The Mathematical Nomad, Paul Erdős • Hacker News Board

vecplane wrote: post #3

Medium is now limiting the number of posts one can read before signing up with a Google or Facebook account. Is there a reasonable workaround for this that doesn't require signing in? EDIT: I suppose private browsing works well.

I usually default to allowing first-party JS, but Medium is perhaps my only exception to that default. It's much less painful without.

With no pop-ups or banners, it's almost a pleasant reading experience.

(You might need to block cookies too.)

Re: The Mathematical Nomad, Paul Erdős

#24

Post by jimhefferon » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 1:01 PM UTC

beecat wrote: post #7

melling wrote: post #2

Reached my Medium limit...

Peak Medium.

Unable-to-peek Medium

Re: The Mathematical Nomad, Paul Erdős

#25

Post by dpeck » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 1:19 PM UTC

wso wrote: post #13

"A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems"

s/coffee/amphetamine/ in the case of Erdos

Re: The Mathematical Nomad, Paul Erdős

#26

Post by throw0101a » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 1:23 PM UTC

marttt wrote: post #10

There is an IMO outstandingly illustrated children's book about Erdős, "The Boy Who Loved Math" by Deborah Heiligman and LeUyen Pham [1]. Really witty, but also moving. I think it depicts really well why it makes sense to accept "strange people". [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Loved-Math-Improbable/dp/1596... (I suggest Looking Inside the book as well!)

Also, for adults:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Loved_Only_Numbers

Anecdote from the book: he called cats "fascists". Asked why, he replied: "Have you ever considered things from the mouse's perspective?".

Re: The Mathematical Nomad, Paul Erdős

#27

Post by dbmueller » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 2:29 PM UTC

ex3xu wrote: post #19

I love the tomato juice story from The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: > Graham was not the only one who had to put up with Erdös's kitchen antics. "Once I spent a few days with Paul," said Janos Path, a fellow Hungarian emigre. "When I entered the kitchen in the evening, I was met with a horrible sight. The floor was covered by pools of blood-like red liquid. The trail led to the refrigerator. I opened the door, and to…

Is that János Pach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1nos_Pach ?

Re: The Mathematical Nomad, Paul Erdős

#28

Post by EForEndeavour » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 2:50 PM UTC

beecat wrote: post #7

melling wrote: post #2

Reached my Medium limit...

Peak Medium.

Maximum Medium.

Re: The Mathematical Nomad, Paul Erdős

#29

Post by FabHK » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 2:57 PM UTC

There is a wonderful book called Proofs from THE BOOK, highly recommended if you like maths.

Can't say it better than Wikipedia:

> Proofs from THE BOOK is a book of mathematical proofs by Martin Aigner and Günter M. Ziegler. The book is dedicated to the mathematician Paul Erdős, who often referred to "The Book" in which God keeps the most elegant proof of each mathematical theorem. During a lecture in 1985, Erdős said, "You don't have to believe in God, but you should believe in The Book."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofs_from_THE_BOOK

Re: The Mathematical Nomad, Paul Erdős

#30

Post by bitlax » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 3:13 PM UTC

In the early 90s, George Csicsery made a film about Erdős called "N is a Number" which is worth watching. You can find information on that video, along with a few lectures by Erdős and a film about his 100th birthday at zalafilms.com.

I enjoy watching Csicsery's works. For example, his film "Hard Problems" shows a respect for the IMO competition and its participants that I feel the similar BBC documentary "Beautiful Young Minds" does not.