mathematics

Samuel Hunter Christie

Samuel Hunter Christie 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 Samuel Hunter Christie rather than just read about it. In short: Samuel Hunter Christie FRS (22 March 1784 – 24 January 1865) was a British physicist and mathematician. Life He studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won the Smith's Prize and was second wrangler.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Samuel Hunter Christie FRS (22 March 1784 – 24 January 1865) was a British physicist and mathematician.

Life He studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won the Smith's Prize and was second wrangler. He was particularly interested in magnetism, studying the Earth's magnetic field and designing improvements to the magnetic compass. Some of his magnetic research was done in collaboration with Peter Barlow. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1826, delivered their Bakerian Lecture in 1833 and served as their Secretary from 1837 to 1853. In 1833 he published his 'diamond' method, the forerunner of the Wheatstone bridge, in a paper on the magnetic and electrical properties of metals, as a method for comparing the resistances of wires of different thicknesses. However, the method went unrecognised until 1843, when Charles Wheatstone proposed it, in another paper for the Royal Society, for measuring resistance in electrical circuits. Although Wheatstone presented it as Christie's invention, it is his name, rather than Christie's, that is now associated with the device. Christie taught mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from 1838 until his retirement in 1854. He died at Twickenham, on 24 January 1865. A portrait photograph of Christie in 1865 by Ernest Edwards is held by the National Portrait Gallery.

Family He had ten children (five with each wife), of whom eight survived him. His eldest son with his second wife was the astronomer William Henry Mahoney Christie (1845–1922). Samuel Christie is the son of one James Christie

Marriages Elizabeth Theadora (died c.1844; source: Posting on RootsWeb) Margaret Ellen (married c.1844; source: Woolwich churchyard inscription)

References

Sources 'Leicester Square, West Side: Leicester Estate: Nos 43–54 Leicester Square', Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho (1966), pp. 507–514.[1] James, Frank A. J. L. (2004). "Christie, Samuel Hunter (1784–1865)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Samuel Hunter Christie

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Samuel Hunter Christie 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 Samuel Hunter Christie 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 Samuel Hunter Christie 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 Samuel Hunter Christie

In research: Samuel Hunter Christie 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 Samuel Hunter Christie 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: Samuel Hunter Christie is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1784 births, 1865 deaths, 19th-century British mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Samuel Hunter Christie 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 Samuel Hunter Christie in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Samuel Hunter Christie in simple terms?

Samuel Hunter Christie FRS (22 March 1784 – 24 January 1865) was a British physicist and mathematician. Life He studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won the Smith's Prize and was second wrangler.

Why does Samuel Hunter Christie 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 Samuel Hunter Christie?

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 Samuel Hunter Christie.