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Gábor Tardos

Gábor Tardos is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gábor Tardos rather than just read about it. In short: Gábor Tardos (born 11 July 1964) is a Hungarian mathematician, currently a professor at Central European University and previously a Canada Research Chair at Simon Fraser University. He works mainly in combinatorics and computer science.

Gábor Tardos — main illustration
Gábor Tardos — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Gábor Tardos belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Gábor Tardos to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Gábor Tardos from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gábor Tardos (born 11 July 1964) is a Hungarian mathematician, currently a professor at Central European University and previously a Canada Research Chair at Simon Fraser University. He works mainly in combinatorics and computer science. He is the younger brother of Éva Tardos.

Education and career Gábor Tardos received his PhD in Mathematics from Eötvös University, Budapest in 1988. His counsellors were László Babai and Péter Pálfy. He held postdoctoral posts at the University of Chicago, Rutgers University, University of Toronto and the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. From 2005 to 2013, he served as a Canada Research Chair of discrete and computational geometry at Simon Fraser University. He then returned to Budapest to the Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics where he has served as a research fellow since 1991.

Mathematical results Tardos started with a result in universal algebra: he exhibited a maximal clone of order-preserving operations that is not finitely generated. He obtained partial results concerning the Hanna Neumann conjecture. With his student, Adam Marcus, he proved a combinatorial conjecture of Zoltán Füredi and Péter Hajnal that was known to imply the Stanley–Wilf conjecture. With topological methods he proved that if H {\displaystyle {\mathcal {H}}} is a finite set system consisting of the unions of intervals on two disjoint lines, then τ ( H ) ≤ 2 ν ( H ) {\displaystyle \tau ({\mathcal {H}})\leq 2\nu ({\mathcal {H}})} holds, where τ ( H ) {\displaystyle \tau ({\mathcal {H}})} is the least number of points covering all elements of H {\displaystyle {\mathcal {H}}} and ν ( H ) {\displaystyle \nu ({\mathcal {H}})} is the size of the largest disjoint subsystem of H {\displaystyle {\mathcal {H}}} . Tardos worked out a method for optimal probabilistic fingerprint codes. Although the mathematical content is hard, the algorithm is easy to implement.

Awards He received the European Mathematical Society prize for young researchers at the European Congress of Mathematics in 1992 and the Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for Young Researchers. In 1999 he received the Erdős Prize from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Alfréd Rényi Prize of the Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics. He received a Lendület Grant from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2009) specifically devised to keep outstanding researchers in Hungary. In 2020, he received the Gödel Prize for the algorithmic version of the Lovász local lemma that he developed together with Robin Moser. In 2018, Tardos was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Rio de Janeiro.

Selected publications ——— (2003), "Optimal probabilistic fingerprint codes", Proceedings of the thirty-fifth annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing, vol. 55, pp. 116–125, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.8.8911, doi:10.1145/780542.780561, ISBN 978-1581136746, S2CID 52862015 {{citation}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |citeseerx= (help). ——— (1995), "Transversals of 2-intervals, a topological approach", Combinatorica, 15: 123–134, doi:10.1007/bf01294464, S2CID 206793373. ———; Ben-David, S.; Borodin, A.; Karp, R.; Wigderson, A. (1994), "On the power of randomization in on-line algorithms", Algorithmica, 11: 2–14, doi:10.1007/bf01294260, S2CID 26771869. ——— (1986), "A maximal clone of monotone operations which is not finitely generated", Order, 3 (3): 211–218, doi:10.1007/bf00400284, S2CID 124962475.

References

External links Gábor Tardos at the Mathematics Genealogy Project

Illustrations

Gábor Tardos illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gábor Tardos

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gábor Tardos claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gábor Tardos before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gábor Tardos ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gábor Tardos

In research
Gábor Tardos appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Gábor Tardos in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Gábor Tardos is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1964 births, 20th-century Hungarian mathematicians, 21st-century Hungarian mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Gábor Tardos outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study Gábor Tardos in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Gábor Tardos means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Gábor Tardos out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gábor Tardos in simple terms?

Gábor Tardos (born 11 July 1964) is a Hungarian mathematician, currently a professor at Central European University and previously a Canada Research Chair at Simon Fraser University. He works mainly in combinatorics and computer science.

Why does Gábor Tardos matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gábor Tardos?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gábor Tardos.

Tags

  • 1964 births
  • 20th-century Hungarian mathematicians
  • 21st-century Hungarian mathematicians
  • Academic staff of Simon Fraser University
  • Canada Research Chairs
  • Combinatorialists
  • Hungarian Jews
  • Hungarian computer scientists
  • International Mathematical Olympiad participants
  • Living people

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