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| A person's '''Erdős-Bacon number''' is the sum of their ] and their ]. To have a finite Erdős-Bacon number, one must therefore have both appeared in a film and co-authored a mathematical paper. | |||
| The ''"Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"'' game originates from the ] theory. | |||
| For a time, the sole person with the lowest known Erdős-Bacon number was ]. He appeared in '']'' with ], who was in '']'' with ], for a Bacon number of 2. He also wrote a paper with ], who wrote a paper with ], who wrote a paper with Paul Erdős, for an Erdős number of 3 and a combined Erdős-Bacon number of 5. | For a time, the sole person with the lowest known Erdős-Bacon number was ]. He appeared in '']'' with ], who was in '']'' with ], for a Bacon number of 2. He also wrote a paper with ], who wrote a paper with ], who wrote a paper with Paul Erdős, for an Erdős number of 3 and a combined Erdős-Bacon number of 5. | ||
Revision as of 17:22, 12 December 2005
A person's Erdős-Bacon number is the sum of their Erdős number and their Bacon number. To have a finite Erdős-Bacon number, one must therefore have both appeared in a film and co-authored a mathematical paper.
For a time, the sole person with the lowest known Erdős-Bacon number was Brian Greene. He appeared in Frequency with John Di Benedetto, who was in Sleepers with Kevin Bacon, for a Bacon number of 2. He also wrote a paper with Shing-Tung Yau, who wrote a paper with Ronald Graham, who wrote a paper with Paul Erdős, for an Erdős number of 3 and a combined Erdős-Bacon number of 5.
Brian Greene was later matched by Dave Bayer, mathematical consultant to A Beautiful Mind who received a minor role on screen in the movie. Rance Howard was also in A Beautiful Mind and in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon to give Bayer a Bacon number of 2. Bayer's Erdős number is also 3, totalling to an Erdős-Bacon number of 5 as well.
External links
- Erdos-Bacon Numbers - Written for the Daily Telegraph, April 2002
- The Erdös Number Project
- Boing Boing directory article
- BBC Radio 4 - A Further 5 Numbers
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