Richard Vale

Richard Vale

I am interested in data and mathematical modelling. I have a PhD in mathematics from the University of Glasgow (2007) and was an HC Wang Assistant Professor at Cornell University (2007-10). Previously I studied at the University of Auckland and the University of Cambridge (Part III Mathematics, aka M.A.St 2003). I have also taught at Oberlin College (2010-11), the University of Auckland, AUT and the University of Canterbury (2014).

Contact details

Email: rtrvale at gmail etc.
LinkedIn

Research

Blog

I have a blog on data science and statistics at datascienceconfidential.github.io. Some recent articles:

Papers

A note on the Cobb-Douglas function, preprint 2024.
This short paper gives a mathematical characterisation of the economist's Cobb-Douglas function. I was not yet able to find a reference for the exact fact proved here.
Increased incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in Hong Kong in 2023. Journal of Infection July 2024, Volume 89, Issue 1, 106178.
I contributed the statistical analysis for this note.
Forecasting the 2022-2023 Tech Layoffs using Epidemiological Models, preprint 2023.

online port-mortem.

The Construction of G - Invariant Finite Tight Frames, Journal of Fourier Analysis and Applications October 2016, Volume 22, Issue 5, pp 1097—1120.
A Model for Tax Evasion with some Realistic Properties, preprint 2015.
Slides from Massey University Applied Mathematics Seminar in Palmerston North, April 30 2015.
Who lives and who dies in the Game of Thrones?, Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society, December 2014 (magazine article).
Bayesian Prediction for the Winds of Winter, preprint 2014.
Using statistical models to predict the future of a popular novel series of the time.
- Video and slides from a public lecture What if... we could predict Game of Thrones? from the UC What if Wednesdays series, 8 October 2014.
- Slides from Otago University statistics seminar (2016).
- Huffington post article
- Interviews and news stories
Maximum likelihood inference for model Mt,a for capture-recapture data with misidentification, Biometrics, 2014.
A project with Rachel Fewster of the University of Auckland. Applying capture-recapture models to counting whales. Web Appendix. Slides from a talk at CREEM, St. Andrews, July 2014. Slides from a short version of the same talk.
Using a copula-based model of GST data to visualise the New Zealand economy, Proceedings of the 2013 NZSA-ORSNZ conference, 2013.
Using copulas and PCA to visualise an economic cycle. I gave a seminar on this work at MBIE in February 2014, including a tutorial on making an animated time series in html.
The symmetry group of a finite frame, Linear Algebra and its Applications, Volume 433, Issue 1, 2010 Pages 248-262
A topological description of the space of prime ideals of a monoid, preprint 2010.
As noted in the arXiv description, the main result is due to Brenner. If citing this paper, please cite that one too.
Exponential of Kapranov's Formal Spectrum, mysterious uncirculated preprint 2009(?)
This was never posted to the arXiv, but it does contain a nontrivial theorem.
On the opposite of the category of rings, preprint 2008.
Tight frames generated by finite nonabelian groups, Numer. Algorithms 48, (2008), 11-28.
On category O for the rational Cherednik algebra of G(m,1,n): the almost semisimple case, J. Math. Kyoto Univ. 48(1): 27-47 (2008).
Rational Cherednik algebras and diagonal coinvariants of G(m,p,n), Journal of Algebra Volume 311, Issue 1, 1 May 2007, Pages 231-250.
Tight frames and their symmetries, Const. Approx. 21 (2005), no. 1, 83-112.
The vertices of the platonic solids are tight frames, Advances in Constructive Approximation: Vanderbilt 2003, 495-498, (edited by M. Neamtu and E. B. Saff), Nashboro Press, 2004.

Lecture Notes and Teaching Materials

Statistics

Linear Regression (21 pages) from EMTH211, University of Canterbury 2014
Materials (lectures; assignments with solutions; SAS code) from STAT315: Multivariate Statistics, University of Canterbury 2014
R Primer (23 pages) 2013

Mathematics

MATH7350, Finite-dimensional Algebras (96 pages) from Cornell University, 2009
MATH7350, Notes on Quasi-free Algebras (51 pages) from Cornell University, 2009
Algebraic Geometry from a course by M. Stillman, Cornell University, 2007
Homework and Exams from undergraduate courses on calculus, linear algebra and analysis, Cornell University, 2008-2010

Projects

Software

Cat or Dog classifier (2020)
The koiplot R package for making pretty data visualisations with user guide (2017)
Arctic Explorer, written to test out an html text interface (2015)
A Javascript app which plays the 17th century card game Put (2012)
The Duel in the Snow 6th place, 2009 Interactive Fiction Competition. Nominated for an XYZZY award for Best Setting (2009)

Games and Puzzles

Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo. Winner "Best Children's Game", Boardgamegeek Children & Family Game Design Contest, 2024.
Rainbows & Unicorns. Third place, Traditional Deck Game Deisgn Contest, 2023.
The Inspector Bloodhound Pages. A collection of puzzles, 2003-05.