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เนื้อหาย่อ : Our intention in writing this book is to address the needs of the many persons who study linear algebra. Such students may belong to two-year colleges, four-year colleges, or universities. Ordinarily they are sophomores. They include not only mathematics majors, but also majors in computer science, certain branches of engineering, or the physical sciences. Many of them are students in business, economics, or the social sciences. Our purpose is to present the traditional material of elementary linear algebra in such a way that is accessible and meaningful, whatever the student's major interest may be. With this in mind, we include in each chapter a section containing applications involving the material discussed. We do not claim to include all possible applications, for the most important applications often require too much preparatory discussion for a book of this type. Applications illustrate how the material can be put to use in many varied fields. They help satisfy the natural desire to ask 'Is what I'm studying good for something?" They encourage the student to " think applications"-a point of view that helps anyone understand and appreciate the meaning of mathematical ideas. Along with the applications we provide some computer programs written in BASIC. This makes it possible for the student to work more realistic problems. More importantly, working through the programs helps the student understand the principles behind the computations. In the first three chapters the student progresses through the basic operational material related to linear algebra. It is important that the student master this terial and acquire not only technical skill but an appreciation for the of the manipulations involved. In Chapter 1 we introduce the matrix and the n-tuple, define and discuss algebraic operations with these, and encourage the student to think of sets of data as single entities. In Chapter 2 we deal with systems of linear equations. We use row operations on the augmented matrix to look for sets of n-tuples that satisfy such systems and to establish conditions under which solutions exist. The discussion in Chapter 3 centers on square