Introduction to Linear Algebra

(Linear Algebra)

Randil Pushpananda, PhD

1
Who am I…
• BSc in Engineering Physics from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2006.
• Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) (External), UCSC in 2009.
• Research Assistant, Language Technology Research Laboratory (LTRL) (2008 –
2018)
• PhD in Computer Science from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2017.
• Principal Investigator, Language Technology Research Laboratory (LTRL), UCSC.

Research Interests:
• Natural Language Processing/Human Language Technology - Machine
Translation, Speech Processing (ASR and TTS) and Machine Learning,
Conversational Agents (Chatbots), Large Language Models (LLMs).
 Language Technology Research Laboratory

• Addresses the need for local language computing in Sri Lanka through research LTRL
and development in Localization and Language Processing
• Corpus Creation (Dataset Creation) - Sinhala and Tamil
• Voice (Speech) to Text System (ASR) – Sinhala
• Text to Voice (Speech) System (TTS) – Sinhala and Tamil
• Machine Translation System – Sinhala – Tamil Language Pair
• AI Chatbot Systems – English and Sinhala (with Bank of Ceylon)
• Spell Checking Application – Sinhala
• Image to Text Conversion System (OCR) – Sinhala and Tamil
• Grammar Checker– Sinhala
3
Course Organization
Lecturer: Dr. Randil Pushpananda

Assistant Staff: Mr. S. K. A. Kavinda

Lectures – Friday 08.00 AM – 10.00 AM

4
Course Organization
Recommended Reading:
• Strang, G., 2022. Introduction to linear algebra
• Friedberg, S.H., Insel, A.J. and Spence, L.E., 2018. Linear algebra
• Jim Hefferon, Linear Algebra

Evaluation Criteria :
80% paper, 20% Assignments
Assignments:
- 2 In-Class Assignments

5
Course Outline
2L + 1P (3 Credits)
Course Contents
1. Linear Systems
2. Vector spaces and subspaces
3. Orthogonality
4. Determinants
5. Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors
6. Singular Value Decomposition (SVD)
7. Linear Transformations
8. Applications of Linear Algebra in Various Disciplines
7
What is Linear Algebra?
• Linear algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with
vector spaces and linear mappings between these spaces.
• Includes various concepts such as vectors, matrices, systems
of linear equations, determinants, eigenvalues, and
eigenvectors.
• Linear algebra finds extensive applications in diverse fields
including physics, engineering, computer science,
economics, and statistics.

8
Why?

9
Why?
• Foundational Understanding:
• Key mathematical concepts such as vectors, matrices, and
linear transformations.
• Many algorithms and techniques used in computer
science are based on mathematics.

10
Why?

11
Why?
• Graphics and Computer Vision:
• Linear algebra is crucial in graphics programming for tasks
such as rendering 3D scenes, transformations, and lighting
calculations.
• In computer vision, techniques like image processing,
feature extraction, and object recognition heavily rely on
linear algebra.

12
13
14
15
Why?
• Machine Learning and Data Science:
• Backbone of many machine learning algorithms, including regression,
dimensionality reduction techniques like neural networks.
• Understanding concepts like matrices, vectors, and matrix operations is
essential for implementing and understanding these algorithms.
• Data Representation and Manipulation:
• Data in computer science is often represented and manipulated using
matrices and vectors.
• Linear algebra provides tools for organizing, transforming, and analyzing data
efficiently, making it indispensable in fields like databases, computer graphics,
and cryptography.

16
Introduction to Linear Algebra
• Questions:
• 4x = 8, Find x?

• Saman has bought two ice creams and two drinks for Rs. 300.00. How much
did john pay for each item?

17
 Introduction to Linear Algebra
• Questions:
• Saman has bought two ice creams and two drinks for Rs. 300.00. Kamala
bought two ice creams and one drink for Rs. 200.00. How much did they pay
for each item?

To extract information from multiple linear equations, we need linear algebra

18
Linear Equation
• A linear equation is one where all the variables such
as x, y, z have index (power) of 1 or 0 only

x + 2y + z = 5
x=3
3x + y + z + w = −8

19
Fundamental Problem of Linear Algebra

Solving Systems of Linear Equations

20
Questions
Which of the following equations are Linear Equations

21
Vectors and Matrices

22
Vectors
• Vector is a quantity that has size (magnitude) and direction
• walk due north for 5 kilometers
• Velocity, acceleration, force and displacement are all vector quantities
• Scalar is a number that measures the size of a particular quantity.
• Length, area, volume, mass and temperature are all scalar quantities

23
Vector Addition

24
Scalar Multiplication
• Scalar can be a real number.

25
Scalar Multiplication

26
Linear Combination
• The heart of Linear Algebra is in two operations: Addition and
Multiplication
• Combining those two operations give Linear Combination

27
Linear Combination

28
Problem
• Linear algebra is not limited to 2 vectors in 2-dimensional and 3-
dimentional space.
• As long as we stay linear, the problems can get more dimensions and
more vectors.
• vectors ---> m components instead of 2 components.
• Can have n vectors v1,v2,...,vn, instead of 2 vectors.
• Finally, n vectors in m-dimensional space will go into the columns of
an m by n matrix A:

29
Problem

30
Solving Two Equations

31
32