# I determined my Bacon and Erdös numbers **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 29, 2021, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843 "2021-12-29T08:59:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/21 "2021-12-29T14:45:31Z")
I have an Erdös Number of 3, but sadly no Bacon Number. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/22 "2021-12-29T14:47:00Z")
My dad had a paper published in a statistical journal once, so i may have a Erdös number, but i do know that my PJD number is 0. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/23 "2021-12-29T14:48:58Z")
Which gives everyone who wrote with you in this thread a pjd number of 1. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/24 "2021-12-29T14:56:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So far as I know, I don’t have a Bacon number (unless maybe you count school plays If unfilmed plays count, my Bacon number is 3. I was in the The Honourable Thing with [Billy Morton](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0607930/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t23) who was in Free Range with Kevin Costner who was in JFK with Kevin Bacon. My PJD number is one because of this thread if nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/25 "2021-12-29T16:10:47Z")
If you used the real definitions of Bacon and Erdös numbers, I wouldn’t have either. (Well, actually, the definition of each says that if you have no path to them, your number is infinity.) If I use the real definition of Erdös number, the path would have to go from one node to the next by those nodes being co-authors on a paper published in a refereed mathematical journal. My one such paper had no co-authors, so my real Erdös number is thus infinity. If I cheat and go through mathematical papers that don’t really count, my Erdös number is 4. If I use the real definition of Bacon number, my Bacon number is infinity, since I haven’t appeared in any movies. If I cheat and use my accidental appearance in an episode of a national television show for a few seconds in a panning shot, it’s probable that one could construct a path using accidental appearances on television shows, eventually reaching someone who appeared in a movie and then continuing on a path through movies until reaching Kevin Bacon. If that is true, I would have a non-infinite Bacon number. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/26 "2021-12-29T16:57:10Z")
I made up a couple of my own. My US President number is 4: I knew a few NASA divisions chiefs personally, who knew the center director, who knew the NASA director who knew the President. By the same reasoning my Wernher von Braun number is also 4 which I think is much cooler. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/27 "2021-12-29T17:23:52Z")
I don’t know how the U.S. Presidential number should be calculated. If it’s through a path of handshaking, my U.S; Presidential number is 1, since I once shook hands with Jimmy Carter. If it’s through knowing someone well enough that you could say hello and you would each know the other’s name, the number is 2. I know James Fallows, who knows Jimmy Carter, since he was Carter’s chief speechwriter. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/28 "2021-12-29T18:35:27Z")
No Bacon number since I never appeared in any movie. Erdos number is 2 since I once published a joint paper with a colleague who published a joint paper with Erdos while still a student in Budapest. I have other paths to Erdos, but that is the shortest. My wife once showed up at a colloquium tea with our 4 month old daughter in tow. Erdos asked my wife whether that was a boss epsilon or a slave. In Erdos-speak an epsilon is something very small and a boss is a female, a slave male. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/29 "2021-12-29T18:35:38Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > If unfilmed plays count, my Bacon number is 3. Ditto. I worked at a dinner theatre as a summer job while I was in college. I was in several plays (I specifically recall one was _Destry Rides Again_, a musical Western) with Tracy Howe, who was in _Ghost Dog_ with Forest Whitaker, who was in _The Air I Breathe_ with Kevin Bacon. (I have some of the plays on VHS, if that makes them count. 😁) ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/30 "2021-12-29T18:51:42Z")
I’ve met Harlan Ellison, who’s met Christopher Lee, who’s met JRR Tolkien. My Tolkien number is 4. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/31 "2021-12-29T20:25:07Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > So… maybe I could trace all the doctors on that paper I got listed on right out of college, and see if any of them has an Erdös number, but it seems unlikely. It’s quite rare for someone who’s published any academic papers at all to lack an Erdös number, and it’s mostly only people who have published a single paper solo, or a pair who have co-authored only with each other. If the co-authors on that paper can be described as “all those doctors”, then it’s almost certain that you have an Erdös number. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/32 "2021-12-29T21:02:25Z")
If you count TV my Bacon Number is 2, because I appeared on TV interacting with Regis Philbin, who hosted Bacon on his show. Sadly no Erdoes number though… ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/33 "2021-12-29T21:14:29Z")
Does anyone have a Sabbath number? from the wiki for [Erdos Number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s_number) > A small number of people are connected to both Erdős and Bacon and thus have an [Erdős–Bacon number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s%E2%80%93Bacon_number), which combines the two numbers by taking their sum. One example is the actress-mathematician [Danica McKellar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar), best known for playing Winnie Cooper on the TV series _[The Wonder Years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonder_Years)_ . Her Erdős number is 4,[[40]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s_number#cite_note-40) and her Bacon number is 2.[[41]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s_number#cite_note-41) > > Further extension is possible. For example, the “Erdős–Bacon–Sabbath number” is the sum of the Erdős–Bacon number and the collaborative distance to the band [Black Sabbath](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath) in terms of singing in public. Physicist [Stephen Hawking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking) had an Erdős–Bacon–Sabbath number of 8,[[42]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s_number#cite_note-42) and actress [Natalie Portman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_Portman) has one of 11 (her Erdős number is 5).[[43]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s_number#cite_note-43) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/34 "2021-12-29T21:20:10Z")
I didn’t think either would apply to me until I realized that I acted in (and co-wrote) a junior high school video with Crispin Glover who has a Bacon Number of 2 (via James Cromwell) so my Bacon Number is 3. I only published one paper. It was in an industrial publication, not a research journal, so it probably doesn’t count and I think it was the only publication for my two co-authors so I don’t have an Erdos number. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/35 "2021-12-29T21:27:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > So… maybe I could trace all the doctors on that paper I got listed on right out of college, and see if any of them has an Erdös number, but it seems unlikely. > > It’s quite rare for someone who’s published any academic papers at all to lack an Erdös number, and it’s mostly only people who have published a single paper solo, or a pair who have co-authored only with each other. If the co-authors on that paper can be described as “all those doctors”, then it’s almost certain that you have an Erdös number. Interesting. I would have thought medicine far enough away from math that it was unlikely. And it was only 6-8 co-authors, of which I was the least important. (I was a lab technician, but had suggested some techniques for bits of the research, so my boss graciously listed me as a co-author. Hmm, I may also have proofread a draft.) But I’m going to count those greeting cards with my husband. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/36 "2021-12-29T21:31:40Z")
All it takes is for one medical researcher to publish with one mathematician, and the graphs are connected. Or, for instance, one medical researcher publishing with one biologist, and some other biologist publishing with a chemist, and some other chemist publishing with a physicist, and some other physicist publishing with a mathematician (though there probably are at least a few mathematicians and medical researchers who have co-published). ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/37 "2022-01-03T16:54:28Z")
If I’m doing this right, my Bacon Number is 3. I was an extra in _Legally Blonde 2_ with Reese Witherspoon, who was herself with Luke Wilson in _Legally Blonde_. Wilson was with Bacon in _My Dog Skip_. Inasmuch as I’ve never published an academic paper on any subject and can barely do simple arithmetic, my Erdös number is either zero or infinity, depending on how you want to look at it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/38 "2022-01-03T17:43:00Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > If I’m doing this right, my Bacon Number is 3. I was an extra in _Legally Blonde 2_ with Reese Witherspoon, who was herself with Luke Wilson in _Legally Blonde_ . Wilson was with Bacon in _My Dog Skip_ . Bruce McGill was in _Legally Blonde 2_, and was in _Animal House_ with Kevin Bacon. You have a Bacon Number of 2. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/39 "2022-01-03T18:13:13Z")
Yes. I know one mathematician who wrote his thesis on the homology groups of chains of enzyme reactions. He could easily have collaborations with both biologists and mathematicians. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2022, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843/40 "2022-01-03T18:26:02Z")
Hm, I hadn’t realized he was in _Animal House_. I was an extra in the crowd panic scene at the end of the movie, but I’ve never spent hours examining each frame to see if I actually made it into the film or not. So I guess if I did, my Bacon number is 1! Otherwise, I don’t think I have a Bacon number, unless we count high school plays. I was in a couple of those with people who later pursued professional acting careers, so there’s probably some relatively short chain there. I’ve never published a scientific paper or performed as a singer, so no Erdos or Sabbath numbers. I do know a lot of scientists, so if I could claim personal acquaintance as establishing the first link in the chain, my Erdos number would probably be fairly small. If you stretch the definition to include karaoke, I’ve done that with some guys who sang in obscure punk bands, who occasionally opened for slightly less obscure punk bands, who occasionally… In that case, my Sabbath number probably isn’t higher than 4 or 5. (BTW, why don’t they just call it an Ozzy number? Didn’t he do all the vocals?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-determined-my-bacon-and-erdos-numbers/956843.md?page=3)