This book is the result of a series of lectures on linear algebra and the geometry of multidimensional spaces given in the 1950s through 1970s by Igor R. Shafarevich at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University.
Notes for some of these lectures were preserved in the faculty library, and these were used in preparing this book. We have also included some topics that were discussed in student seminars at the time. All the material included in this book is the result of joint work of both authors.
This book on linear algebra and geometry is based on a course given by renowned academician I.R. Shafarevich at Moscow State University. The book begins with the theory of linear algebraic equations and the basic elements of matrix theory and continues with vector spaces, linear transformations, inner product spaces, and the theory of affine and projective spaces. The book also includes some subjects that are naturally related to linear algebra but are usually not covered in such courses: exterior algebras, non-Euclidean geometry, topological properties of projective spaces, theory of quadrics (in affine and projective spaces), decomposition of finite abelian groups, and finitely generated periodic modules (similar to Jordan normal forms of linear operators). Mathematical reasoning, theorems, and concepts are illustrated with numerous examples from various fields of mathematics, including differential equations and differential geometry, as well as from mechanics and physics.
