Linear Algebra Done right did not help me try to demystify linear algebra. Quite the contrary. It is the Youtube channel 3Blue1Brown[1] that gave me an <i>intuition</i> of what linear algebra was about, and I am forever thankful to him.<p>Watch it and if you are a teacher, don't be a smug "formalist".<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNk_zzaMoSs&list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2xVFitgF8hE_ab" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNk_zzaMoSs&list=PLZHQObOWTQ...</a>
I'm actually right now working through this book (3rd edition). It's pretty much the most abstract and most clear and simple maths books I've worked through so far (I'm not a mathematician).<p>Personally I find it suits my needs perfectly, even though initially it can be intimidating. But once you start getting the hang of it I think it can allow you to build a much deeper intuition for things than a more applied text.
I think the book's name confuses true neophytes who've never even heard of vector space and assume that this book will teach them applied linear algebra. I always thought that this book is for people like me who have already played around with matrices and remember most of the theorems (the intuitive ones), but are left with a creeping sensation of "I know the magic works, but ~why~ does it work?". Needless to say this is a go to reference for me whenever I see a need to refresh something of the basics.<p>Or in short - the Yin and Yang of mathematics - sometimes you need the excellent dry theory and sometimes you need the more concrete but messy application, and in truth you will always vacillate between the two - this is the former.
In my experience a more appropriate title for this book would be: 'Linear algebra done ok if this is your second time doing it'. I have seen way too many students who, after having taken a course that used this textbook, could not give an example of a linear operator (yes, I literally asked, show me an example of a linear operator in R^3) because they literally do not have the language for it (because 'matrices are bad').
doing 2nd year LA right now (as a mature age) have done calc before but this is probably the hardest maths ive been exposed to so far. so many new and abstract concepts to get my head around and try to visualise. and sometimes you just cant visualise it, its abstract. you just have to trust the development of an idea and go "yeah, it generalises i guess"<p>like i always thought of inner products as just dot products but its a whole theory on its own, and cayley hamilton theorm, just been exposed to that but no idea how its useful yet
This book is geared to prepare you for functional analysis in a fast pace. It won’t take you so far in applied math, engineering or ML. Considering this, not sure the title is “right”.<p>You can still find books that use the same approach and covers more.