If you hang out with math nerds for an extended period of
time, they will inevitably bring up Erdős numbers.
So what is an Erdős number? And what does this have to do
with Kevin Bacon?
Most of us are familiar with “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”.
In this game, you try to connect any actor or actress with Kevin Bacon in the fewest
number of steps.
For example, Tilda Swinton was in “Constantine” with Pruitt
Taylor Vince who was in “Trapped” with Kevin Bacon. Thus, Tilda Swinton is
separated from Bacon by two degrees.
(To play this game online, go to http://oracleofbacon.org. It’s actually
quite hard to get a high number).
Back to our friend, Paul Erdős (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s).
He was a famous Hungarian mathematician known for publishing the most papers
(~1525) of any mathematician (among other things).
A photo of Paul Erdős (from Wikipedia)