mathematics

Motosaburo Masuyama

Motosaburo Masuyama 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 Motosaburo Masuyama rather than just read about it. In short: Motosaburo Masuyama (増山元三郎, Masuyama Motosaburō; October 3, 1912 – 3 July 2005) was a Japanese statistician who championed the ideas of R.A. Fisher and went on to influence the fields of quality control and biometrics.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Motosaburo Masuyama (増山元三郎, Masuyama Motosaburō; October 3, 1912 – 3 July 2005) was a Japanese statistician who championed the ideas of R.A. Fisher and went on to influence the fields of quality control and biometrics.

Life Born Otaru, Hokkaidō, Masuyama graduated in physics from the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1937 and earned his doctorate in 1943. Characterising Fisher's approach to statistics as the science of inference and planning, Masuyama worked across a wide range of agencies including: the Japan Meteorological Agency; the University of Tokyo School of Medicine; the Institute of Statistical Mathematics; the Indian Statistical Institute, where he collaborated with Fisher, another frequent visitor; the Ministry of Public Health and Welfare, where his teaching in design of experiments profoundly influenced the young Genichi Taguchi; the University of North Carolina, and The Catholic University of America. In 1970, he joined the applied mathematics department at the University of Tokyo and remained there until his retirement in 1988. Masuyama held many radical views on the application of statistics to human biology.

Honours Asahi Prize, (1948) Deming Prize, (1951)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Motosaburo Masuyama

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Motosaburo Masuyama 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 Motosaburo Masuyama 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 Motosaburo Masuyama 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 Motosaburo Masuyama

In research: Motosaburo Masuyama 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 Motosaburo Masuyama 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: Motosaburo Masuyama is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1912 births, 2005 deaths, Academic staff of the University of Tokyo, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Motosaburo Masuyama 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 Motosaburo Masuyama in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Motosaburo Masuyama in simple terms?

Why does Motosaburo Masuyama 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 Motosaburo Masuyama?

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 Motosaburo Masuyama.