# What is your Erdös number? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935 "2006-11-10T21:37:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alex\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@Alex\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_1)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/1 "2006-11-10T21:37:58Z")
My partner just had a jump to 2. Now if we ever write a paper together I go from not even having one, to 3! (For the uninitiated: Paul Erdös was a prolific mathematician - his number is 0. Anybody who co-authored a paper with him has an Erdös number of 1. Anybody who in turn collaborates with that person has the number 2, and so on.) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/2 "2006-11-10T21:43:24Z")
[QUOTE=Alex\_] My partner just had a jump to 2. Now if we ever write a paper together I go from not even having one, to 3! (For the uninitiated: Paul Erdös was a prolific mathematician - his number is 0. Anybody who co-authored a paper with him has an Erdös number of 1. Anybody who in turn collaborates with that person has the number 2, and so on.) [/QUOTE] Mine is probably googol, as I never expect to write a mathematics paper with anyone, let alone someone who is linked to Paul Erdös. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/3 "2006-11-10T21:44:43Z")
If I have one, it’s going to be pretty high, since I haven’t published much, and it’s way outside mathematics. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/4 "2006-11-10T22:43:51Z")
Mine is 4. Beat that (blows raspberries). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/5 "2006-11-10T23:17:56Z")
I have to look this up again – I’ve got a finite Erdos number, although I’m pretty sure it’s higher than 2 or 4. There are a couple of people I’ve co-authored with that are likely links to the greater mathematics community. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/6 "2006-11-10T23:49:14Z")
I’d have to look it up again (or someone could search on the last time this thread came up), but I seem to recall that, if you count papers with more than two authors, mine is 4. And if not, mine is undefined, since I’ve only co-written one published paper and it had four authors. Ah, [here it is.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=342432&highlight=erdos+number) It looks like I killed that thread. Hopefully I won’t do the same for this one. ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/7 "2006-11-11T03:09:38Z")
[QUOTE=iamthewalrus(:3=] Ah, [here it is.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=342432&highlight=erdos+number) It looks like I killed that thread. Hopefully I won’t do the same for this one. [/QUOTE] As the designated SDMB thread killer, I thought I’d help you out. As to the OP, I’m guessing my Erdös number is google plus one. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/8 "2006-11-12T21:48:42Z")
The Erdös number concept is, of course, trivially related to the [Kevin Bacon number](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon). Given that Paul Erdös appear in at least [one movie on the IMDB](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125425/), he may have a finite Kevin Bacon number. But I doubt if Kevin Bacon has authored an academic paper, so I suspect that he doesn’t have an Erdös number. ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/9 "2006-11-12T22:46:18Z")
As the starter of the previous Erdos number thread, I was hoping that by the time the question was asked again that I’d actually have one (research procrastination can be fun, but doesn’t please one’s committee :D) My research area is Graph Algorithms, so a nice low number is in my future (I hope :P) ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/10 "2006-11-12T22:52:23Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] Given that Paul Erdös appear in at least [one movie on the IMDB](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125425/), he may have a finite Kevin Bacon number. [/QUOTE] [Apparently not.](http://oracleofbacon.org/cgi-bin/oracle/movielinks?firstname=Bacon,%20Kevin&game=1&secondname=Erdos,+Paul) See, now I think some movie star needs to rectify this by becoming a mathematician. I mean, [Peter Weller](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000693/) is a bona fide classics professor, so why not? Of course, that thought led me to think of [what sort of person Hollywood would likely cast](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000612/) as a plausible “movie star by day, mathematician by night”. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/11 "2006-11-12T23:16:31Z")
[QUOTE=Merhouse] As to the OP, I’m guessing my Erdös number is google plus one. [/QUOTE] I don’t think Google is a number. Googol, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/12 "2006-11-12T23:22:54Z")
Just as a note, erdos numbers above 7 are extremely rare. ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/13 "2006-11-13T17:05:08Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] I don’t think Google is a number. Googol, on the other hand… [/QUOTE] LOL, what sucks is, I used to know that before that other G word took over my brain :smack: See, it is taking longer than they thought 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/14 "2006-11-13T18:14:30Z")
I just wanted to mention that [Danica McKellar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar) (she played Winnie on _The Wonder Years_) likely has a finite [Erdös-Bacon Number](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdos-Bacon_number), which is a sum of the two. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/15 "2006-11-13T18:21:33Z")
[QUOTE=Subway Prophet] I just wanted to mention that [Danica McKellar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar) (she played Winnie on _The Wonder Years_) likely has a finite [Erdös-Bacon Number](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdos-Bacon_number), which is a sum of the two. [/QUOTE] I see that Natalie Portman has a relatively low Erdös-Bacon Number number of 9 – probably the lowest for a reasonably well-known professional actor. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/16 "2006-11-13T18:42:20Z")
[QUOTE=MEBuckner] [Apparently not.](http://oracleofbacon.org/cgi-bin/oracle/movielinks?firstname=Bacon,%20Kevin&game=1&secondname=Erdos,+Paul) [/QUOTE] If you consider the Kevin Bacon number to include not only actors and actresses , but other people who work on a film (heretical, I know, but some serious cinephiles do), then Erdos has a Kevin Bacon number of at most 4: _N is a Number_’s cinematographer, **John Knoop** , also worked on _Star Worms II: Attack of the Pleasure Pods,_ starring **Taylor Gilbert** , who appeared with **Sandra Bullock** in _Forces of Nature_, who appeared in _Loverboy_ with **Kevin Bacon**. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/17 "2006-11-13T18:57:47Z")
Looking at that Erdos Number reference page, I find that I’m three steps from Nebel Winner Arthur Schawlow, who has an Erdos number of 5, giving me an Erdos number of no higher than 8. But that’s only one possibility – there may be a shorter path. [http://www.oakland.edu/enp/erdpaths.html](http://www.oakland.edu/enp/erdpaths.html) I also have a _quasi-Bacon_ number of 3, having appeared on-stage (twice) with Erland von Lidthe de Jeude, who has a Bacon Number of 2. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/18 "2006-11-13T19:04:07Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Mine is probably googol, as I never expect to write a mathematics paper with anyone, let alone someone who is linked to Paul Erdös. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I’m an _English major_ who failed the first time around on Grade Eleven math . Googol times infinity to the eighth power of billion. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/19 "2006-11-13T20:54:20Z")
If we can stretch “collaborative path” like Silly Putty and include the successful _solicitation of autographs_, then I’ve got an Erdos Number of 4, since I once procured the signature of Izzy Gelfand [Erdos #3] for a Gelfand-worshipping mathematician former boyfriend [I have no idea what his # is]. It’s fair to say that they were both pleasantly surprised! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935/20 "2006-11-15T06:21:02Z")
[QUOTE=Subway Prophet] I just wanted to mention that [Danica McKellar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar) (she played Winnie on _The Wonder Years_) likely has a finite [Erdös-Bacon Number](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdos-Bacon_number), which is a sum of the two. [/QUOTE] Holy crap! Summa cum Laude in math?!?!? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-erdos-number/379935.md?page=2)