mathematics

Marston Conder

Marston Conder 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 Marston Conder rather than just read about it. In short: Marston Donald Edward Conder (born 9 September 1955) is a New Zealand mathematician, a distinguished professor of mathematics at Auckland University, and the former co-director of the New Zealand Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. His main research interests are in combinatorial group theory, graph theory, and their connections with each other.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Marston Donald Edward Conder (born 9 September 1955) is a New Zealand mathematician, a distinguished professor of mathematics at Auckland University, and the former co-director of the New Zealand Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. His main research interests are in combinatorial group theory, graph theory, and their connections with each other.

Education and career Conder was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, and studied at Matamata College. He earned a master's degree in social science from Waikato University in 1977, and a doctorate from Oxford University in 1980 under the supervision of Graham Higman. He served as president of the New Zealand Mathematical Society from 1993 to 1995, and as president of the Academy of the Royal Society of New Zealand from 2006 to 2008. In 2011 he was selected as the inaugural Maclaurin Lecturer, as part of a reciprocal exchange between the New Zealand Mathematical Society and the American Mathematical Society.

Recognition Conder is a fellow of the New Zealand Mathematical Society and of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, and in 2012 became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He was named as a Distinguished Alumnus of Waikato University for 2013. In 2011 he was awarded a James Cook Research Fellowship for research on symmetry of discrete structures. In March 2021 it was announced that Conder has been awarded the 2020 Euler Medal by the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications for his "many distinguished contributions to combinatorics over the last 40 years." In 2014 the Royal Society Te Apārangi awarded Conder the Hector Medal, and in 2018 the Jones Medal, named after Vaughan Jones, "for his internationally renowned research on symmetry and chirality in discrete structures, and his exemplary leadership and service in the New Zealand mathematical sciences community". In the 2020 Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to mathematics.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marston Conder

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marston Conder 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 Marston Conder 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 Marston Conder 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 Marston Conder

In research: Marston Conder 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 Marston Conder 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: Marston Conder is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1955 births, 20th-century New Zealand mathematicians, 21st-century New Zealand mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marston Conder 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 Marston Conder in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Marston Conder in simple terms?

Why does Marston Conder 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 Marston Conder?

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 Marston Conder.