mathematics

Neil O'Connell

Neil O'Connell 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 Neil O'Connell rather than just read about it. In short: Neil Michael O'Connell is an Irish mathematician from Shannon, County Clare. He attended Trinity College Dublin, and was elected to scholarship in 1987.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Neil Michael O'Connell is an Irish mathematician from Shannon, County Clare. He attended Trinity College Dublin, and was elected to scholarship in 1987. He earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics and a gold medal in 1989 and completed an M.Sc. in 1990. He obtained his PhD in 1993 at UC Berkeley under the supervision of Steven Neil Evans. He subsequently worked at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, and the University of Warwick. He works in probability theory, in particular random matrices. He was awarded the inaugural Itô prize in 2002 (together with Ben Hambly and James Martin), and the Rollo Davidson Prize in 2005. In 2013 he was Doob Lecturer at the 36th Conference on Stochastic Processes and Their Applications, in Boulder, Colorado. He is currently Professor at University College Dublin.

References

External links Neil O'Connell at the Mathematics Genealogy Project

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Neil O'Connell

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Neil O'Connell 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 Neil O'Connell 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 Neil O'Connell 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 Neil O'Connell

In research: Neil O'Connell 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 Neil O'Connell 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: Neil O'Connell is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 20th-century Irish mathematicians, 21st-century Irish mathematicians, Academics of University College Dublin, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Neil O'Connell 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 Neil O'Connell in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Neil O'Connell in simple terms?

Neil Michael O'Connell is an Irish mathematician from Shannon, County Clare. He attended Trinity College Dublin, and was elected to scholarship in 1987.

Why does Neil O'Connell 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 Neil O'Connell?

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 Neil O'Connell.