Sheldon Jay Axler(born November 6, 1949,Philadelphia) is an American mathematician and textbook author. He is a professor of mathematics and the Dean of the College of Science and Engineering atSan Francisco State University.

Sheldon Axler in 1984

He graduated fromMiami Palmetto Senior High SchoolinMiami,Floridain 1967. He obtained his AB in mathematics with highest honors atPrinceton University(1971) and hisPhDin mathematics, under professorDonald Sarason,from theUniversity of California, Berkeley,with the dissertation "Subalgebras of"in 1975. As a postdoc, he was aC. L. E. Moore instructorat theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.

He taught for many years and became a full professor atMichigan State University.In 1997, Axler moved toSan Francisco State University,where he became the chair of the Mathematics Department.

Axler received theLester R. Ford Awardfor expository writing in 1996 from theMathematical Association of Americafor a paper titled "Down with Determinants!" in which he shows how one can teach or learn linear algebra without the use ofdeterminants.[1]Axler later wrote a textbook,Linear Algebra Done Right(4th ed. 2024), to the same effect.

In 2012, he became a fellow of theAmerican Mathematical Society.[2]He was an Associate Editor of theAmerican Mathematical Monthlyand the Editor-in-Chief of theMathematical Intelligencer.

Books

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References

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  1. ^Axler, Sheldon (1995)."Down with determinants!".Amer. Math. Monthly.102(2): 139–154.doi:10.2307/2975348.JSTOR2975348.
  2. ^List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society,Retrieved November 3, 2012.
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