mathematics

Wang Qiming

Wang Qiming 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 Wang Qiming rather than just read about it. In short: Wang Qiming (simplified Chinese: 王启明; traditional Chinese: 王啓明; pinyin: Wáng Qǐmíng; June 4, 1941 – April 7, 1989) was a Chinese mathematician who was known for his work in differential geometry. He was considered as one of the best differential geometers in China of the time.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Wang Qiming (simplified Chinese: 王启明; traditional Chinese: 王啓明; pinyin: Wáng Qǐmíng; June 4, 1941 – April 7, 1989) was a Chinese mathematician who was known for his work in differential geometry. He was considered as one of the best differential geometers in China of the time.

Biography Wang Qiming was born in Yan'an, Shaanxi. In 1960, he graduated from Beijing 101 Middle School and was admitted to the five-year bachelor's degree programme of the Department of Mathematics of the University of Science and Technology of China. In 1965, he entered the Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to study under Wu Wenjun. Once Wang pointed out a mistake that Wu made in a lesson and told Wu the German book upon which he based. Wu was greatly impressed. After the institute had recovered in early 1970s from the disruption of the Cultural Revolution, Wang worked intensely in differential geometry and topology. After mainland China had reopened to the world, Wang actively engaged in international research cooperations. He was one of the first Chinese visiting scholars to the United States in 1978 when he visited the University of California at Berkeley for two years. Later, he also visited the IHES, Max-Planck-Institut, the CIME in Italy and University of Texas at Austin.

Academic career Wang was a senior researcher of the Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a member of its academic committee and the person in charge of graduate student affairs. Wang had also been the acting deputy director of the institute. Since 1988, Wang had been the deputy editor-in-chief of the Chinese mathematics journal 数学进展 (Advances in Mathematics (China)). He was a committee member of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy.

Death On April 7, 1989, Wang was killed in a car accident. He was a passenger in a car whose driver was Shing-Tung Yau, and the accident occurred when Yau was making a turn. Wang had just arrived in the United States the day before and planned to visit Harvard University for several months. He would likely have become the director of the Institute of Mathematics had he returned to China after this visit. His teacher Wu Wenjun thought that Wang would certainly have been a leader of Chinese mathematics if the accident had not had happened. A memorial service was held in Beijing on July 20 that year.

Research Wang Qiming worked on differential geometry and symmetric spaces. He made a number of important contributions to isoparametric functions and minimal hypersurfaces.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wang Qiming

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wang Qiming 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 Wang Qiming 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 Wang Qiming 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 Wang Qiming

In research: Wang Qiming 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 Wang Qiming 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: Wang Qiming is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1941 births, 1989 deaths, 20th-century Chinese mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wang Qiming 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 Wang Qiming in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Wang Qiming in simple terms?

Why does Wang Qiming 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 Wang Qiming?

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 Wang Qiming.