Monday, June 22, 2009

Cartoon of the Day

xkcd has the best inside-mathematics cartoon ever:


source: xkcd 599

If you don't get it, read here.

5 comments:

oilmarket said...

I really enjoyed reading your posts. They offer a different view on things.

Wry Mouth said...

I'm going to try and "get it" before I peek at the "here" link.

They are all trying to get an Erdos number = 1?

;o/

Admitedly, I am a math teacher and avid amateur statisitician...

@nooil4pacifists said...

WM:

You're the second out of seven to whom I've showed it who's understood.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I knew what an Erdos-Bacon number was, courtesy of Derbyshire's book, but I still didn't put it all together. I guess I didn't realise that a low Erdos number was something actively sought, rather than a curiosity.

word verification: logical

@nooil4pacifists said...

AVI:

For a good, short bio of Erdös that explains the lure of low Erdös numbers, try Paul Hoffman's The Man Who Loved Only Numbers (1999).