I am looking at buying 1 of the 3 following Linear Algebra texts for my reference.
- Introduction to Linear Algebra by Gilbert Strang 4th edition
- Linear Algebra and its Applications by David Lay 4th edition
- Linear Algebra: A Modern Introduction by David Poole 3rd edition
The question I would like to ask is, which book is more reader-friendly for beginners? Hopefully, the concepts in the book are explained clearly in a layman's way and there are some proofs thrown in it as well.
Can anyone share their reviews on any of the 3 books???
Best Answer
I generally liked teaching out of an earlier edition of Poole (several years ago). I found I had time to do, and liked, some of his applications at the end of the sections. The students seemed to do well with the book. On the other hand (at least in the earlier editions--I haven't seen the more recent edition) the definition and discussion of general vector spaces was so late in the book that I had very little time for it. Also, the book was quite pricey at the time.