Editing James Mercer (mathematician)

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'''James Mercer''' [[Royal Society|FRS]]<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Hobson | first1 = E. W. | title = James Mercer. 1883-1932 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1933.0016 | journal = [[Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 1 | issue = 2 | pages = 164–165 | year = 1933 | author1-link = E. W. Hobson }}</ref> (15 January 1883 – 21 February 1932) was a [[mathematician]], born in [[Bootle]], close to [[Liverpool]], England.<ref>{{MacTutor Biography|id=Mercer|title=James Mercer}}</ref>

He was educated at [[University of Manchester]], and then [[University of Cambridge]].  He became a Fellow, saw active service at the [[Battle of Jutland]] in World War I and, after decades of ill health, died in London.

He proved [[Mercer's theorem]], which states that [[positive-definite kernel]]s can be expressed as a [[dot product]] in a high-dimensional [[space#Mathematics|space]]. This theorem is the basis of the [[kernel trick]] ([[Kernel perceptron|applied by Aizerman]]), which allows linear algorithms to be easily converted into non-linear algorithms.

==References==
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[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century British mathematicians]]
[[Category:20th-century British mathematicians]]
[[Category:Mathematical analysts]]
[[Category:People from Bootle]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Manchester]]
[[Category:Senior Wranglers]]
[[Category:Scientists from Liverpool]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]


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