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October 3, 2003

Second Exam Review. The second exam is Wednesday, October 8, 2003.

You may use a calculator on the exam, but I do not believe it will be necessary. You will not have any notes or formulas available to you. Here is a summary of topics covered in the second chapter. There may be other topics not listed here. You are responsible for all material covered in class and on homework.

1. Section 2.1 You will need to be able to create a system of linear equations out of a story problem. You will need to be able to solve a system of two linear equations using some method (either elimination or substitution). I will not require you to use one method over the other. You also will not be required to use a graphical method, though graphing is almost always helpful. You will need to know what the terms independent, dependent, consistent and inconsistent mean.

2. Section 2.2 You will need to know the basics about matrices (like dimension) and how matrix entries are labeled (like $a_{11}$). You will need to be able to form an augmented matrix and convert from an augmented matrix to a system of equations. You will need to be able to perform row operations and how to label them. You will need to be able to recognize solutions from the result of row reduction.

3. Section 2.3 You will need to understand how we can label variables $x_1, x_2,...$. You will need to be able to recognize a reduced row echelon form and also operations that will get you into that form. You will need to be able to find solutions for reduced row matrices. You will need to be able to row reduce a matrix into reduced row echelon form.

There will likely be only a single problem where you will need to complete a row reduction from start to finish, and that problem will likely be all or nothing and be worth 5-10 points. Most of the other problems will be similar to the homework and will probably require you to take one or two steps at a time.

The exam is not yet completed, but I anticipate the test looking very similar to the homework problems, perhaps, with some true/false, multiple choice or matching questions as well.