mathematics

Simon Tavaré

Simon Tavaré 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 Simon Tavaré rather than just read about it. In short: Simon Tavaré (born 1952) is a British researcher who is the founding Director of the Herbert and Florence Irving Institute of Cancer Dynamics at Columbia University. Prior to joining Columbia, he was Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Professor of Cancer Research at the Department of Oncology and Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) at the University…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Simon Tavaré (born 1952) is a British researcher who is the founding Director of the Herbert and Florence Irving Institute of Cancer Dynamics at Columbia University. Prior to joining Columbia, he was Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Professor of Cancer Research at the Department of Oncology and Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) at the University of Cambridge.

Education Tavaré was educated at Oundle School and the University of Sheffield where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in 1974, a Master of Science degree in 1975, and a PhD in 1979.

Research and career Tavaré is a computational biologist and statistician, with his research focusing on three main areas: statistical methods for the analysis of next‑generation sequencing data, evolutionary approaches to cancer and methods for the analysis of genomics data. Tavaré's research has been funded by Cancer Research UK, the Royal Society, the European Union, Horizon 2020, the Wellcome Trust, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His former students include Christina Curtis.

Awards and honours Tavaré was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2011 and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2009. He held a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award from 2003 to 2009. In 2018, Tavare was elected a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2020 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, the College of which he had been a Fellow while a professor at Cambridge between 2004 and 2019. In the June 2023 Graduation Ceremonies at University of St Andrews, Tavaré was awarded Doctor of Science (DSc), in recognition of his major contribution to computational biology, statistics, and the study of cancer.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Simon Tavaré

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Simon Tavaré 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 Simon Tavaré 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 Simon Tavaré 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 Simon Tavaré

In research: Simon Tavaré 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 Simon Tavaré 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: Simon Tavaré is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 births, Alumni of the University of Sheffield, British bioinformaticians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Simon Tavaré 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 Simon Tavaré in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Simon Tavaré in simple terms?

Why does Simon Tavaré 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 Simon Tavaré?

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 Simon Tavaré.