mathematics

Ross Ihaka

Ross Ihaka 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 Ross Ihaka rather than just read about it. In short: George Ross Ihaka (born 1954) is a New Zealand statistician who was an associate professor of statistics at the University of Auckland until his retirement in 2017. Alongside Robert Gentleman, he is one of the creators of the R programming language.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

George Ross Ihaka (born 1954) is a New Zealand statistician who was an associate professor of statistics at the University of Auckland until his retirement in 2017. Alongside Robert Gentleman, he is one of the creators of the R programming language. In 2008, Ihaka received the Pickering Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand, for his work on R.

Education Ihaka completed his undergraduate education at the University of Auckland, and obtained his PhD in 1985 from the University of California, Berkeley supervised by David R. Brillinger. His thesis was on statistical modelling for seismic interferometry and was titled Rūaumoko, after the god of earthquakes, volcanoes and seasons in Māori mythology.

Career and research As of 2010, he was working on a new statistical programming language based on Lisp. The Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland started a public lecture series in his honour in 2017.

Personal life Ihaka is of Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne and Ngati Pākehā (New Zealand European) descent.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ross Ihaka

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ross Ihaka 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 Ross Ihaka 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 Ross Ihaka 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 Ross Ihaka

In research: Ross Ihaka 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 Ross Ihaka 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: Ross Ihaka is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1954 births, 20th-century New Zealand mathematicians, 20th-century statisticians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ross Ihaka 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 Ross Ihaka in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Ross Ihaka in simple terms?

Why does Ross Ihaka 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 Ross Ihaka?

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 Ross Ihaka.