mathematics

Heidi Thornquist

Heidi Thornquist 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 Heidi Thornquist rather than just read about it. In short: Heidi Krista Thornquist is an American applied mathematician at Sandia National Laboratories known for her work on the Trilinos system of software for scientific computing. Her research interests include numerical linear algebra and electronic circuit simulation.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Heidi Krista Thornquist is an American applied mathematician at Sandia National Laboratories known for her work on the Trilinos system of software for scientific computing. Her research interests include numerical linear algebra and electronic circuit simulation. Thornquist majored in mathematics at Humboldt State University, graduating summa cum laude in 1998. She became a doctoral student of Danny C. Sorensen in computational and applied mathematics at Rice University, where she completed her Ph.D. in 2006. Her dissertation was Fixed-Polynomial Approximate Spectral Transformations for Preconditioning the Eigenvalue Problem. She began working at Sandia in 2003, while she was still at Rice, and remained there after completing her doctorate. Thornquist is the lead developer of three packages within the Trilinos system: Anasazi, for computing eigenvalues, Belos, for solving systems of linear equations, and Teuchos, a suite of utilities and wrappers.

References

External links Home page Heidi Thornquist publications indexed by Google Scholar

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Heidi Thornquist

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Heidi Thornquist 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 Heidi Thornquist 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 Heidi Thornquist 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 Heidi Thornquist

In research: Heidi Thornquist 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 Heidi Thornquist 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: Heidi Thornquist is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American mathematicians, 21st-century American women mathematicians, American mathematician stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Heidi Thornquist 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 Heidi Thornquist in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Heidi Thornquist in simple terms?

Why does Heidi Thornquist 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 Heidi Thornquist?

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 Heidi Thornquist.