mathematics

Jian Ding

Jian Ding 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 Jian Ding rather than just read about it. In short: Jian Ding (Chinese: 丁剑) is a Chinese mathematician and probability theorist. He is a chair professor at the School of Mathematical Sciences of Peking University, where he also serves as vice dean.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Jian Ding (Chinese: 丁剑) is a Chinese mathematician and probability theorist. He is a chair professor at the School of Mathematical Sciences of Peking University, where he also serves as vice dean. In 2023 he was awarded the Loève Prize.

Education and career Ding entered Peking University in 2002 and received his bachelor's degree in mathematics in 2006. He earned his PhD in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2011, under the supervision of Yuval Peres. After postdoctoral positions at the University of Washington and as a Szegö Assistant Professor at Stanford University, Ding joined the faculty of the University of Chicago, where he became an associate professor in the Department of Statistics. He then moved to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the Gilbert Helman Professor in the Wharton School. In January 2022 he returned to Peking University as a chair professor.

Research Ding's research is in probability theory, in particular its interactions with statistical physics and theoretical computer science. His work has covered random walks, Gaussian processes, random constraint satisfaction problems, random planar geometry, spin models, and Anderson localization. With Allan Sly and Nike Sun, he proved the satisfiability threshold conjecture for random k-SAT for large k.

Awards and honors Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (2015) NSF CAREER Award (2015) Rollo Davidson Prize (2017, shared with Nike Sun) Invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians (2022, joint lecture with Julien Dubédat and Ewain Gwynne) Gold Medal of Mathematics of the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians (2022) Loève Prize (2023) IMS Medallion Lecture (2023) Plenary speaker at the International Congress on Mathematical Physics (2024) Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (2025)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jian Ding

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jian Ding 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 Jian Ding 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 Jian Ding 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 Jian Ding

In research: Jian Ding 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 Jian Ding 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: Jian Ding is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic staff of Peking University, Chinese mathematicians, Fellows of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jian Ding 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 Jian Ding in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Jian Ding in simple terms?

Why does Jian Ding 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 Jian Ding?

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 Jian Ding.