mathematics

John George Herriot

John George Herriot 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 George Herriot rather than just read about it. In short: John "Jack" George Herriot (1916 – March 16, 2003) was a mathematician and computer scientist at Stanford University who worked on numerical analysis. He co-founded the computer science department at Stanford in 1965.

Key takeaways

John George Herriot 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 George Herriot to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John George Herriot from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John "Jack" George Herriot (1916 – March 16, 2003) was a mathematician and computer scientist at Stanford University who worked on numerical analysis. He co-founded the computer science department at Stanford in 1965. Herriot received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1941. He was a professor of mathematics and then of computer science at Stanford University from 1946 until his retirement in 1982. From 1953 to 1961, he was director of the Stanford Computation Center. Herriot originally joined the Mathematics Department at Stanford University in 1942. He rejoined the department in 1946, after spending two years as a physicist with the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory based at Moffett Field in California. In 1953, Stanford University acquired its first computer, and Herriot, then a pure mathematician, became the first Director of the newly created Computation Center. In 1955, he taught the first programming course at Stanford, "Theory and Operation of Computing Machines", using a Model II IBM Card Programmed Calculator, initially to 25 students. In 1956, he started working with students in a new mathematics masters program entitled "Scientific Computation". In 1957, he helped recruit George Forsythe to the mathematics department. In 1961, together with George Forsythe, he founded the Computer Science Division within the Mathematics Department and started recruiting computer faculty members. In January 1965, the faculty members within the Computer Science Division moved to the newly founded Computer Science Department. He served as acting department chairman during 1966–67 and 1972–73. His principal interests were in numerical analysis, especially with regard to the development and description of algorithms useful for solving numerical analysis problems.

Legacy Stanford University produced the following Memorial Resolution on 2004:

Herriot was one of the founding members of the Computer Science department in 1966 [sic]. Herriot's major interests was in numerical analysis with a specialty in algorithm development. He was the author of an elementary book on the subject. He also helped to recruit George Forsythe to the campus, and Forsythe provided the energy and foresight to make the Stanford Computer Science Department world renown. Herriot provided an oral history in 1979 and his papers are in the Stanford University Archives.

Selected publications Cesàro summability of ordinary double Dirichlet series. Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 46 (1940) Part 1: 920–929. MR 0003262 Nörlund summability of double Fourier series. Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 52 (1942) 72–94. MR 0006766 "Blockage Corrections for Three-Dimensional-Flow Closed-Throat Wind Tunnels, With Consideration of the Effect of Compressibility." (1947). with Stefan Bergman: Bergman, Stefan; Herriot, John G. (1965). "Numerical solution of boundary-value problems by the method of integral operators". Numerische Mathematik. 7 (1): 42–65. doi:10.1007/BF01397972. S2CID 115951870. Methods of mathematical analysis and computation. New York, Wiley (1963) xiii+198 p. diagrs., tables. 24 cm. with Christian Reinsch: Herriot, John G.; Reinsch, Christian H. (1973). "Algorithm 472: Procedures for natural spline interpolation [E1]". Communications of the ACM. 16 (12): 763–768. doi:10.1145/362552.362558.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John George Herriot

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John George Herriot 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 George Herriot 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 George Herriot 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 George Herriot

In research: John George Herriot 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 George Herriot 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 George Herriot is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1916 births, 2003 deaths, 20th-century American mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John George Herriot 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 George Herriot in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is John George Herriot in simple terms?

Why does John George Herriot 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 George Herriot?

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 George Herriot.