Review of

Matrix Analysis and Applied Linear Algebra

by Carl D. Meyer
SIAM, Philadelphia, 2000
ISBN 0-89871-454-0


David S. Watkins
January 20, 2001

Carl Meyer's Matrix Analysis and Applied Linear Algebra is an introdu tion to the theory and pra ti e of linear algebra for university students of
mathemati s, engineering, and s ien e. Both theoreti al and omputational
issues are addressed. Wherever possible, the on epts are illustrated by appli ations. The author takes a narrative, motivational approa h, introdu ing
most new on epts with simple examples or spe ial ases. This does not mean
that the theory gets short hanged. Denitions and theorems are stated, but
not without motivation, and the theorems are proved.
On the omputational side, oating point arithmeti and roundo errors
are dis ussed, as are the need for pivoting in Gaussian elimination and the
existen e of ill- onditioned systems. The student is advised that the normal
equations are not the best way to solve a least-squares problem, and that one
does not usually ompute eigenvalues by solving the hara teristi equation.
At the end of ea h se tion lies a good set of exer ises ranging from routine
to di ult. Many are straightforward omputations. Others foreshadow
oming developments, explore new appli ations, or ll in theoreti al details.
Other noteworthy features: Numerous histori al notes enri h the presentation. A solutions manual is available. Indeed the book omes with a CD
1 Department of Pure and Applied Mathemati s,

Washington State University, Pullman,

Washington 99164-3113. E-mail: watkinsmath.wsu.edu.

ROM that ontains not only the omplete text, but also the solutions manual, biographi al sket hes of mathemati ians, and a few other goodies, all
in PDF format. There is a website, www.matrixanalysis. om, at whi h the
reader an a ess an errata list, repla ement pages, and new material that
will (presumably) appear in a later edition of the book.
The book ontains mu h more material than an be overed in the standard one-semester introdu tory ourse. It is a delight to have su h a large
number of optional topi s from whi h to pi k and hoose, but it is also a
burden. I believe it will prove di ult to de ide whi h important topi s to
in lude and whi h to omit, while still leaving enough time to get through all
of the basi material. However, for those who have the luxury of tea hing a
year ourse, this will not be a problem.
Be ause of the large amount of material, the book an also be used for
a more advan ed ourse for students who have already had some exposure
to linear algebra. The instru tor an tou h lightly on the basi s and then
plunge into the more advan ed stu, whi h in ludes, for example, the fast
Fourier transform, the singular value de omposition, the Jordan anoni al
form, and Perron-Frobenius theory.
There were a few things I didn't like about the book. Here and there
the motivation was left out. For example, oating-point numbers are dened
suddenly on page 21 with no preparatory examples or explanation whatsoever. Matters are made worse by an error in the denition: the exponent is
onfused with the number of digits in the exponent. (However, to be fair I
must say that I found very few errors in the book.)
Se tion 3.4 is entitled Why Do It This Way, even though the It (matrix
multipli ation) and the This Way to whi h it refers have not yet been mentioned. The se tion is only one page long; it should have been the rst page of
the next se tion, whi h has the more reasonable title Matrix Multipli ation.
While some se tions are too short, quite a few others are too long, wandering from one topi to the next. If you want to look up pra ti al methods
for omputing eigenvalues, you will not be able to nd them by looking in the
table of ontents. You would never guess that the QR algorithm is dis ussed
in se tion 7.3, whi h is entitled Fun tions of Diagonalizable Matri es. The
pathway through se tion 7.3 is roughly this: diagonalization, spe tral de omposition, analysis of Markov hains, power method, QR algorithm. There is
a ertain logi to this progression, but I think it would have made more sense
to separate this material into two se tions, espe ially sin e the onne tion
between the power method and the QR algorithm is not explained nor even
2

mentioned. (Instead the word \magi " is used.)

The book has no bibliography.
These short omings are not fatal. All in all, Matrix Analysis and Applied
Linear Algebra is an ex ellent resour e. In fa t, I was surprised at how mu h
I learned from reading it. If you are looking for a new linear algebra text, one
that balan es theory, omputation, and appli ations, you should denitely
take a look at this one.