Student discussions on a linear algebra problem in a distance-education course. (Q1426317)

This paper and a dozen papers given as references are an attempt to analyze and evaluate group work using email, in part pertaining to mathematics in general (and even beyond) and to the major part in this paper related to matrix eigenvalue problems. The text used is the Spanish Limusa-Wiley translated edition of \textit{H. Anton's} [Elementary linear algebra, 7th ed. (Wiley, New York) (1994; Zbl 0929.15001)]. The author of the article is the instructor of a linear algebra course involving group work of students from different campuses with the members of a group communicating by email, offered in a program leading to a master's degree in education at an engineering school in Monterrey, Mexico. No lectures were given. ``The students were given the following chain of reasoning and were asked to find the flaw in it. Let \(A\) and \(B\) be \(n\times n\), \(\lambda\) an eigenvalue of \(A\) and \(\mu\) an eigenvalue of \(B\). Then \(Ax=\lambda x\), \(Bx=\mu x\) for some eigenvector \(x\) and \(BAx= B(\lambda x)=\lambda Bx= \lambda(\mu x)\). Since \(\mu(\lambda x)=\lambda(\mu x)\), \(AB\) and \(BA\) have the same eigenvalues.'' A group of four students whose email discussions and interactions with the teacher extending over almost two weeks are given. They were unable to solve the problem in full (!). Didactical aspects without novel insights are given.