Was Erdős on drugs ?

Paul Erdős was a prolific mathematician- he published almost 1500 papers and was active up until his very last days. We discuss his biography in this video.

Some say that his drug consumption could be responsible for his productivity.

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#Erdos
#mathBiography

[Testgeraeusch]

To understand Erdös, you need to understand one basic thing: He had a lot of friends, and for him, math was something you do with friends, not alone for recreation after work (the Fermat-type).
He spend many years with no house, no home, sometimes no passport and little to no posessions. He would know on a friends door and ask him or her to stay for a few days, have them give him shelter, food and wash his clothes for him, and he would sit down with them for hours and solve most of the open proplems they have gathered since the last time they've met. When all the problems were solved, Erdös would leave and visit another friend. He would travel all over the world, have his friends buy him the train or airplane tickets to his next destination. He was nomad for most of his life. Some friends had build a small bedroom just for him to drop by whenever he felt like it. If he earned some money, he would send it to a friend to pay for some of the expenses, or a stranger, but he did not believe in possessions. He joked about a god who knew all the most beautiful proofs of math theorems and keeps them in "THE BOOK". He probably was the guy John Lennon wanted you to imagine.
...and yes, he was framed by american intelligence service for several years for being a dangerous outlaw/communist/devil inpersonation after he accidenally trespassed some random field while talking about math with a friend, not really caring about the direction they were ehading to. Standard stuff, really.

[tobuslieven]

Hard work, natural talent, AND a lot of drugs. A perfect combination.

[rjalaskan]

"You've set mathematics back by a month" is so gangster

[caspera]

The decrease in productivity due to the absence of his regular prescription drugs may have been the result of mild withdrawal symptoms.

[NonTwinBrothers]

I think this was my first Metamaths video, I'm surprised it doesn't have WAY more views
Erdos was such an interesting man, especially when I'd never heard of him before.

[chuuuu]

This video gives me depression; I can only dream of being as smart as him

[jameskubik]

The quote about mathematicians being devices that turn coffee into theorems is actually by Alfréd Rényi (who was addicted to coffee), not Erdős.

[cepatwaras]

would you mind posting some reference link in the description? I would love to read more about him.

[dyllanusher]

I took a few courses with somebody that I always thought was paul erdos' grandson. I just looked it up on wikipedia and found it he had no wife or children, the cake is a lie!

Looks like a poisson distribution to me

[starfoxtitan]

Seriously underrated channel. Mind telling me where you studied/study?

[xyz.ijk.]

I love your channel. Thank you for this video. Excellent work.

[familyguydominicdiesel]

The distribution reflects the fact (or theory or whatever I'm not sure) that there is six degrees of separation between any two persons on earth through mutual connections.

[sisyphus]

And here I struggle with remembering to add a 'c'

[henrirapson]

Misleading video. Erdos didn’t start taking stimulants/amphetamines - and Ritalin, contrary to what you claim, is not an amphetamine - at the age of 48. So linking it to his prior productivity is incorrect.

[vonBottorff]

I've given lots of thought to Erdős and I believe he purposefully skirted normal human life and our social-psychological sphere to devote himself completely to logic and mathematics. This is a complete subscribing to the "realsphere" as I call it. The human is an emotional primate capable of logic, but Erdős blocked all ape-ness, all flights into emotion and illusions to an extent that he could totally live and breath math. I'm at a total loss for what the purpose and meaning of life is, but if a mathematician is a machine turning coffee into theorems, then a human is a device capable of great fits of logic -- to some end obviously beyond the perimeter of our emotional, fantastical worlds.

[kimberlygladman]

I think the histogram of Erdos numbers might be showing us that the community of mathematicians who publish is small and tightly connected. So a huge proportion of the community is already represented by the time you get to Erdos number 5.

[oxman]

Wow, great video! You've earned yourself a new subscriber ;)

[SquirrelASMR]

I'm learning about myself, and it wasn't the drugs that made him who he was. I have many similar behaviors that were amplified by drug use habits, but not the drugs themselves. Although I'm still quitting, I'm not trying to defend the drugs. My productivity even as a kid was insane, like solving very hard puzzles. But I had to tone my brain down a lot just to get by in school and work and social life. A lot of it is having a naturally curious mind, but also maybe ocd giving me behaviors very similar to adhd and bipolar.

[areein]

I read somewhere he used to do 19 hrs of math a day

[ricadooricci]

Inspiration can come in many ways. Possibly he needed the medication and if so thats not an addiction but a need