This set of notes is an activity-oriented introduction to linear and multilinear algebra. The great majority of the most elementary results in these subjects are straightforward and can be verified by the thoughtful student. Indeed, that is the main point of these notes — to convince the beginner that the subject is accessible. In the material that follows there are numerous indicators that suggest activity on the part of the reader: words such as 'proposition', 'example', 'theorem', 'exercise', and 'corollary', if not followed by a proof (and proofs here are very rare) or a reference to a proof, are invitations to verify the assertions made.These notes are intended to accompany an (academic) year-long course at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. (With judicious pruning most of the material can be covered in a two-term sequence.) The text is also suitable for a lecture-style class, the instructor proving some of the results while leaving others as exercises for the students.This book has tried to keep the facts about vector spaces and those about inner product spaces separate. Many beginning linear algebra texts conflate the material on these two vastly different subjects.

This book is built around the material on multilinear algebra which in chapters VI to IX of the second edition of Linear Algebra was included but exc1uded from the third edition. It is designed to be a sequel and companion volume to the third edition of Linear Algebra. In fact, the terminology and basic results of that book are frequently used without reference. In particular, the reader should be familiar with chapters I to V and the first part of chapter VI although other sections are occasionally used. The essential difference between the present treatment and that of the second edition lies in the full exploitation of universal properties which eliminates the restrietion to vector spaces of finite dimension. Chapter I contains standard material on multilinear mappings and the tensor product of vector spaces. These results are extended in Chapter 11 to vector spaces with additional structure, such as algebras and differ ential spaces. The fundamental concept of "tensor product" is used in Chapter 111 to construct the tensor algebra over a given vector space. In the next chapter the link is provided between tensor algebra on the one hand and exterior and symmetrie tensor algebra on the other. Chapter V contains material on exterior algebra which is developed in considerable depth. Exterior algebra techniques are used in the followmg chapter as a powerful tool to obtain matrix-free proofs of many classical theorems on linear transformation.

The prototypical multilinear operation is multiplication. Indeed, every multilinear mapping can be factored through a tensor product. Apart from its intrinsic interest, the tensor product is of fundamental importance in a variety of disciplines, ranging from matrix inequalities and group representation theory, to the combinatorics of symmetric functions, and all these subjects appear in this book. Another attraction of multilinear algebra lies in its power to unify such seemingly diverse topics. This is done in the final chapter by means of the rational representations of the full linear group. Arising as characters of these representations, the classical Schur polynomials are one of the keys to unification. Prerequisites for the book are minimized by self-contained introductions in the early chapters. Throughout the text, some of the easier proofs are left to the exercises, and some of the more difficult ones to the references.

To Volume 1 This work represents our effort to present the basic concepts of vector and tensor analysis. Volume 1 begins with a brief discussion of algebraic structures followed by a rather detailed discussion of the algebra of vectors and tensors. Volume 2 begins with a discussion of Euclidean manifolds, which leads to a development of the analytical and geometrical aspects of vector and tensor fields. We have not included a discussion of general differentiable manifolds. However, we have included a chapter on vector and tensor fields defined on hypersurfaces in a Euclidean manifold. In preparing this two-volume work, our intention was to present to engineering and science students a modern introduction to vectors and tensors. Traditional courses on applied mathematics have emphasized problem-solving techniques rather than the systematic development of concepts. As a result, it is possible for such courses to become terminal mathematics courses rather than courses which equip the student to develop his or her understanding further.