astronomy

Ross Prentice

Ross Prentice is a astronomy 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 Prentice rather than just read about it. In short: Ross Laverne Prentice (born October 16, 1946) is a Canadian statistician known particularly for his contributions to survival analysis and statistical methods for epidemiology. Since 1974, he has worked at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and is also a professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington School of Public Health.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Ross Laverne Prentice (born October 16, 1946) is a Canadian statistician known particularly for his contributions to survival analysis and statistical methods for epidemiology. Since 1974, he has worked at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and is also a professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington School of Public Health.

Education and career Prentice studied mathematics at the University of Waterloo from where he graduated in 1967, then obtained an MSc and PhD in statistics from the University of Toronto. He taught at the University of Waterloo before moving to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 1974. Prentice proposed the case-cohort design in 1986. His most cited statistical paper, published in 1989, concerns a criterion for the valid use of surrogate endpoints. He was one of the leaders of the Clinical Coordinating Center of the Women's Health Initiative from its beginning in 1993.

Honors and awards Prentice received the COPSS Presidents' Award in 1986 and the R. A. Fisher Lectureship in 2008, for which the citation read:

For fundamental contributions to the theory and practice of statistical science; for his influential and innovative research in the areas of survival analysis, life history processes, case-control and cohort studies; and for his influential role in the conception, design, and implementation of the Women's Health Initiative.

Books John D. Kalbfleisch; Ross L. Prentice (1980). The Statistical Analysis of Failure Time Data. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780471055198. Ross L. Prentice; Shanshan Zhao (2019). The Statistical Analysis of Multivariate Failure Time Data: A Marginal Modeling Approach. Chapman & Hall. ISBN 9781482256574.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ross Prentice

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ross Prentice claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 Prentice 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 Prentice 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 Prentice

In research: Ross Prentice appears in astronomy 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 Prentice 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 Prentice is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, Academic staff of the University of Waterloo, American epidemiologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ross Prentice 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 Prentice in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Ross Prentice in simple terms?

Why does Ross Prentice matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Prentice?

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 Prentice.