599: Apocalypse

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Apocalypse

Title text: I wonder if I still have time to go shoot a short film with Kevin Bacon.

Explanation

According to Wikipedia, Paul Erdős (26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician who published more papers than any other mathematician in history, working with hundreds of collaborators.

An in-joke developed among mathematicians called the Erdős number (similar to a Bacon number for film actors, which we'll discuss in a minute). By definition, Erdős has an Erdős number of 0. Everyone who has co-written a mathematical paper with Erdős has an Erdős number of 1. Everyone who collaborated with them (but not Erdős himself) is assigned an Erdős number of 2. In general, if k is the minimal Erdős number of all the people you've written papers with, your Erdős number is k + 1. The Erdős number is the length of the shortest "chain" from you to Erdős.

Not everyone has an Erdős number, meaning that they don't have any chain linking them to Erdős. Most non-mathematicians do not have an Erdős number.

In this comic, the apocalypse happens. Cueball quickly writes a math paper and gets everyone from the math dept. to sign it. Then he gets the resurrected Erdős to sign it. This way everyone from the math dept. has an Erdős number of 1.

Paul Erdős described people who had stopped doing mathematics as "dead."

The title text mentions a similar (and less esoteric) meme called "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon". This time, the chain's center is actor Kevin Bacon, and the links are formed by two people appearing in the same movie. The words "Six Degrees" refer to the fact that a Bacon number above 6 is incredibly rare.

Transcript

[Scene of meteors showering the earth.]

Beret Guy: The apocalypse! The skies burn, the seas turn to blood, and the dead walk the earth!

[Cueball and Beret Guy.]

Cueball: The dead what?

Beret Guy: Walk the earth!

[Cueball running.]

Cueball: I have to go.

[Cueball scribbling at a table. Mathematical symbols and equations are above Cueball's head.]

Scribble scribble

[Cueball running, paper in hand.]

[Cueball opening door labelled "Math dept."]

Cueball: The dead return!

Cueball: Everyone, quick, get your names on here!

[People lining up.]

Woman signing paper: At last!

Man in line: I hope there's still time!

[Cueball running.]

[Cueball at a cemetery.]

Rising dead: Hurrghhh

[Cueball finds a man rising from his grave.]

Cueball: Paul Erdős?

Erdős: Yes?

Cueball: We need you to sign this.

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Discussion

Imagine the result if the ressurected Erdős also appears in that proposed short film with Bacon. They'd both immediately get Erdős–Bacon numbers of 1, for themselves, and then every traditionally Erdős-numbered person and every single Bacon-numbered person would be guaranteed to end up with an Erdős–Bacon number of no more than their existing (Erdős|Bacon) number plus one! It would make a mockery of the entire system!!! ...and that's why the end of the world is a Bad Thing^TM 178.105.100.250 18:42, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

(Because there are pedants out there, I wish to immediately acknowledge the intrinsic error in such a statement... Anyone who hasn't acted XOR hasn't co-authored a paper can't get a finite Bacon||Erdős number to add to their finite Erdős||Bacon number, and someone who co-authored a paper with someone who acted with a second Baconised person cannot count that particular link as part of either chain, unless otherwise qualified, and therefore would count for both... Although the intermediary person might get a chance to connect to both if the original guy gets Erdős-connected by a different route. But way to ruin my own joke.)

((Oh, and my Bacon number is no more than 3, by way of an uncredited film appearance alongside Ian McKellan. I haven't checked to see if anyone else that's relevent has less than his presumed value of 2, but I'm not Erdőlised at all yet. Maybe that's my next goal in life. I know someone with an E-number of <=3, but obviously that's not enough to be worthy of geting an EB# of 7 or less for myself. 178.105.100.250 19:15, 23 May 2013 (UTC) ))

Without the title text it could be seen as a reference to Erdös' signature. Erdős used to sign things pgom (poor great old man) then ld (living dead) then ad (archaeological discovery) then ld again (legally dead) then cd (counts dead) so it could be them trying to see if he'd sign living dead. FlyingPiggy -- FlyingPiggy (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Because this website does not usually take a position regarding religion or the lack of religion, it may be that the moderator has failed to realize that the explanation section pertaining to the biblical concept of Apocalypse is not universally accepted. Not even close to being universally accepted. There are a number of other theological views from those who believe in the authenticity of the Bible's message which would disagree with this "explanation." 162.158.122.120 17:40, 11 December 2019 (UTC)

I got nerd sniped trying to figure out what the summation in panel 5 (∑ⁿ_i=0i^k1/i) is supposed to be. It turns out the first term (where i = 0) comes out to 0^k/0, which is undefined for all k. It follows that the sum itself is only defined when n < 0, i.e. when it's an empty sum. However, if we cancel the 1/i with a factor of i, we get ∑ⁿ_i=0i^k-1, which is defined when n < 0 or k ≥ 1. Here's an interactive version I made in Desmos. Hhhguir (talk) 23:47, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

What's funny to me about the combined Erdős–Bacon numbers are that because Kevin Bacon is still alive, it's much easier to have a low Bacon number than a low Erdős number. There are a number of scientists that are well-known enough to have appeared as cameos on TV shows and movies that have given them lower Bacon numbers than Erdős numbers. Some actors have Erdős numbers but the Wikipedia page doesn't list any with a lower Erdős number than Bacon number (though surely there are at least some). I don't think any of my professors had particularly low Erdős numbers so even if I had gotten one of my papers published in undergrad, I wouldn't have gotten a decent one. But if I go to grad school and get back into acting then maybe someday I could at least have a defined Erdős–Bacon number. Brycemw (talk) 14:47, 26 April 2024 (UTC)