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John A. Adam (mathematician)

John A. Adam (mathematician) 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 John A. Adam (mathematician) rather than just read about it. In short: John Anthony Adam is a British-American applied mathematician known for his work on patterns in nature and on mathematical modeling of the growth patterns of cancer and blood vessels. He is University Professor of Mathematics at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Anthony Adam is a British-American applied mathematician known for his work on patterns in nature and on mathematical modeling of the growth patterns of cancer and blood vessels. He is University Professor of Mathematics at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

Education and career Adam is a 1971 graduate, with first-class honours, from Queen Elizabeth College. He completed his Ph.D. in 1974 at University College London. His dissertation, A Theoretical Study of Magnetohydrodynamic Processes in Solar Active Regions, was jointly supervised by astrochemist Gillian Peach and astrophysicist Carole Jordan. After working as a researcher in theoretical astronomy and applied mathematics, respectively at the University of Sussex and University of St Andrews, he became a lecturer in mathematics at the New University of Ulster in 1978, while also taking a research affiliation at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. In 1983 he came to the US as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Rochester, and in 1984 he moved to Old Dominion University. He was named University Professor there in 1999.

Book Adam is the author of books including:

A Survey of Models for Tumor-Immune System Dynamics (edited with Nicola Bellomo, Springer, 1997) Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World (Princeton University Press, 2003) Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin (with Lawrence Weinstein, Princeton University Press, 2008) A Mathematical Nature Walk (Princeton University Press, 2009) X and the City: Modeling Aspects of Urban Life (Princeton University Press, 2012) Rays, Waves, and Scattering: Topics in Classical Mathematical Physics (Princeton University Press, 2017)

Recognition In 2007, the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) gave Adam their Outstanding Faculty Award. In 2012, Adam won the Carl B. Allendoerfer Award of the Mathematical Association of America for an exposition of blood vessel modeling.

References

External links Home page

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John A. Adam (mathematician)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John A. Adam (mathematician) 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 John A. Adam (mathematician) 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 John A. Adam (mathematician) 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 John A. Adam (mathematician)

In research
John A. Adam (mathematician) 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 John A. Adam (mathematician) 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
John A. Adam (mathematician) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 20th-century American mathematicians, 21st-century American mathematicians, Academics of Ulster University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for John A. Adam (mathematician) 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 John A. Adam (mathematician) in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what John A. Adam (mathematician) means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain John A. Adam (mathematician) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John A. Adam (mathematician) in simple terms?

John Anthony Adam is a British-American applied mathematician known for his work on patterns in nature and on mathematical modeling of the growth patterns of cancer and blood vessels. He is University Professor of Mathematics at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

Why does John A. Adam (mathematician) 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 John A. Adam (mathematician)?

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 John A. Adam (mathematician).

Tags

  • 20th-century American mathematicians
  • 21st-century American mathematicians
  • Academics of Ulster University
  • Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
  • Alumni of Queen Elizabeth College
  • Alumni of University College London
  • British mathematicians
  • Living people
  • Old Dominion University faculty

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