mathematics

Victor Zalgaller

Victor Zalgaller 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 Victor Zalgaller rather than just read about it. In short: Victor (Viktor) Abramovich Zalgaller (Hebrew: ויקטור אבּרמוביץ' זלגלר; Russian: Виктор Абрамович Залгаллер; 25 December 1920 – 2 October 2020) was a Russian-Israeli mathematician in the fields of geometry and optimization. He is best known for the results he achieved on convex polyhedra, linear and dynamic programming, isoperimetry, and differential geometry.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Victor (Viktor) Abramovich Zalgaller (Hebrew: ויקטור אבּרמוביץ' זלגלר; Russian: Виктор Абрамович Залгаллер; 25 December 1920 – 2 October 2020) was a Russian-Israeli mathematician in the fields of geometry and optimization. He is best known for the results he achieved on convex polyhedra, linear and dynamic programming, isoperimetry, and differential geometry.

Biography Zalgaller was born in Parfino, Novgorod Governorate on 25 December 1920. In 1936, he was one of the winners of the Leningrad Mathematics Olympiads for high school students. He started his studies at the Leningrad State University, however, World War II intervened in 1941, and Zalgaller joined the Red Army. He took part in the defence of Leningrad, and in 1945 marched into Germany. He worked as a teacher at the Saint Petersburg Lyceum 239, and received his 1963 doctoral dissertation on polyhedra with the aid of his high school students who wrote the computer programs for the calculation. Zalgaller did his early work under direction of Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Leonid Kantorovich. He wrote joint monographs with both of them. His later monograph Geometric Inequalities (joint with Yuri Burago) is still the main reference in the field. Zalgaller lived in Saint Petersburg most of his life, having studied and worked at the Leningrad State University and the Steklov Institute of Mathematics (Saint Petersburg branch). In 1999, he immigrated to Israel. Zalgaller died on 2 October 2020 at the age of 99.

References

V. A. Aleksandrov, et al. Viktor Abramovich Zalgaller (on his 80th birthday), Russian Mathematical Surveys, Vol. 56 (2001), 1013–1014 (see here for a Russian version). Yu. D. Burago, et al. Viktor Abramovich Zalgaller (on his 80th birthday), J. Math. Sci. (N. Y.) J. Math. Sci. (N.Y.) Vol. 119 (2004), 129–132 (see here for a Russian version). M. Z. Solomyak, A few words about Viktor Abramovich Zalgaller, J. Math. Sci. (N.Y.) Vol. 119 (2004), 138–140. S. S. Kutateladze, A Tribute to the Philanthropist and Geometer. List of papers of V. A. Zalgaller, available here (mostly in Russian). Zalgaller, Victor; Burago, Yuri (February 1988). Geometric Inequalities. Springer Verlag. p. 356pp. ISBN 3-540-13615-0.

External links Victor Zalgaller at the Mathematics Genealogy Project Intrinsic Geometry of Surfaces — book by A.D Alexandrov and V.A. Zalgaller (AMS Online Book, originally translated in 1967). Personal war memoir (in Russian). Lecture read in 1999 in St.Petersburg, Russia (video, in Russian)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Victor Zalgaller

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Victor Zalgaller 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 Victor Zalgaller 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 Victor Zalgaller 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 Victor Zalgaller

In research: Victor Zalgaller 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 Victor Zalgaller 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: Victor Zalgaller is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1920 births, 2020 deaths, 20th-century Russian mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Victor Zalgaller 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 Victor Zalgaller in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Victor Zalgaller in simple terms?

Why does Victor Zalgaller 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 Victor Zalgaller?

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 Victor Zalgaller.