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That link didn't work for me - locale problems - but this one does: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%25C5%2591s_number http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%25C5%25

That link didn't work for me - locale problems - but this one does: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%25C5%2591s_number http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%25C5%2591s_number I have an Erdos number of 2, and remember being unreasonably delighted to discover I have an Edros number of the second type of only 3. I thought it would be much bigger. Not that it really means anything, but it would now be cool to appear as an extra in a Kevin Bacon movie ...

cperciva 16y ago
Lucky you -- my Erdos number is 3, in part because I didn't start publishing until after Erdos died. I do have independent length-3 paths through four different people, though. Amusingly, my Erdos number of the second kind is infinite: I've written single-author papers and three-author papers, but no two-author papers!
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
  It's still easy enough to get a number of the first kind of 2, there are hundreds of active mathematicians with EN=1. You need to find one who shares an interest and then publish something serious with them. Ditto the type 2. If we found something that was worth getting into a journal at least you'd get EN(2)=4.
  - cperciva 16y ago
    there are hundreds of active mathematicians with EN=1 True, but the ones who are still active are generally quite senior, and wouldn't be interested in working with a nobody like me.
    - RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
      Depends (almost) entirely on what you're choosing to do. If you find something in the area of interest of one of them, then make a substantial contribution, then ask if they can help tidy of the details, it's plausible that it could happen. You'd need to make it a goal, and it's not clear that it's really worth it. John Brillhart, Richard Guy, Robin Wilson, Peter Winkler and Ron Graham all come to mind, mind you'd need time, effort, math and social engineering.
      - cperciva 16y ago
        That's way too much work to do just to reduce my Erdos number. :-)
        RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
        Absolutely. Not impossible, just not really worth the effort.

cperciva 16y ago

Lucky you -- my Erdos number is 3, in part because I didn't start publishing until after Erdos died. I do have independent length-3 paths through four different people, though. Amusingly, my Erdos number of the second kind is infinite: I've written single-author papers and three-author papers, but no two-author papers!

RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
It's still easy enough to get a number of the first kind of 2, there are hundreds of active mathematicians with EN=1. You need to find one who shares an interest and then publish something serious with them. Ditto the type 2. If we found something that was worth getting into a journal at least you'd get EN(2)=4.
- cperciva 16y ago
  there are hundreds of active mathematicians with EN=1 True, but the ones who are still active are generally quite senior, and wouldn't be interested in working with a nobody like me.
  - RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
    Depends (almost) entirely on what you're choosing to do. If you find something in the area of interest of one of them, then make a substantial contribution, then ask if they can help tidy of the details, it's plausible that it could happen. You'd need to make it a goal, and it's not clear that it's really worth it. John Brillhart, Richard Guy, Robin Wilson, Peter Winkler and Ron Graham all come to mind, mind you'd need time, effort, math and social engineering.
    - cperciva 16y ago
      That's way too much work to do just to reduce my Erdos number. :-)
      - RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
        Absolutely. Not impossible, just not really worth the effort.