Like many mathematicians, Erdös had an unusual way of talking, and liked making up his own names for things. I keep trying to find a 3 who wants to write a joint paper with me, but so far unsuccessfully. Low numbers are much sought after if you're wondering, I'm a 5, which is so-so. If you published a paper with a person who's a 1, you're a 2, and so on. If you published a joint paper with him, your number is 1. He collaborated with over 500 different people on over 1400 published papers, and every researcher now talks about their "Erdös number". I'm afraid you don't understand mathematicians' priorities.Īs the title says, Erdös loved only numbers, and he wanted to share that love with the whole world. He'd often reward them with a couple of ideas so brilliant that their whole careers would be revitalized, or pushed in some exciting new direction they hadn't even suspected might exist. He might turn up on someone's doorstep and expect them to feed him and give him a place to sleep for a few nights. I see that another reviewer has called him a "hanger-on". He was the Saint Francis of Mathematics he had no possessions, and just wandered around the world doing math research with like-minded people.
I originally wanted to be a mathematician, and I'm still enough of one that I am completely in awe of Erdös.
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