mathematics

R. M. Wilson

R. M. Wilson 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 R. M. Wilson rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Michael Wilson (23 November 1945) is a mathematician and a professor emeritus at the California Institute of Technology. Wilson and his PhD supervisor Dijen K.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Richard Michael Wilson (23 November 1945) is a mathematician and a professor emeritus at the California Institute of Technology. Wilson and his PhD supervisor Dijen K. Ray-Chaudhuri, solved Kirkman's schoolgirl problem in 1968. Wilson is known for his work in combinatorial mathematics, as well as on historical flutes.

Education Wilson was educated at Indiana University where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in 1966. followed by a Master of Science degree from Ohio State University in 1968. His PhD, also from Ohio State University was awarded in 1969 for research supervised by Dijen K. Ray-Chaudhuri.

Career and research His breakthrough in pairwise balanced designs, and orthogonal Latin squares built upon the groundwork set before him, by R. C. Bose, E. T. Parker, S. S. Shrikhande, and Haim Hanani are widely referenced in combinatorial design theory and coding theory.

Musical career Wilson is also one of the world's top experts on historical flutes.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with R. M. Wilson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what R. M. Wilson 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 R. M. Wilson 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 R. M. Wilson 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 R. M. Wilson

In research: R. M. Wilson 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 R. M. Wilson 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: R. M. Wilson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1945 births, 20th-century American mathematicians, 21st-century American mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for R. M. Wilson 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 R. M. Wilson in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is R. M. Wilson in simple terms?

Richard Michael Wilson (23 November 1945) is a mathematician and a professor emeritus at the California Institute of Technology. Wilson and his PhD supervisor Dijen K.

Why does R. M. Wilson 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 R. M. Wilson?

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 R. M. Wilson.