mathematics

Miriam Cohen

Miriam Cohen 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 Miriam Cohen rather than just read about it. In short: Miriam Cohen (Hebrew: מרים כהן; born October 1941 – 5 November 2023) was an Israeli mathematician and a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev whose main areas of research are Hopf algebras, quantum groups and Noncommutative rings. Biography Miriam Cohen (née Hirsch) was born in Ramat Gan, British Mandate of Palestine.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Miriam Cohen (Hebrew: מרים כהן; born October 1941 – 5 November 2023) was an Israeli mathematician and a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev whose main areas of research are Hopf algebras, quantum groups and Noncommutative rings.

Biography Miriam Cohen (née Hirsch) was born in Ramat Gan, British Mandate of Palestine. Her parents Dr. Hanna and Jusin Hirsch fled Nazi Germany to Palestine in 1939. She lived in Petah Tikva and joined the IDF communication corps in 1959. In 1961 she married Yair Cohen and in 1962 they left to study in the US. Miriam received her B.Sc. in Mathematics with High Honors from California State University and continued for her Ph.D. in Mathematics at UCLA where she received her M.Sc. After returning to Israel she completed her Ph.D. at Tel Aviv University under the supervision of Prof. Israel Nathan Herstein from the University of Chicago and Prof. A.A. Klein from Tel Aviv University. During these years the couple had four children (Omer, Ira, Alma and Adaya). In 1978 the family moved for idealistic reasons from Herzliya Pituach to the development town of Yeruham and lived there for 10 years. Miriam joined the faculty of the department of Mathematics at BGU and has been a member ever since. During her time as a researcher and lecturer at BGU she volunteered in educational projects in Yeruham (see below). In 1983–5 Cohen was a visiting Associate Professor at the University of Southern California and at UCLA in Los Angeles. In 1997–8 she was a visiting professor at the Mathematics Institute of Fudan University in Shanghai. She was elected as a member of the 2017 class of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society "for contributions to Hopf algebras and their representations, and for service to the mathematical community".

Functions in the Israeli mathematical community In 1992–94 she served as President of the Israel Mathematical Union. In 1996 she initiated and established the special track in Bioinformatics in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences Department at BGU. In 1998–2002 she served as elected dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at BGU (the first woman in Israel to serve in this capacity) and was a member of the central steering committee and a member of the executive committee of BGU In 2001 she founded the Center of Advanced Studies in Mathematics at BGU and has serves as its director since June 2003 She serves as associate editor in Communications in Algebra . In 1993–95 she served as Chairman of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department

Additional activities Initiation of the joint Israel Mathematical Union (IMU) and the American Mathematical Society (AMS) International meeting in 1995 and serves as member of the scientific committee of the second IMU and AMS meeting to take place in Israel in 2014. Since 2002 chair and member of the organizing and scientific committee of the Moshe Flato Colloquia series at BGU. Speaker at the Women Scientists Forum at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Israeli delegate to the council of the European Mathematical Society (attended in this capacity the 1994 Council Meeting in Zurich). Chair of the session on Einstein and Quantum mechanics, Albert Einstein Legacy Symposium organized by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Member of various professional committees such as the grant committee of the Clore Foundation for outstanding Ph.D. students, the professional evaluation committee of the Emet prize, the Harvey Award committee of the Technion and the advisory committee of the rector of Haifa University.

Research grants U.S.–Israel Binational Fund (BSF) (with S. Montgomery). Quality of the completed work was rated excellent by the U.S. National Science Foundation. 1986–1989 A 3-year grant from The Basic Science Foundation, The Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities. 1991–1994 A 3-year grant from the Israel Ministry of Science together with Prof. Davidson of the Department of Physics at Ben-Gurion University. Prof. Nissimov and Prof. Pacheva. 1991–1994 A 3-year Grant from the Basic Science Foundation, The Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities. 1996–1999 A 3-year grant (with S. Westreich) from the Basic Science Foundation, the Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Research project on "Computer Algebra" jointly with the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. 2001–2005 A 3-year grant from the US-Israel Binational Fund (BSF) (jointly with A. Yekutieli, M. Artin, J.Zhang) Since 2012 A 3-year grant (with S. Westreich) from the Basic Science Foundation, the Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Contribution to the community Founder of the computer summer camps projects in 1980. The camps catered to children from all over Israel and were a pioneering activity at that time. Chairman of the Education Subcommittee, Project Renewal, Yeroham. Voluntary high school teacher in mathematics in Yeruham . She served as a member of the Ministry of Education's Committee on Mathematics. Chair of its subcommittee on the Junior High level. Member of the National Committee on the Information Technology Society, appointed by the Prime Minister of Israel.

References

External links Miriam Cohen's profile Center for Advanced Studies in Mathematics Department of Mathematics Faculty

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Miriam Cohen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Miriam Cohen 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 Miriam Cohen 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 Miriam Cohen 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 Miriam Cohen

In research: Miriam Cohen 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 Miriam Cohen 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: Miriam Cohen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1941 births, Academic staff of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Fellows of the American Mathematical Society, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Miriam Cohen 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 Miriam Cohen in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Miriam Cohen in simple terms?

Why does Miriam Cohen 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 Miriam Cohen?

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 Miriam Cohen.