[some_math_guy]

Like basically everybody else I teach out of this book, and I'm happy to see a new edition. I'm curious what's changed/added -- I already am unable to get through the whole thing in a semester.

At our school students take a computational linear algebra course first (with a lot of row reduction). So I am slowed down a bit by constantly trying to help the students see that the material is really the same thing both times through. I do wish there were a little more of that in Axler.

[blovescoffee]

I've studied from this book. Since you're teaching out of it, I'm curious if you've read/have an opinion on Strang's books. I love his lectures :)

[some_math_guy]

Sure, I am very familiar with them -- I actually TAed 18.06 for Strang once upon a time. They're great books too. Which is better is mostly a question of what point of view you're after -- if you want to actually calculate anything, Axler's book is not going to help you, but if you want a more conceptual view of the subject it's best place. If you're really serious about learning linear algebra, you probably want to read both, first Strang, then Axler.

[blovescoffee]

That's awesome. I bet TAing for Strang was a great experience. Now I'm curious if you have any recommendations for "actually calculating something"