The phrase seems appropriate to me. The students are still working with matrices and linear algebra, focusing on the major algorithms. Going into the element-by

The phrase seems appropriate to me. The students are still working with matrices and linear algebra, focusing on the major algorithms. Going into the element-by-element linear algebra algorithms, for example in matrix multiplication, would be more appropriate for a high-performance, numerical computing class. The right level of detail is given when he talks about considering the behavior of individual gradient elements.