COMS W3251

Very light. A few problem sets from the book, a few easy programming assignments, and a midterm and final that he gives you the answers to beforehand (so it's worth going to class the day before the exam).

I remember wondering if I should take this course because all of the old reviews, but I am very glad I chose to take it anyway! I don't know if he has changed things, but this course was my favorite all semester and was not a problem. I really like Dear's teaching style, and the hws were never to hard to finish and he gave us plenty of time to do them. Also, TAs had plenty of office hours, and they would literally walk you through the problem step by step if needed. Labs were a bit more difficult because they were pretty rushed, but prof adjusted and gave us the whole weekend to complete them which really helped out. On hw and labs, averages tended to be high, the midterm was a bit harder bc of the time crunch, but people did not flunk for sure. Overall, one of the better SEAS courses in my opinion.

Pretty bad class. Incredibly easy, but I walked out feeling like I wasted a semester. It's required for CS majors, so you'll probably take it anyways, but be warned: you will not learn as much linear algebra as you should. He repeats all the material at least three times, rather than moving forward. The homeworks are a waste of time. He's an incredibly kind man, and will explain anything you want to you, anytime. Definitely worth talking to outside of class and gong to office hours. He'll also help you on exams, if you ask.

Hands down one of the best CS profs I've had. He's very nice, his lectures are very straightforward, he answers piazza posts very quickly, and explains the concepts very well. If you're not a fan of theoretical math and enjoy more plug and chug kinda math, then yeah this class will be a bit more difficult but as someone who struggled my way through Multi, I was not expecting to take this class and get As on all the assignments. I also liked how tethered this class was to AI / ML, (especially the labs) and it felt like I was learning practical math that I'd actually use someday.

5 homeworks (6 problems from textbook + 1 programming assignment) 5 problem sets (he asks you to prove something) 1 midterm (easy) 1 final (slightly hard but very manageable)

On the surface, this class is great. Professor Dear is organized, nice, and offers a lot of office hours for his students. This will especially be evident during the first week, where the material is trivial. However, I do not recommend taking this class for several reasons. The first is the fact that the lectures just spit out different theorems in a convoluted way, where he is just regurgitating statements from the textbook. So you think you can just learn the material from the textbook or online because this is probably not your first time experiencing terrible lectures at Columbia. In fact, it might seem tenfold better, where you can skip class and do the problem sets and learning yourself. So you try the textbook, and realize it's just as convoluted as the lectures, because well, he was regurgitating those statements. And so you go online to learn the material yourself, which works fine for actually learning linear, until you receive the problem sets and realize it's just as convoluted. I can't emphasize enough that the problem is not the fact that you can linear on your own, but to do well in this class, you have to answer those convoluted questions that you won't find any source teaching you how to do. And so you got the TAs, but they themselves admit that they do not know how to solve the problems. Most people have large groups of friends to try to crack the problems t…

Computational Linear Algebra with Papageorgiou is a pretty decent class. He's definitely one of the nicest professors you will meet at Columbia and is a lenient grader to boot. Apart from the actual teaching, this class is great. Linear algebra is a super interesting subject and has applications in every single field. Homework assignments are reasonable - not insanely hard or long. Tests are graded generously and he will tell you if you are right or wrong during an exam. The class is essentially Linear Algebra + algorithms for matrix operations. It follows the standard Linear Algebra book by Strang. Papageorgiou generally starts his class with a 20 minute recap of the previous lecture followed by whizzing through the current material. He has a strong Greek accent which can make class hard sometimes. He is an above average teacher, but his abilities are nothing to brag about. He wants you to understand the material and not monotonously apply formulae you don't understand. However, between his accent and bad handwriting, you can occasionally get lost and fall behind (I got lost twice this class - once during RREFs and another time during eigenvalues and eigenvectors). He sometimes doesn't really explain stuff properly and just says "Boom! Boom! You're done" which causes endless frustration. It's important that you go to his office hours and clear up doubts because all the materi…

5 homework assignments, written/programming sections in each. Written = usually about 5-6 questions. Can be finished in 30 min - 1 hr. Programming = any language, Ranged from 10 min - 1.5 hrs. Midterm and Final were straightforward and easy.

Greatest professor EVER!!! AP is the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He really wants to give good grades to everyone in the class. As long as you go to class, this course is incredibly easy. AP doesn't mess around with tricks; he focuses on the core concepts and tests you on these same things. If you understand them, you don't have to worry about messing up on the tests. Getting near 100% is very doable, however AP reserves A+'s for those who also do the extra credits. Either way, if you go to class and make an effort, you should have no trouble getting a good grade. TAKE THIS CLASS.