mathematics

Jan Vondrák

Jan Vondrák 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 Jan Vondrák rather than just read about it. In short: Jan Vondrák is a Czech applied mathematician and theoretical computer scientist. He has been a professor of mathematics at Stanford University since 2015.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Jan Vondrák is a Czech applied mathematician and theoretical computer scientist. He has been a professor of mathematics at Stanford University since 2015.

Education Vondrák completed a bachelor's degree in physics (1995) and an M.S. (1999) and Ph.D. (2007) in computer science at Charles University under advisor Martin Loebl. Vondrák completed an additional Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 2005 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology under advisor Michel Goemans.

Career He was a postdoctoral researcher in the theory group at Microsoft Research from 2005 to 2006. From 2006 to 2009, Vondrák was a postdoctoral teaching fellow at Princeton University. He was a research staff member in the theory group at the IBM Almaden Research Center from 2009 to 2015. Since 2015, he has been a professor of mathematics at Stanford University.

Personal life He met mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani in 2004 in Boston. They married in 2008 on a mountain in New Hampshire. They moved to California in 2009. Their daughter Anahita was born in 2011. Mirzakhani died of breast cancer in 2017.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jan Vondrák

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jan Vondrák 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 Jan Vondrák 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 Jan Vondrák 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 Jan Vondrák

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

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Jan Vondrák in simple terms?

Jan Vondrák is a Czech applied mathematician and theoretical computer scientist. He has been a professor of mathematics at Stanford University since 2015.

Why does Jan Vondrák 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 Jan Vondrák?

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 Jan Vondrák.