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You're stunned that mathematicians will do something many more people do with Kevin Bacon numbers?
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Seriously, fugu. There are people who do statistical analyses on Bacon numbers? Who propose rational Bacon numbers?
I'm not criticizing; I think it's wonderful. But reading that Wikipedia article also made me feel like I'd been hit in the head with a blunt instrument.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Yeah, people do those sorts of analyses with Kevin Bacon numbers. They even create entire websites dedicated to various aspects of Kevin Bacon numbers.
The only thing I don't see evidence of is rational Bacon numbers, but there's less pressure for that, since Bacon is alive, while Erdos is dead (and people need new ways to improve their score). Not to mention that these are mathematicians, and applying standard normalization methods to the data available isn't more than a few minutes work.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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quote:Rabbit: People can wrap their heads around stage and theatre better than they can around math. It's more accessible. Plus people know who Bill Paxton is and they probably don't know any of your associated mathematicians.
Which is why I said it really isn't that curious that Flying Cow (or anyone other than a real math geek) would find your filmography more interesting.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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To get your Hatrack Number under infinity you have to have....met and had a meal with OSC, or someone who has a finite Hatrack Number. (We could make it Papa, but he has a Number of 1 on this list, so its not much of a difference).
Hence I think my number is 3 since I've ate with Dana and Bob and a number of others at a certain Weird Al show, and they have met and dined with PapaJ. I may be wrong though.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:To get your Hatrack Number under infinity you have to have....met and had a meal with OSC, or someone who has a finite Hatrack Number. (We could make it Papa, but he has a Number of 1 on this list, so its not much of a difference).
I think that should be called something other than a hatrack number since it doesn't relate directly to the forum. I think that to have a hatrack number of one, OSC must have responded directly to one of your posts (either on the forum, in e-mail or in person). To have a hatrack number of two, you must have had someone with a hatrack number of one respond directly to one of your posts.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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I co-authored a paper in Analytical Chemistry with Willse, who co-authored papers with Marty Hamilton, who co_authored papers with Halbeisen, who co-authored with Shelah who was a co-author of Erdos.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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SCORE! I totally just upped my hatrack number!!!
Joking, I was actually wondering kind of science or math you do. I never really liked chemistry, I spent the entire year of chemistry class making soap and looking up the periodic table on my calculator. Although I think a non-high school chemistry class might be cool.
Posts: 549 | Registered: Feb 2008
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quote:I think that should be called something other than a hatrack number since it doesn't relate directly to the forum. I think that to have a hatrack number of one, OSC must have responded directly to one of your posts (either on the forum, in e-mail or in person). To have a hatrack number of two, you must have had someone with a hatrack number of one respond directly to one of your posts.
I've had OSC respond directly in his books to some of my posts here.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Darth_Mauve: To get your Hatrack Number under infinity you have to have....met and had a meal with OSC, or someone who has a finite Hatrack Number. (We could make it Papa, but he has a Number of 1 on this list, so its not much of a difference).
Hmm... he posted an article of mine on Ornery, he stood up and shook my hand at a book signing when I told him who I was. Hatrack number of 1?
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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He sent me an e-mail regarding one of my first posts back in the BML days. Hatrack #1. I think we almost certainly have enough #1s on the site that anyone who isn't at least a #2 would be pretty rare.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: I'm a #1 - I had dinner with OSC and some other Hatrackers in 1999.
Yes, but at that dinner did he respond to something you had posted at hatrack. If he didn't, you have a Card number of 1, but only a hatrack number of 2.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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I may note that part of the challenge of these numbers is normally that the number of people with low ranks is small. If in fact it is the case that the Hatrack community is dominated by low ranks, it may actually be more interesting to work out the poster with the *highest but finite* Hatrack or OSC #.
For the record, it appears that the largest finite Bacon number is 8 and the largest finite Erdos number is 13. (in both cases, so far) http://www4.oakland.edu/enp/trivia/Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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I have definitely had OSC respond to me on Hatrack. However, that so much less of a big deal after having dinner with him that I have forgotten the details.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Rabbit... it's not that I'm not interested in your publications, but that I know that I would in no way have ever heard of them. I didn't even know who Edros was before today, to be quite honest.
It is well known to me that you are a published scientist. Hearing that you had a published paper would be like hearing that Dagonee had a published legal brief to me. While it is impressive, it is not unexpected due to the nature of your chosen profession. In fact, due to your contributions to hatrack over the years, I'd be more surprised if you *did not* have an Edros number.
As to The Pixiest, I had no idea about any sort of connection to film - hence, the inquiry.
I know you've been shot at plenty on this site, especially in the global warming threads, but please do not take any dismissiveness from my inquiry. I have nothing but respect for you as a scientist, and have tried to be as respectful as possible when asking questions in threads in which you participate.
My inquiry to Pix was not meant to offend, nor do I think it was for the reasons you assumed.
(As an aside, I was a math teacher for 4 years, and now more of a math hobbyist - though not yet graduated to full math geekdom. So it is also not because I find acting more interesting/comprehensible than mathematics.)
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Flying Cow, Not to worry. I was in no way offended. Like I said, I don't find it at all curious that you were more interested in asking about Pixiest's Bacon number than my scientific publications. And that isn't because I think you find films more interesting than Math or me more interesting than Pixiest. I too was curious to hear about Pix's low Bacon number.
I think it says something about how our culture views different kinds of achievements. An extremely famous mathematician will never have the same sort of name recognition as even a modestly successful film star. That isn't a complaint, its an observation. A film stars fame comes from doing something that they want people to watch. You can't be considered even modestly successful as a film star unless millions of people have seen you on the wide screen. Math isn't a performance and a mathematicians achievements will never be judged based on how many people know his/her name.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:Originally posted by BandoCommando: He responded to my post/question about band practice logs. Even though he despises my system, does that mean I have a Hatrack number of 1?
posted
So, would there be a Hatrack number, and a "real hatracker" number?
Since you have to be met in person by other "real" hatrackers to be considered "real"... would a "real" number of 1 be people who have met OSC personally? With a number of 2 being those hatrackers that met such a person at a some hatrack-con or another?
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by FlyingCow: So, would there be a Hatrack number, and a "real hatracker" number?
Since you have to be met in person by other "real" hatrackers to be considered "real"... would a "real" number of 1 be people who have met OSC personally? With a number of 2 being those hatrackers that met such a person at a some hatrack-con or another?
I would call that a Card number not a real hatrack number.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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I don't think that definition of a hatrack number makes sense. Card posts so infrequently that it seems to measure chance more than anything else.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:Math isn't a performance and a mathematicians achievements will never be judged based on how many people know his/her name.
True. I think a film star's performance is, to a certain extent, judged on how many people know his/her name. In fact, if someone is the greatest actor on the planet, but no one watches their films... can they really be considered a success?
Whereas the mathematicians that got the Apollo 13 back home, or those that figured out all the trajectories on the LCROSS mission... they have achieved (will have achieved) far more significant success, even if their names are not widely known.
I will, of course, be scanning scientific publications for articles signed by "The Rabbit" in the future. Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: I don't think that definition of a hatrack number makes sense. Card posts so infrequently that it seems to measure chance more than anything else.
Well that, and what time periods you were active in. I registered about halfway through his last really active period, so it wasn't that hard for me to get a response (though digging it up might be a bit of a slog).
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: I'm a #1 - I had dinner with OSC and some other Hatrackers in 1999.
I think you get a 1 for that, because it was in person. The forum itself should count as an intermediary, as should e-mail. So if you've only corresponded with him, you'd be a 2. But you had dinner with him in person, so you're a 1.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Rabbit: if it matters, I too am appalled that charisma counts so much more in life than intelligence. But it's the world we live in and we deal with the consequences every day. All the way down to pretty or social people making more money for the same work than reclusive ugmos like me.
Posts: 7085 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Strider: If I AM OSC does that make me a 0?
Well, the Wikipedia article said that Erdos is the only one with an Erdos number of 0, so I guess so.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I just checked and it seems that with an amazing one co-authored paper to my name I have an Erdos number of 6.
After the publication of a second co-authored paper accepted but not yet published, I'll be down to 4.
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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Either method suggested gives me a Hatrack number of 1.
My dad has an Edros number of 2. Too bad I will never co-write a paper with him (I don't have nearly the necessary background!)
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Kwea: Met OSC, shook his hand, had a nice talk with his wife in Boston. And he replied to some of my posts.
Usually to tell me I was wrong.
We argued about economics via e-mail. I think this was in my pre-Hatrack days, though.
The first time I wrote him was when Children of the Mind was posted on AOL. I stayed up all night reading it, and then wrote to him to point out a historical error. He acknowledged the error, but said he was going to keep it in anyway, for the sake of the story. 'Twas very cool.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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interesting Plaid, didn't the girl who played Winnie in The Wonder Years become a mathematician?
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:The only ways a lower number could be achieved would be:
* for an individual who had co-authored an academic paper with Paul Erdős to appear in a movie with Kevin Bacon; * for Bacon to co-author an academic paper with someone with an Erdős number of 1, which would give Bacon an Erdős–Bacon number of 2; * for anyone who appeared in the documentary N is a Number along with Erdős to appear in a film with Bacon, which would posthumously give Erdős an Erdős–Bacon number of 2; * for Kevin Bacon to appear in a film that also uses stock footage of Erdős, giving Erdős an Erdős–Bacon number of 1; * for a heretofore unknown joint academic paper by Bacon and Erdős to be published, giving Bacon an Erdős–Bacon number of 1. * for Kevin Bacon to be revealed as Paul Erdős in disguise, giving Erdős-Bacon an Erdős-Bacon number of 0.
quote:Bacon number 2 (played frisbee with Ethan Hawke).
Doesn't count. You need to have been in a production with someone for it to count as a connection. Otherwise someone who sold Kevin Bacon some coffee would have a Bacon number of 1.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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