Erdős–Bacon Numbers

So I spent way too much time tonight figuring out that I am one of the "rare few" who have an Erdős–Bacon Number. If you've heard of the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, the original was figuring out how closely connected you were to some guy named Paul Erdős who was a famous mathematician. So instead of starring in movies, you had to be in a chain of co-authorships of published papers. 


The Erdős–Bacon Number is simply the sum of your Bacon and Erdos numbers. 


Here is my Bacon Number:

1. I was an extra in a movie called Clouds (2000) that starred Caitlin Hicks,
2. who was in a movie called Beer (1985) with David Alan Grier,
3. who was in a movie called The Woodsman (2004) with Kevin Bacon

Source: http://oracleofbacon.org/cgi-bin/movielinks



Here is my Erdős Number:

1. I have co-authored papers with my advisor Rajeevan Amirtharajah,
2. who co-authored papers with Anantha Chandrakasan,
3. who co-authored a paper with Vahid Tarokh,
4. who co-authored a paper with A. Robert Calderbank,
5. who co-authored a paper with Joel H. Spencer,
6. who co-authored a paper with Paul Erdős.

Source: http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/collaborationDistance.html

Therefore my number is 3+6=9. Not too shabby for a nobody. For comparison, Natalie Portman has a number of 6, and Carl Sagan has a number of 7.

Current Mood : Happy to not be at work.

Current Music : The rain outside my window.