mathematics

Matt Davison

Matt Davison 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 Matt Davison rather than just read about it. In short: Matt Davison is a Canadian mathematician and university professor. He is a currently serving as Professor at the Departments of Statistical & Actuarial Science and Mathematics, Dean of the Faculty of Science at Western University.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Matt Davison is a Canadian mathematician and university professor. He is a currently serving as Professor at the Departments of Statistical & Actuarial Science and Mathematics, Dean of the Faculty of Science at Western University. Davison is also the Director of Canada's Financial Wellness lab.

Education After graduating from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Science (1991), Davison attended Western University where he earned a M.Sc (1993) and Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics (1995).

Career and work Before entering academia, Davison worked as Assistant Vice President of Equity Arbitrage at Deutsche Bank Canada from 1997 to 1999. Prior to this role, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Physiology Institute of the University of Bern, Switzerland, from 1995 to 1997. Since joining Western University in 1999, Davison has focused his research in the field of quantitative finance. His significant contributions to the field include authoring Quantitative Finance: A Simulation-Based Introduction Using Excel in 2014, 9 book chapters, and publishing over 80 papers. Davison has 23 PhD students graduated from his research group, and 4 PhD students in current progress. Davison held a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Quantitative Finance from 2006 to 2016. In 2015, he was named a Fellow of the Fields Institute for Research in the Mathematical Sciences, further recognizing his impact in the academic community. Davison's research has been well funded by MITACS, NSERC and private sector partners throughout his academic career. Davison was Chair of the Department of Statistical & Actuarial Sciences from 2014 to 2017 and Acting Chair of the Applied Math Department from 2015 - 2017. From 2017 to 2018, he served as the founding director of Western's School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences, which was designed to enhance collaborative research and education. That same year, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Science, a role he continues to fulfill. In addition to his university duties, Davison has served the broader academic community. His roles included President of The Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society from 2017 to 2019 and a board member of the Fields Institute for Research in the Mathematical Sciences from 2018 to 2021 and of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction since 2018. In 2021, Davison co-founded Canada's Financial Wellness lab, which he now leads. This multi-university, multi-stakeholder initiative focuses on developing quantitative finance and data analytics solutions that will enable Canadian households to enhance their financial resilience. The lab is a collaboration of several universities, including Wilfrid Laurier University, York University, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Winnipeg, along with industry partners including Coast Capital, Libro Credit Union, National Payroll Institute, Ceridian, Aligned Capital Partners (CI Financial), and Environics Analytics, to broaden its impact and reach.

References

External links Matt Davison publications indexed by Google Scholar Canada's Financial Wellness lab

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Matt Davison

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Matt Davison 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 Matt Davison 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 Matt Davison 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 Matt Davison

In research: Matt Davison 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 Matt Davison 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: Matt Davison is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1969 births, Academic staff of the University of Western Ontario, Canadian mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Matt Davison 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 Matt Davison in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Matt Davison in simple terms?

Why does Matt Davison 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 Matt Davison?

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 Matt Davison.