Paul Erdős was the most prolific publisher of mathematics papers (more than Euler). Much like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, mathematicians have an number to connect mathematicians to Erdős, as measured by paper co-authorship networks. It’s called the Erdős Number.
I suppose, to be a purist, these connections should be via mathematical papers, but there’s a tool from Microsoft to connect authors via any published paper. If you’re like me and have published papers, put your name and Paul Erdős in the search boxes to calculate the distance – your Erdős Number. As you can see in the figure, I have an Erdős Number of 4 from multiple paths via co-authors on some of my papers.
That’s cool.
The thing is, there are some actors who have low Erdős Numbers, such as Colin Firth, Natlie Portman, and Mayim Bialik. Yes, geeks who are also famous actors.
Of course, these folks also have Bacon Numbers (which you can look up on Google or use this cool Oracle of Bacon tool). And if they have Bacon and Erdős Numbers, it’s only fit to calculate an Erdős–Bacon Number [Portman, 6; Firth, 7; Bialik, 7]. A fun write up on this is on Wikipedia.
Of course, to be a purist, Bacon connections are via movies. Now, what only few know, I was in a scene in a soap in Finland (here’s the IMdB entry – and, lo, my own IMdB entry). If we were to loosen the Bacon connection rules a tad, to TV shows, The Oracle of Bacon tool, then, is able to connect me to Kevin Bacon (though, the connection is through someone who was not in my scene).
In summary, my Erdős–Bacon number is 7 IF you count my Erdős Number via non-math papers AND count my Bacon Number via a TV show and a cast member I was not in a scene with (though I am sure it’s off by one more link, as my scene was with the lead of the show).
Ah, wait while I let my ego thrill. 🙂
But why the heck was I looking into this? I’m writing a new novel where there are a ton of smarties with low Erdős numbers. That got me doing all the research and then doing some vanity checks. And, yes, Kevin Bacon will have a cameo appearance to give all the characters a defined Erdős–Bacon Number!
Now back to whatever you were doing before. Or go flatter yourself and let me know your numbers!
Other notes: I mentioned to my brilliant wife that I have a Sagan Number of 4. She then pointed out I knew his ex-wife Lynne Margulis (when I was in grad school) for a 2-degree of separation. Yeah, my life is full of 2-degree to fame and success (and more). Sigh.
Gold. Pure gold mate.