GS Chandy
Posts:
8,307
From:
Hyderabad, Mumbai/Bangalore, India
Registered:
9/29/05
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Re: Largest Known Prime Number Discovered
Posted:
Feb 18, 2013 11:14 AM
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Wayne Bishop posted Feb 18, 2013 9:14 AM: > > My own (genuine) story along that line is not a > joke but the real thing in reverse. The > strongest faculty member I had in graduate school > was Stanislas Mrowka, a student of Kuratowski, > who was only at Western Michigan for one year > because he was not able to command the salary he > thought he was worth at the SUNY school that he > wanted to be at and otherwise would've hired him > so he was playing a game of chicken with them to > prove that he was not asking too much. That year > he published 12(?) papers and taught a beautiful > 3 term sequence in point-[set topology. He > always carried a big leather bag but there was > nothing in it except the makins for his constant > pipe. He brought several students with him for > the year who said that he wrote papers the same > way. Just sat down and wrote the paper almost > perfectly with the references listed but for his > students to put in the exact reference > details. Anyway, at the end of the last lecture > of the last class he got well into a proof of > something up in the unattainable ordinals, backed > away from the board and stared at it puffing on > his pipe, and then announced, "That's not going to > work," and walked out. > > Wayne > Beautiful! Thank you.
(It's been a loooo..ng time - but I seem to recall from my math grad school days that there were quite a number of stories about Kuratowski. Let me see if I can later recall some of them [in due course of time]).
GSC > > At 10:09 PM 2/16/2013, GS Chandy wrote: > >Joe Niederberger posted Feb 16, 2013 10:59 PM: > > > GS Chandy writes: > > > >Indeed, it has lost punch. Unless it was a poor > joke > > > to begin with. > > > > > > Oh, I kinda liked it, pretty good for math jokes. > > > > > > Here's one: > > > A mathematics professor was lecturing > > > to a class of students. As he wrote something > > > on the board, he said to the class > > > âOf course, this is immediately obvious.â > > > Upon seeing the blank stares of the students, > > > he turned back to contemplate > > > what he had just written. He began to > > > pace back and forth, deep in thought. > > > After about 10 minutes, just as the silence > > > was beginning to become uncomfortable, > > > he brightened, turned to the > > > class and said, âYes, it IS obvious.â > > > > >Now THAT'S an excellent math joke (IMHO)! I > >recall that one of my grad school professors > >used to do almost exactly that. (He didn't take > >quite 10 minutes to arrive at his 'conclusion' of > course). > > > > > > More here: > > > http://www.ams.org/notices/200501/fea-dundes.pdf > > > > >I shall look forward to reading those. > > > >GSC
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