mathematics

Ingeborg Seynsche

Ingeborg Seynsche 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 Ingeborg Seynsche rather than just read about it. In short: Martha Mechthild Ingeborg Seynsche (21 October 1905 in Barmen – 27 June 1994 in Göttingen) was a German mathematician. She was one of the first women to be allowed to earn a doctorate on a mathematical topic in Göttingen.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Martha Mechthild Ingeborg Seynsche (21 October 1905 in Barmen – 27 June 1994 in Göttingen) was a German mathematician. She was one of the first women to be allowed to earn a doctorate on a mathematical topic in Göttingen.

Life and work

Her father Johannes Seynsche (1857–1925) was a professor and senior teacher at the Unterbarmer Higher Girls' School. Her mother was Anna Seynsche (1882–1943), née Limbach. Ingeborg passed her Abitur in Unterbarmen in 1924. She then studied in Marburg and Göttingen, and in 1929 passed the state examination for teachers in pure and applied mathematics and physics. She went on to become an assistant at the Mathematical Institute in Göttingen.

in 1930, Seynsche received her doctorate in philosophy from the Georg-August University, now University of Göttingen. The topic of her dissertation with Richard Courant was: On the theory of almost periodic sequences of numbers (Zur Theorie der fastperiodischen Zahlfolgen). It was a topic from the theory of almost periodic functions suggested by her advisors Harald Bohr and Alwin Walther. Later she dealt, among other things, with the calculation of function tables (with Alwin Walther) and the two-sided surface ornaments. She also solved the queen problem for arbitrary n.

Personal life She married physicist Friedrich Hund (1896–1997) in Barmen on 17 March 1931. The family had six children: Gerhard Hund (1932–2024), Dietrich (1933–1939), Irmgard (b. 1934), Martin (1937–2018), Andreas (b. 1940) and Erwin (1941–2022). The chess grandmaster Barbara Hund (b. 1959) and chess player Isabel Hund (b. 1962) are her granddaughters. Ingeborg wrote many letters to her eldest son, Gerhard. Letters from the years before her death are interesting.

Ingeborg Seynsche's final resting place is in the Munich Waldfriedhof, where her husband and sister Gertrud and her son-in-law Dieter Pfirsch are also buried.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ingeborg Seynsche

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ingeborg Seynsche 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 Ingeborg Seynsche 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 Ingeborg Seynsche 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 Ingeborg Seynsche

In research: Ingeborg Seynsche 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 Ingeborg Seynsche 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: Ingeborg Seynsche is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1905 births, 1994 deaths, 20th-century German mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ingeborg Seynsche 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 Ingeborg Seynsche in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ingeborg Seynsche 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 Ingeborg Seynsche out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ingeborg Seynsche in simple terms?

Why does Ingeborg Seynsche 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 Ingeborg Seynsche?

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 Ingeborg Seynsche.