astronomy

Komei Fukuda

Komei Fukuda 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 Komei Fukuda rather than just read about it. In short: Komei Fukuda (Japanese: 福田公明, 1951 - July 27, 2026) was a Japanese mathematician known for his contributions to optimization, polyhedral computation and oriented matroid theory. Fukuda was a professor in optimization and computational geometry in the Department of Mathematics and in the Institute of Theoretical Computer Science at ETH Zurich.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Komei Fukuda (Japanese: 福田公明, 1951 - July 27, 2026) was a Japanese mathematician known for his contributions to optimization, polyhedral computation and oriented matroid theory. Fukuda was a professor in optimization and computational geometry in the Department of Mathematics and in the Institute of Theoretical Computer Science at ETH Zurich.

Education and career Fukuda studied administration engineering at Keio University, graduating in 1974 and earning a master's degree in 1976. He began doctoral work in the same field, but in 1976 transferred to the University of Waterloo to their PhD program in combinatorics and optimization. He completed his PhD in 1982, with Jack Edmonds as his doctoral advisor. After completing his PhD, he returned to Japan as an assistant professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He moved to the University of Tsukuba as an associate professor in 1989. After visiting the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and ETH Zurich in 1993–1994 and 1995–1996 respectively, as an invited professor, he took a joint position as a professor in the departments of mathematics at both universities in 1996. He also held a tenured professorship at McGill University in 2002–2003. In 2008 he gave up his position at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, becoming affiliated only with ETH Zurich, and since 2012 he has held a joint appointment in mathematics and computer science at ETH Zurich.

Contributions Fukuda has studied finite pivot algorithms in various settings, including linear programming, linear complementarity and their combinatorial abstractions in oriented matroids. With Tamás Terlaky, Fukuda worked on a particular class of pivot algorithms, known as the criss-cross method.[FT92][FT97] With David Avis, Fukuda proposed a reverse-search algorithm for the vertex enumeration problem; their algorithm generates all of the vertices of a convex polytope or, dually, of an arrangement of hyperplanes.[AF92][AF96]

Selected publications

References

External links Komei Fukuda publications indexed by Google Scholar Home page at ETH Zurich

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Komei Fukuda

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Komei Fukuda 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 Komei Fukuda 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 Komei Fukuda 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 Komei Fukuda

In research: Komei Fukuda 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 Komei Fukuda 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: Komei Fukuda is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1951 births, 20th-century Japanese mathematicians, 21st-century Japanese mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Komei Fukuda 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 Komei Fukuda in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Komei Fukuda in simple terms?

Why does Komei Fukuda 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 Komei Fukuda?

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 Komei Fukuda.