Most combinatorial objects can be described by incidence, adjacency, or some other (0,1)-matrices. So one basic approach in combinatorics is to investigate combinatorial objects by using linear algebraic parameters (ranks over various fields, spectrum, Smith normal forms, etc.) of their corresponding matrices. In this talk, we will look at some successful examples of this approach; some examples are old, and some are new. In particular, we will talk about the recent bounds on the size of partial spreads of H(2d-1,q^2) and on the size of partial ovoids of the Ree-Tits octagon.