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It took me a while to understand xkcd #599[1]; now I'm wondering what the current lower bound on someone's Erdős–Bacon Number is today. Anyone know? [1]: https
by ashton314 7y ago
It took me a while to understand xkcd #599[1]; now I'm wondering what the current lower bound on someone's Erdős–Bacon Number is today. Anyone know?
[1]: https://www.xkcd.com/599/ https://www.xkcd.com/599/
- dandare 7y agoCan you ELI5 both? I don't get it.
- twiceaday 7y agoTo get the lowest Erdos number you have to co-author a paper with him but he is dead so that is no longer possible. Unless...
- abhorrence 7y agoSomeone's "Bacon" number is how many films you have to go through in order to go from that person to Kevin Bacon. For example Patrick Stewart's Bacon number is 2. Star Trek: First Contact -[James Cromwell]-> Beyond All Boundaries -> Kevin Bacon. Someone's Erdős number is the same concept, but applied to coauthorship on research papers. Someone's Erdős-Bacon number is the sum of those two numbers.
- gibspaulding 7y agohttps://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/599:_Apocalypse https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/599:_Apocalypse
- selectodude 7y agoWell, Erdos is dead, so you'd have to be in a movie with one of the two people who have a EB number of 3, giving you an EB number of 5. Otherwise, if one of the people who have published a paper with Erdos were in a movie with Kevin Bacon, that would lower their number to two. Somebody born today couldn't do better than 5, and they'd have to move quickly. Kleitman is in his late 80s and Reznik is 66.
- ikeboy 7y agoSomeone born today could co-author a paper with anyone who co-authored a paper with Erdos, and also appear in a film with Kevin Bacon, giving them a EB number of 3.
- IvyMike 7y agoSomebody films a movie today staring Kevin Bacon and anyone with an Erdős number of 1 and we get a new record holder, E-B number of 2.