mathematics

Joel Smoller

Joel Smoller 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 Joel Smoller rather than just read about it. In short: Joel Alan Smoller (2 January 1936 – 27 September 2017) was an American mathematician. Joel Smoller was born in Brooklyn on 2 January 1936 to parents Benjamin, a taxicab driver, and Olga, who died when he was young.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Joel Alan Smoller (2 January 1936 – 27 September 2017) was an American mathematician. Joel Smoller was born in Brooklyn on 2 January 1936 to parents Benjamin, a taxicab driver, and Olga, who died when he was young. Smoller attended New York University, and completed his doctoral work at Purdue University in 1963, after which he taught at the University of Michigan. In 1970, he was appointed a full professor, and assumed the Lamberto Cesari Collegiate Professorship of Mathematics in 1998. He was editor of Transactions of the American Mathematical Society from 1981 to 1985, and later the Journal for Applicable Analysis. Smoller was award a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1979, the George David Birkhoff Prize in 2009, and elected to fellowship of the American Mathematical Society in 2013, a member of its inaugural class of fellows. Smoller retired in June 2017, and died, aged 81, on 27 September 2017. Following his death, the Joel Smoller Graduate Fellowship was established.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Joel Smoller

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Joel Smoller 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 Joel Smoller 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 Joel Smoller 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 Joel Smoller

In research: Joel Smoller 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 Joel Smoller 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: Joel Smoller is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 births, 2017 deaths, 20th-century American mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Joel Smoller 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 Joel Smoller in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Joel Smoller in simple terms?

Why does Joel Smoller 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 Joel Smoller?

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 Joel Smoller.