engineering

Matsudaira Tadaatsu

Matsudaira Tadaatsu is a engineering 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 Matsudaira Tadaatsu rather than just read about it. In short: Matsudaira Tadaatsu (松平忠厚) (September 19, 1851 – January 24, 1888) was a Japanese civil engineer. He was one of the few members of the Iwakura Mission who stayed in the United States after graduating from a college there.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Matsudaira Tadaatsu (松平忠厚) (September 19, 1851 – January 24, 1888) was a Japanese civil engineer. He was one of the few members of the Iwakura Mission who stayed in the United States after graduating from a college there. He worked in mines in the western United States and Pennsylvania.

Early life and education Matsudaira was born on September 19, 1851 Edo Castle, which is now part of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. His father was Matsudaira Tadakata, and his older brother was Matsudaira Tadanari. He attended a Christian church in Tsukiji. In 1872, Matsudaira went to New York with Tadanari as part of the Iwakura Mission. They enrolled in Rutgers University in New Jersey. Matsudaira transferred to Harvard and graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1877. Tadakata ordered both of his sons to return home in 1879, but only Tadanari returned. Matsudaira was one of the only members of the Iwakura Mission to remain in the United States.

Career After graduation Matsudaira worked for the Manhattan Elevated Railway. While working there, he invented the trigonometer, a surveying tool. He then moved to Wyoming and worked as an engineer at the Union Pacific Railroad. He later worked in mines in Idaho and Montana. He became the city engineer of Bradford, Pennsylvania in 1884. While living in Pennsylvania he married and had two children with Cary Sampson, the daughter of Archibald Sampson, a general in the United States Army. One of his children was Kinjiro Matsudaira, who would later serve as the mayor of Edmonston, Maryland. Matsudaira contracted tuberculosis, and the family moved to Denver, Colorado in hopes that the dry climate would improve his health. Before he died, he made some maps of the state. He died on January 24, 1888. In 1952 several Japanese Colorodans erected a memorial in Riverside Cemetery in his name. However, even though the memorial stone says that he was the first Japanese person to live in Colorado, the federal census suggests that other Japanese people lived in Colorado before 1890.

Further reading Iinuma, Nobuko (1996). 黄金のくさび海を渡ったラストプリンス松平忠厚. Kyōdo Shuppansha. ISBN 9784876633456.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Matsudaira Tadaatsu

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Matsudaira Tadaatsu claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, 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 Matsudaira Tadaatsu 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 Matsudaira Tadaatsu 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 Matsudaira Tadaatsu

In research: Matsudaira Tadaatsu appears in engineering 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 Matsudaira Tadaatsu 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: Matsudaira Tadaatsu is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1851 births, 1888 deaths, 19th-century civil engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Matsudaira Tadaatsu 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 Matsudaira Tadaatsu in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Matsudaira Tadaatsu in simple terms?

Why does Matsudaira Tadaatsu matter?

Because it connects several engineering 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 Matsudaira Tadaatsu?

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 Matsudaira Tadaatsu.