mathematics

Nancy Gordon

Nancy Gordon 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 Nancy Gordon rather than just read about it. In short: Nancy May Gordon is an American economist and statistician who works for the United States Census Bureau. Education and career Gordon majored in economics and statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a doctorate in economics from Stanford University.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Nancy May Gordon is an American economist and statistician who works for the United States Census Bureau.

Education and career Gordon majored in economics and statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a doctorate in economics from Stanford University. Her dissertation, Ex ante and Ex post Substitutability in Economic Growth, was supervised by Kenneth Arrow. After completing her Ph.D., she became a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University from 1970 to 1974, and then a senior research associate at the Urban Institute. In 1979, Gordon was an appointee in the Carter Administration as a senior advisor and executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Women. From 1980 to 1995 she worked in the Congressional Budget Office as a senior economist and assistant director for health and human resources. Since 1995 she has worked at the United States Census Bureau. From 1995 until 2005 she worked on household surveys as associate director for demographic programs. she was the associate director for demographic programs. Subsequently, she became associate director for strategic planning and innovation at the Census Bureau prior to her retirement.

Service Gordon was president of the Caucus for Women in Statistics in 1985, and chair of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession of the American Economic Association from 1985 to 1987. She has also served on the board of directors of Worldwide Assurance for Employees of Public Agencies, a nonprofit insurance association for federal employees, from 1982 to 1990, including a term as president of the board.

Recognition In September 2000, Gordon was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. She is also an elected member of the International Statistical Institute.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nancy Gordon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nancy Gordon 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 Nancy Gordon 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 Nancy Gordon 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 Nancy Gordon

In research: Nancy Gordon 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 Nancy Gordon 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: Nancy Gordon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American economists, American statisticians, American women economists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nancy Gordon 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 Nancy Gordon in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Nancy Gordon in simple terms?

Nancy May Gordon is an American economist and statistician who works for the United States Census Bureau. Education and career Gordon majored in economics and statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a doctorate in economics from Stanford University.

Why does Nancy Gordon 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 Nancy Gordon?

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 Nancy Gordon.