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Peter Keevash

Peter Keevash 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 Peter Keevash rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Keevash (born 30 November 1978) is a British mathematician, working in combinatorics. He is a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Mansfield College.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Peter Keevash (born 30 November 1978) is a British mathematician, working in combinatorics. He is a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Mansfield College.

Early years Keevash was born in Brighton, England, but mostly grew up in Leeds. He competed in the International Mathematical Olympiad in 1995. He entered Trinity College, University of Cambridge, in 1995 and completed his B.A. in mathematics in 1998. He earned his doctorate from Princeton University with Benny Sudakov as advisor. He took a postdoctoral position at the California Institute of Technology before moving to Queen Mary, University of London as a lecturer, and subsequently professor, before his move to Oxford in September 2013.

Mathematics Keevash has published many results in combinatorics, particularly in extremal graph and hypergraph theory and Ramsey Theory. In joint work with Tom Bohman he established the best-known lower bound for the off-diagonal Ramsey Number R ( 3 , k ) {\displaystyle R(3,k)} , namely R ( 3 , k ) ≥ ( 1 4 − o ( 1 ) ) k 2 log ⁡ k . {\displaystyle R(3,k)\geq \left({\frac {1}{4}}-o(1)\right){\frac {k^{2}}{\log k}}.} (This result was obtained independently at the same time by Fiz Pontiveros, Griffiths and Morris.) On 15 January 2014, he released a preprint establishing the existence of block designs with arbitrary parameters, provided only that the underlying set is sufficiently large and satisfies certain obviously necessary divisibility conditions. In particular, his work provides the first examples of Steiner systems with parameter t ≥ 6 (and in fact provides such systems for all t). In 2018, he was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Rio de Janeiro.

References

External links Peter Keevash home page at the University of Oxford Klarreich, Erica (9 June 2015), "A Design Dilemma Solved, Minus Designs", Quanta

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Keevash

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter Keevash 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 Peter Keevash 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 Peter Keevash 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 Peter Keevash

In research
Peter Keevash 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 Peter Keevash 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
Peter Keevash is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1978 births, 20th-century English mathematicians, 21st-century English mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Peter Keevash 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 Peter Keevash in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Peter Keevash means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Peter Keevash out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Keevash in simple terms?

Peter Keevash (born 30 November 1978) is a British mathematician, working in combinatorics. He is a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Mansfield College.

Why does Peter Keevash 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 Peter Keevash?

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 Peter Keevash.

Tags

  • 1978 births
  • 20th-century English mathematicians
  • 21st-century English mathematicians
  • Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
  • Combinatorialists
  • International Mathematical Olympiad participants
  • Living people
  • Mathematicians of the University of Oxford
  • Whitehead Prize winners

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