Zhi-Wei Sun

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Zhi-Wei Sun (Chinese: 孙智伟; pinyin: Sūn Zhìwěi; Wade–Giles: Sun Chih-wei, born October 16, 1965) is a Chinese mathematician, working primarily in number theory, combinatorics, and group theory. He is a professor at Nanjing University.

Biography Zhi-Wei Sun was born in Huai'an, Jiangsu. Sun and his twin brother Sun Zhihong proved a theorem about what are now known as the Wall–Sun–Sun primes. Sun proved Sun's curious identity in 2002. In 2003, he presented a unified approach to three topics of Paul Erdős in combinatorial number theory: covering systems, restricted sumsets, and zero-sum problems or EGZ Theorem. With Stephen Redmond, he posed the Redmond–Sun conjecture in 2006. In 2013, he published a paper containing many conjectures on primes, one of which states that for any positive integer m {\displaystyle m} there are consecutive primes p k , … , p n ( k < n ) {\displaystyle p_{k},\ldots ,p_{n}\ (k<n)} not exceeding 2 m + 2.2 m {\displaystyle 2m+2.2{\sqrt {m}}} such that m = p n − p n − 1 + . . . + ( − 1 ) n − k p k {\displaystyle m=p_{n}-p_{n-1}+...+(-1)^{n-k}p_{k}} , where p j {\displaystyle p_{j}} denotes the j {\displaystyle j} -th prime. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Combinatorics and Number Theory.

Notes

External links Zhi-Wei Sun's homepage

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Zhi-Wei Sun

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Zhi-Wei Sun 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 Zhi-Wei Sun 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 Zhi-Wei Sun 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 Zhi-Wei Sun

In research: Zhi-Wei Sun 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 Zhi-Wei Sun 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: Zhi-Wei Sun is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1965 births, 20th-century Chinese mathematicians, 21st-century Chinese mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Zhi-Wei Sun 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.

How to study Zhi-Wei Sun in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Zhi-Wei Sun in simple terms?

Zhi-Wei Sun (Chinese: 孙智伟; pinyin: Sūn Zhìwěi; Wade–Giles: Sun Chih-wei, born October 16, 1965) is a Chinese mathematician, working primarily in number theory, combinatorics, and group theory. He is a professor at Nanjing University.

Why does Zhi-Wei Sun 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 Zhi-Wei Sun?

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 Zhi-Wei Sun.