astronomy

Jin Akiyama

Jin Akiyama is a astronomy 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 Jin Akiyama rather than just read about it. In short: Jin Akiyama (Japanese: 秋山仁; born 1946) is a Japanese mathematician, known for his appearances on Japanese prime-time television (NHK) presenting magic tricks with mathematical explanations. He is director of the Mathematical Education Research Center at the Tokyo University of Science, and professor emeritus at Tokai University.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Jin Akiyama (Japanese: 秋山仁; born 1946) is a Japanese mathematician, known for his appearances on Japanese prime-time television (NHK) presenting magic tricks with mathematical explanations. He is director of the Mathematical Education Research Center at the Tokyo University of Science, and professor emeritus at Tokai University. Akiyama studied mathematics at the Tokyo University of Science, where one of his mentors was Takashi Hamada. He completed a graduate degree at Sophia University under the supervision of Mitio Nagumo, in differential equations, but soon shifted his interests to graph theory. He planned to take a position in Ghana, but after conflict there caused it to be cancelled he joined the faculty at Nippon Ika University, and then moved to the U.S. for 1978 and 1979 to work with Frank Harary at the University of Michigan. In the 1990s, his interests shifted again, from graph theory to discrete geometry. Akiyama is a founder of the Japan Conference on Discrete and Computational Geometry, Graphs, and Games (JCDCG3), the founding managing editor of Graphs and Combinatorics, and the author of the books A Day's Adventure in Math Wonderland (with Mari-Jo Ruiz, World Scientific, 2008), Factors and Factorizations of Graphs (with Mikio Kano, Lecture Notes in Mathematics 2031, Springer, 2011), and Treks Into Intuitive Geometry: The World of Polygons and Polyhedra (with Kiyoko Matsunaga, Springer, 2015). He is also the namesake of a Nintendo DS game, Master Jin Jin's IQ Challenge. Akiyama's lectures sometimes also include musical performances by him, on accordion or xylophone.

References

External links Home page

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jin Akiyama

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jin Akiyama claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 Jin Akiyama 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 Jin Akiyama 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 Jin Akiyama

In research: Jin Akiyama appears in astronomy 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 Jin Akiyama 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: Jin Akiyama is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic staff of Tokai University, Graph theorists, Japanese mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jin Akiyama 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 Jin Akiyama in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Jin Akiyama in simple terms?

Why does Jin Akiyama matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Jin Akiyama?

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 Jin Akiyama.