Funny, I'm actually working on a game that intends to teach some of this stuff to a non-mathematical audience.
Linear algebra is so far-reaching, I find it surprising that other branches of mathematics often seem to get preferential treatment (usually normal algebra and geometry), in spite of the fact that linear algebra is both:
a) fairly advanced (i.e. not often taught in school, at least not the deeper stuff)
b) not very difficult to learn (unlike lots of other 'introductory' topics in mathematics).
Perhaps there is something about matrices (being mere tables of numbers for most folks) that people find unattractive, almost statistics-like.
(On the other hand, it could be a simple extension of the symbol barrier [1], given those long vertical brackets.)
Linear algebra is so far-reaching, I find it surprising that other branches of mathematics often seem to get preferential treatment (usually normal algebra and geometry), in spite of the fact that linear algebra is both:
a) fairly advanced (i.e. not often taught in school, at least not the deeper stuff)
b) not very difficult to learn (unlike lots of other 'introductory' topics in mathematics).
Perhaps there is something about matrices (being mere tables of numbers for most folks) that people find unattractive, almost statistics-like.
(On the other hand, it could be a simple extension of the symbol barrier [1], given those long vertical brackets.)
[1] Prof Keith Devlin introduces this concept here: http://profkeithdevlin.org/2012/02/22/how-to-design-video-ga...