mathematics

Maurice Block

Maurice Block 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 Maurice Block rather than just read about it. In short: Maurice Block (German: Moritz Block); 18 February 1816 – 9 January 1901) was a German-French statistician and economist. Biography Block was born on 18 February 1816, in Berlin, to Jewish parents.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Maurice Block (German: Moritz Block); 18 February 1816 – 9 January 1901) was a German-French statistician and economist.

Biography Block was born on 18 February 1816, in Berlin, to Jewish parents. He studied at the University of Bonn and the University of Heidelberg and received his doctorate from the University of Tübingen. In the mid-1840s, he moved to Paris to become a statistician with the French ministry of agriculture. In 1853, he moved on to the General Statistic service. Beginning in 1856, Block edited L'Annuaire de l'economie politique et de la statistique. He remained the editor until 1901. Block, along with many French economists of his time, believed that economics was too complex of a subject to be amenable to mathematical techniques. He retired in 1862 and thenceforth wrote predominantly on the topics of agriculture, finance and public administration, turning to criticism of socialism in the 1890s. A prolific writer, he was published in a number of academic and professional magazines and journals of the time. He continued to devote himself to statistical studies as well. He was elected a member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques in 1880. He died in Paris on 9 January 1901, aged 84. His principal works are:

Dictionnaire de l'administration francaise (1856) Statistique de la France (1860) Dictionnaire general de la politique (1862) L'Europe politique et sociale (1869) Traité theorique et pratique de statistique (1878) Les Progres de l'economie politique depuis Adam Smith (1890) Die Bevolkerung des franzosischen Kaiserreichs (1861) Die Bevalkerung Spaniens and Portugals (1860) Die Machtstellung der europäischen Staaten (1862). He wrote several books against socialism : Les théoriciens du socialisme en Allemagne (1872); Le socialisme moderne (1890). He is the author of the famous distinction between the three political lines : Orleanism, Legitimism and Bonapartism. As Adolphe Franck and Michel Breal, he is one of those Jewish Scholars who attempted to remain neutral during the Dreyfus affair.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Block, Maurice". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Maurice Block

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Maurice Block 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 Maurice Block 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 Maurice Block 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 Maurice Block

In research: Maurice Block 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 Maurice Block 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: Maurice Block is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1816 births, 1901 deaths, 19th-century French economists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Maurice Block 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 Maurice Block in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Maurice Block in simple terms?

Maurice Block (German: Moritz Block); 18 February 1816 – 9 January 1901) was a German-French statistician and economist. Biography Block was born on 18 February 1816, in Berlin, to Jewish parents.

Why does Maurice Block 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 Maurice Block?

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 Maurice Block.