun it is accessible and easy. Flexible environment because studying online gives you more flexibility and less stress. The online class is more fun because you can work anytime you want and unlimited takes of the quizzes and practice exams

Matrix Algebra for Engineers is fun it is accessible and easy. Flexible environment because studying online gives you more flexibility and less stress. The online class is more fun because you can work anytime you want and unlimited takes of the quizzes and practice exams

Matrix Algebra for Engineers is fun it is accessible and easy. Flexible environment because studying online gives you more flexibility and less stress. The online class is more fun because you can work anytime you want and unlimited takes of the quizzes and practice exams

By SM A o B M

Jul 2, 2020

i enjoyed a lot with this course as wrll as with sir jaff chasnou.i m really impressed of this course and course teacher.the course were easy and applicative in the field of mathematics and engineering.assignments were from the course learned and were comfortable if you took part with spirit in thus course.i am thankful to coursera and sir jaff chasnou who provided me opportunity to take this course on financial aid.really appreciable work by subject teacher.the quality of video was the best with no sound issue.i am really surprised to get such a valued course in very short time.i consider this degree as the best degree of my life.From coursera especially sir jaff chasnou i have known that the mathematics is just fun and like game,it s enjoyable.

By Косюк О М

May 10, 2020

It's very strong, detailed and well-prepaired course. Despite that I had been learning the matrix algebra for near 7 months, when I had started this course, I've learned some new useful things, which my univercity program(I'm a computer science student) doesn't contain. All new topics were explained very simple and understandable by professor Chasnov and have been speaking English very clearly so I think you will understand him even if you dont have Intermidiate level. Its also very good that you will be able to check if your training exersises' answers are valid because the course contains a PDF file with all answers and explanations. I'm very greatful to prof. Chasnov for that course.

By Justin L

Mar 1, 2020

The lecturer was very good, and the material covered was quite broad, covering a lot of the main aspects found in typical Linear Algebra textbooks. I learned a lot, but much of it was revision for me. I might suggest that this course is excellent for those wishing to revise or "brush up" on their Linear Algebra skills, or those students wanting to be exposed quickly to much of Linear Algebra, particularly as it relates to practical applications in engineering. However, I do feel that this course on its own is not enough to become proficient at Linear Algebra, but it certainly helps you become familiar with the essence of it.

By John R

Apr 1, 2019

The course was very well presented in three ways. The first, the educator was very clear and the presentation technique through the use of a window board was excellent. The educator's hands on approach through exposition and examples is to be commended. The second the material is presented in a fashion that was not simple but not too hard to grasp given effort. The reinforcement through the use of quizzes, with solved examples, and examination though the use of tests, without solved examples, works.The Third, the excellent text accompanying the course is first class.

This is a high quality course.

By nerpatu

Feb 4, 2021

This fantastic course guides you through some of the most important topics in this field of Matrix Algebra. Each unit consists of series of short lectures and "Reading" questions that test your knowledge of that topics. The course is provided with a nice online textbook. The unit peppered with practice quizzes with which you can test your knowledge right there. At the end of each unit, there is a Quiz section that tests the overall topics covered in the unit. The gradual style, practice tests + Quiz, helped me go through the course. I highly recommend this course.