12 Dec
2005
12 Dec
'05
8:15 p.m.
Interesting questions: 1. What's the largest non-infinite Erdos number? Any estimates? Wild guesses? 2. What's the numerically longest string of back-references in math (or some other subject)? It might be limited by the average delay from writing to publication, so I'd guess a few hundred, going back to Gauss, Euler, or Fermat. I chose them because they presumably had little need to quote older work. True? False? Steve Gray
Did Euler or Fermat ever have coauthors?
Rich