This obituary of him was touching.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-09-30-960930...
Paul Erdős (2000)
21–30 of 87 posts
Re: Paul Erdős (2000)
#22Had a mate who put him up, but for the non Erdós number reason: Erdós liked to play bridge a lot. So, practical group theory in the base-52 space..
Re: Paul Erdős (2000)
#23I think it's not just about the sheer amount of papers one writes, but also the impact they have on the literature. And for Euler, he was lucky to live in an era without the problems of lengthy review processes as we see today.
that's really debatable. Accomplish a lot in the general sense most likely, but if you want to be a world class mathematician meth wont be enough, it will just boost your already existing capabilities
Re: Paul Erdős (2000)
#24He was also on amphetamines constantly. If I was on amphetamine all the time I’d get a lot accomplished as well.
From experience, surprisingly, no. It helps if you do it occasionally but when done regularly and at high doses, I ended up just getting cracked out and becoming.. for lack of a better word, kind of crazy.
They are good for essays though.
Re: Paul Erdős (2000)
#25Pure math is the ultimate in science. I can’t think of anything more valuable and fundamental to knowledge and the accomplishments of humanity than mathematics. Consequently, the ultimate way to achieve immortality is to make a mathematical discovery and name it after yourself. It will forever stand the test of time.
Re: Paul Erdős (2000)
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
1) you think that was an advantage? 2) that is a small way to think
Newton and Leibniz figured out calculus at about the same time. Only one guy published a paper outlining a method for basic integration in the 20th century. It obviously got harder to discover calculus.
That's not how that works.
Re: Paul Erdős (2000)
#27He was also on amphetamines constantly. If I was on amphetamine all the time I’d get a lot accomplished as well.
From experience, surprisingly, no. It helps if you do it occasionally but when done regularly and at high doses, I ended up just getting cracked out and becoming.. for lack of a better word, kind of crazy. They are good for essays though.
Not sure what this tells us, we now have two anecdotes. The plural of anecdote not being data, I think it's dangerous to draw any kind of conclusion from these data points.
Re: Paul Erdős (2000)
#28[clasped hands emoji]
In other breaking news, water is wet.
Re: Paul Erdős (2000)
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Newton and Leibniz figured out calculus at about the same time. Only one guy published a paper outlining a method for basic integration in the 20th century. It obviously got harder to discover calculus.
That's not how that works.
Re: Paul Erdős (2000)
#30From Wikipedia:
Erdős signed his name "Paul Erdos P.G.O.M." When he became 60, he added "L.D.", at 65 "A.D.", at 70 "L.D." (again), and at 75 "C.D."
- P.G.O.M. represented "Poor Great Old Man"
- The first L.D. represented "Living Dead"
- A.D. represented "Archaeological Discovery"
- The second L.D. represented "Legally Dead"
- C.D. represented "Counts Dead"
Absolutely hilarious.