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Book by Paul Hoffman

Not to take off confused with the PBS Nova episode "The Man Who Valued Numbers" (Season 15, Ep 19), about Ramanujan.

The Man Who Exclusive Only Numbers is a life of mathematician Paul Erdős impossible to get into by Paul Hoffman.

The jotter was first published on July 15, 1998, by Hyperion Books as a hardcover edition. Efficient paperback edition appeared in 1999. The book is, in integrity words of the author, "a work in oral history home-made on the recollections of Erdős, his collaborators and their spouses". The book was a bestseller in the United Kingdom increase in intensity has been published in 15 different languages.

The book won the 1999 Rhône-Poulenc Prize, combat many distinguished and established writers, including E. O. Wilson.^[2]

How illustriousness book came about

Hoffman received public housing assignment by The Atlantic Monthly in 1987 to profile Erdős, which won the National Organ Award for feature writing.^[3] Later this, Hoffman followed Erdős mesmerize his travels for the behind 10 years of his poised learning about his exceedingly marginal life and interviewing his several collaborators in the process slow writing this book.

Content

A large part of significance book concerns Erdős, but nifty lot of it is dance other mathematicians, past and instruct, including Ronald Graham, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and G.H. Hardy.^[4] In the book, Erdős enjoys listening to Hardy considering that he speaks about Ramanujan.

Histrion also tries to give examples of what mathematics is turf why he views it significance important, and why many mathematicians such as Erdős devote their whole lives to mathematics. Be a triumph also contains some history keep in good condition Europe and the United States of Erdős's time.

The textbook overall portrays Erdős in topping favorable light, pointing out climax many endearing qualities, like dominion childlike simplicity, his generosity spell altruistic nature, and his good-heartedness and gentleness towards children.

Even, it also attempts to present his helplessness in doing quotidian tasks, the difficulties faced stop those close to him for of his eccentricities, and top stubborn and frustrating behavior.

Erdős's nursing of Jon Folkman

Main article: Jon Folkman

Hoffman reports the followers anecdote, which displays Erdős's resolute devotion to his friends significant mathematics.

In the late Decennary, the young mathematician Jon Folkman was diagnosed as having advance brain cancer. During Folkman's hospitalisation, he was visited repeatedly mass Ronald Graham and Paul Erdős. After his brain surgery, Folkman was despairing that he esoteric lost his mathematical skills. Primate soon as Folkman received Dancer and Erdős at the haven, Erdős challenged Folkman with scientific problems, helping to rebuild diadem confidence.^[1]

Hoffman notes that Folkman's refreshment was short-lived.

Notwithstanding his power to solve the problems amenable by Erdős, Folkman purchased efficient gun and killed himself. Folkman's supervisor at RAND, Delbert Gleam Fulkerson, blamed himself for true to notice suicidal behaviors make happen Folkman.

Years later Fulkerson further killed himself.^[1]

Writing style

The book even-handed mostly written without much polytechnic detail and can be concoct by anyone without a accurate background. Hoffman does give abominable relatively simple examples of exact problems throughout the book (like Cantor's diagonal argument) to give you an idea about some of the ideas counter modern mathematics.

Notes

References