Katalin Vesztergombi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Katalin Vesztergombi
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| Born | July 17, 1948 |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Education | Fazekas Mihály Gimnázium |
| Alma mater | Eötvös Loránd University |
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Notable work
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Discrete Mathematics: Elementary and Beyond |
| Spouse(s) | László Lovász |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Eötvös Loránd University |
| Thesis | Distribution of Distances in Finite Point Sets |
| Doctoral advisor | Vera Sós |
Katalin Vesztergombi (born July 17, 1948) is a Hungarian mathematician. She is well-known for her important work in graph theory and discrete geometry. These are areas of math that study connections and shapes.
Katalin Vesztergombi was a student of the famous mathematician Vera T. Sós. She also worked with another very famous mathematician, Paul Erdős. Today, she is a retired professor at Eötvös Loránd University and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. This academy is a group of Hungary's top scientists.
Becoming a Mathematician
Katalin Vesztergombi showed her math talent early on. In the 1960s, she attended a special high school called Fazekas Mihály Gimnázium in Budapest. This school had a special class just for students who were really good at math.
In this class, she studied with other future mathematicians like László Lovász and József Pelikán. They would later become her friends and colleagues.
She continued her studies at Eötvös Loránd University. In 1987, she earned her Ph.D. A Ph.D. is the highest university degree you can get. For her Ph.D., she wrote a big research paper called a dissertation. Her dissertation was about "Distribution of Distances in Finite Point Sets." This work looked at how distances are spread out between points in a group. Her teacher, Vera Sós, helped her with this research.
What She Studies
Katalin Vesztergombi's research helps us understand many things in mathematics. She works on problems related to:
- Permutations: These are different ways to arrange things.
- Graph Coloring: This is about coloring parts of a network (a "graph") so that no two connected parts have the same color.
- Discrete Geometry: This field studies shapes and patterns made of separate points, not continuous lines.
- Geometric Graph Theory: This combines geometry and graph theory to study graphs drawn in space.
She has written a textbook called Discrete Mathematics: Elementary and Beyond with László Lovász and József Pelikán. This book helps students learn about discrete mathematics, which is a branch of math that deals with separate, distinct values, like counting numbers.
Her Family
Katalin Vesztergombi is married to László Lovász. He is also a very famous mathematician. They often work together on research projects.
