What is there to say about chalk and mathematicians? Much of what there is, is said in this paper: “Chalk: Materials and concepts in mathematics research,” Michael J. Barany [pictured here] Donald MacKenzie, in: C. Coopmans, M. Lynch, J. Vertesi and S. Woolgar (Eds) Representation in Scientific Practice Revisited, 2014, pp. 107–130 (Cambridge, MA: The MIT […]
Tag: mathematician
A grave puzzling incident in Britain
The Chester (UK) Chronicle reports, on October 17, 2013: A grieving family is upset after being ordered to remove personalised inscriptions from their loved one’s headstone comprising a Sudoku puzzle and mathematical equation. Widow Angela Robinson of Barton Road, Farndon, is prepared to fight Farndon Parish Council all the way over its request that engravings […]
Erdos tells a joke
Mathematician Paul Erdos, he of the Erdos number, tells a joke: Here are some Erdos links: Reminiscences of Paul Erdos The Erdos Number Project Erdos and XKCD The book of books about Erdos: The Man Who Loved Only Numbers The Erdos centennial, in Hungary The documentary “Erdos — N Is a Number”: Paul Hoffman, author of […]
He’s the “k”, and has great Erdos and Bacon numbers
“He is the ‘k’ in G. W. Peck, a pseudonym for a group of six mathematicians,” says Wikipedia, which goes on to say: Kleitman has coauthored at least six papers with Erdős, giving him an Erdős number of 1. He was a math advisor and extra for the film Good Will Hunting.[5] Since Minnie Driver of Good Will Hunting appeared in Sleepers with Kevin Bacon, Kleitman […]