MATH 115AH
Linear Algebra (Honors)
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Requisite: course 33A with grade of B or better. Honors course parallel to course 115A. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
1 of 2
AD
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2016 - Professor Elman is the best math professor I have had here at UCLA. For the honors 115AH class, he explains the techniques of proofs and repeatedly reiterate key points in proofs. The homework assignments are also very doable. The take home midterm was challenging but not impossible especially with the amount of time that was given. He also gives extra hours for the midterms and finals. This is definitely the honors math upper div to take.
Fall 2016 - Professor Elman is the best math professor I have had here at UCLA. For the honors 115AH class, he explains the techniques of proofs and repeatedly reiterate key points in proofs. The homework assignments are also very doable. The take home midterm was challenging but not impossible especially with the amount of time that was given. He also gives extra hours for the midterms and finals. This is definitely the honors math upper div to take.
AD
Most Helpful Review
He was really a great professor, I would recommend him for any math course you can. While his exams are difficult he likes to give A's and grades were based on averages, not absolutes. You will come out of the class with a deeper understanding and love for Mathematics than when you entered.
He was really a great professor, I would recommend him for any math course you can. While his exams are difficult he likes to give A's and grades were based on averages, not absolutes. You will come out of the class with a deeper understanding and love for Mathematics than when you entered.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - I took this class because I found a reddit thread saying 115AH with him was a "solid 9/10." He has an oppressive personality. He's funny during lectures but they too fast -- moving on from questions before we can process the information. He always has to run away right after lectures so you can't really talk to him. Homework takes 10+ hrs/week, and he deletes your Discord messages (yes, the class uses only Discord, not Canvas) if you ask questions about the homework that he does not like. The homework also has overly strict rules as to how they are submitted. For example, he says that only printing paper can be used. Someone asks in class whether line paper may be used and he said yes. Come Week 4, 1/3 of the class submits their homework on binder/notebook paper. He holds one up and says that "this won't be graded" and tries to move on with his lecture. When I stop him and remind him what he said, he said to "complain after class." Come the end of class, I bring the homework back up, again reminding him what he said. He then DMs me at 5pm saying that he disliked my "belligerant posture." Knowing full well that I was not even disrespectful, I apologize anyways, then remind him a third time what he said. He then said that line paper is not necessarily binder paper, implying once again that he would throw away our work. He then tells me off again saying that I wasn't listening to him and saying I had an "aggressive reaction." I apologize again and tell him that I would be dropping his class as I no longer felt safe with him anymore. He then tells me I'm overreacting and that I shouldn't make decisions "hot-headed." But no. I'm completely collected in my decision to leave his classroom and to end my suffering. Try not to take this class with him. But if you do, buy some printing paper and a stapler, and form large study groups to work on homework problems together. And be careful around him. That's all I know.
Winter 2025 - I took this class because I found a reddit thread saying 115AH with him was a "solid 9/10." He has an oppressive personality. He's funny during lectures but they too fast -- moving on from questions before we can process the information. He always has to run away right after lectures so you can't really talk to him. Homework takes 10+ hrs/week, and he deletes your Discord messages (yes, the class uses only Discord, not Canvas) if you ask questions about the homework that he does not like. The homework also has overly strict rules as to how they are submitted. For example, he says that only printing paper can be used. Someone asks in class whether line paper may be used and he said yes. Come Week 4, 1/3 of the class submits their homework on binder/notebook paper. He holds one up and says that "this won't be graded" and tries to move on with his lecture. When I stop him and remind him what he said, he said to "complain after class." Come the end of class, I bring the homework back up, again reminding him what he said. He then DMs me at 5pm saying that he disliked my "belligerant posture." Knowing full well that I was not even disrespectful, I apologize anyways, then remind him a third time what he said. He then said that line paper is not necessarily binder paper, implying once again that he would throw away our work. He then tells me off again saying that I wasn't listening to him and saying I had an "aggressive reaction." I apologize again and tell him that I would be dropping his class as I no longer felt safe with him anymore. He then tells me I'm overreacting and that I shouldn't make decisions "hot-headed." But no. I'm completely collected in my decision to leave his classroom and to end my suffering. Try not to take this class with him. But if you do, buy some printing paper and a stapler, and form large study groups to work on homework problems together. And be careful around him. That's all I know.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Professor Rubin is a great professor. His lectures are clear, but filled with a lot of content. He always pauses for questions and is always willing to help, which I like. Since this is an honors course, we learn about 1.5x the material than regular 115a (Topics we learned that I don't think are covered in 115a: dual spaces, double dual basis, transpose, determinants, Real and Complex Spectral Theorem, Singular Value Decomposition). All his lectures are recorded and he uploads them to CCLE rather fast. Discussions are usually recorded but to be honest, I only attended them two times (I'm so sorry Bar). If you don't have much proof experience, this class will help you transition into proof writing. You'll learn the proof techniques during the first few discussions. Our primary textbook for this class is Linear Algebra by Hoffman and Kunze, but you can find the PDF of it online. You'll need this book because he assigns some homework assignments from this book. This book is a little hard to read, but whether you're taking 115a or 115ah, I would definitely recommend Linear Algebra Done Right by Axler. His grading scheme is as follows (only one grading scheme): 30% Final Exam 15% Midterm 1 15% Midterm 2 20% Quizzes (Lowest quiz dropped; 8 quizzes) 20% Homework (10 HW assignments) Usually every week on Thursday, expect a quiz. These quizzes always stressed me out but it'll help you stay on track. There's a 24 hour window to take the quiz, but after opening the quiz, there's a 30 minute timer to take it and submit it. Each quiz is two problems, usually these are short proofs. Doing the homework assignments is a good way to study. There's a homework due every Thursday at midnight. He uploads the homework assignments in 3 parts, which total to about 8-10 problems a week. Only 3 problems will be graded for corrected, and he'll tell you which problems these are. The rest of the homework is graded on completeness. Try to start them early and don't procrastinate. On average, I would say I spent 3-6 hours a week on homework, but Rubin and the TA are very helpful on Piazza and Office Hours. There are two midterms for this class. I felt the midterms were slightly harder than the homework, but the averages were high. Midterm 1 had an average score of 39.8/50, midterm 2 average was 42.81/50. There are five questions on each midterm and I spent the whole day working on it. FYI: He took nine days to grade midterm 1, and ten days to grade midterm 2, which is pretty fast. After he publishes the exam scores, he also uploads the solutions to CCLE which are very helpful. The final had 10 questions which took me more than 12 hours to complete. The final felt much more challenging than the midterms, so I don't think I did well on it. Rubin cares a lot about his students. At the beginning of every lecture, he conducts a Zoom Poll asking how we're doing. He also sends us several surveys asking us for feedback and our opinions about the class. Do these surveys because he is really dedicated to improving and making the class better for his students. Linear algebra isn't my favorite subject, but I definitely learned a lot in this class. Overall, I would definitely recommend Rubin! Edit: The final has already been graded (only took two days to grade). The mean was 72/100 with standard deviation 17. My calculated grade of 77% turned out to be a C+, so I'm not too sure how generous his curve is.
Fall 2020 - Professor Rubin is a great professor. His lectures are clear, but filled with a lot of content. He always pauses for questions and is always willing to help, which I like. Since this is an honors course, we learn about 1.5x the material than regular 115a (Topics we learned that I don't think are covered in 115a: dual spaces, double dual basis, transpose, determinants, Real and Complex Spectral Theorem, Singular Value Decomposition). All his lectures are recorded and he uploads them to CCLE rather fast. Discussions are usually recorded but to be honest, I only attended them two times (I'm so sorry Bar). If you don't have much proof experience, this class will help you transition into proof writing. You'll learn the proof techniques during the first few discussions. Our primary textbook for this class is Linear Algebra by Hoffman and Kunze, but you can find the PDF of it online. You'll need this book because he assigns some homework assignments from this book. This book is a little hard to read, but whether you're taking 115a or 115ah, I would definitely recommend Linear Algebra Done Right by Axler. His grading scheme is as follows (only one grading scheme): 30% Final Exam 15% Midterm 1 15% Midterm 2 20% Quizzes (Lowest quiz dropped; 8 quizzes) 20% Homework (10 HW assignments) Usually every week on Thursday, expect a quiz. These quizzes always stressed me out but it'll help you stay on track. There's a 24 hour window to take the quiz, but after opening the quiz, there's a 30 minute timer to take it and submit it. Each quiz is two problems, usually these are short proofs. Doing the homework assignments is a good way to study. There's a homework due every Thursday at midnight. He uploads the homework assignments in 3 parts, which total to about 8-10 problems a week. Only 3 problems will be graded for corrected, and he'll tell you which problems these are. The rest of the homework is graded on completeness. Try to start them early and don't procrastinate. On average, I would say I spent 3-6 hours a week on homework, but Rubin and the TA are very helpful on Piazza and Office Hours. There are two midterms for this class. I felt the midterms were slightly harder than the homework, but the averages were high. Midterm 1 had an average score of 39.8/50, midterm 2 average was 42.81/50. There are five questions on each midterm and I spent the whole day working on it. FYI: He took nine days to grade midterm 1, and ten days to grade midterm 2, which is pretty fast. After he publishes the exam scores, he also uploads the solutions to CCLE which are very helpful. The final had 10 questions which took me more than 12 hours to complete. The final felt much more challenging than the midterms, so I don't think I did well on it. Rubin cares a lot about his students. At the beginning of every lecture, he conducts a Zoom Poll asking how we're doing. He also sends us several surveys asking us for feedback and our opinions about the class. Do these surveys because he is really dedicated to improving and making the class better for his students. Linear algebra isn't my favorite subject, but I definitely learned a lot in this class. Overall, I would definitely recommend Rubin! Edit: The final has already been graded (only took two days to grade). The mean was 72/100 with standard deviation 17. My calculated grade of 77% turned out to be a C+, so I'm not too sure how generous his curve is.
AD
1 of 2
