7 ms·

Probably because there's no easily accessible data store like IMDB for famous mathematicians or computer scientists.

cschmidt 14y ago
Actually there is an automated Erdos number search here: http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/collaborationDistance.html http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/collaborationDistance.html using the MathSciNet reference database. Unfortuately, it is only accessible to MathSciNet subscribers, so basically on all university campuses or libraries. My Erdos number is no higher than 5 :-).
- evincarofautumn 14y ago
  Hm. My old professor has an Erdős number of 3. I should see about authoring a paper with him…
maxerickson 14y ago
Microsoft's Academic search uses Erdos as a gimmick: http://academic.research.microsoft.com/VisualExplorer http://academic.research.microsoft.com/VisualExplorer (The gimmick is that Erdos is the default for the co-author path visualization)
joshAg 14y ago
http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/ http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/
teeeler 14y ago
http://www.freebase.com/view/en/mathematician/-/people/profession/people_with_this_profession http://www.freebase.com/view/en/mathematician/-/people/profe... http://www.freebase.com/view/en/computer_scientist/-/people/profession/people_with_this_profession http://www.freebase.com/view/en/computer_scientist/-/people/... The more important piece thats missing is the one that Journals need to contribute - papers and author lists. ;)
adgar 14y ago
IMDB data has serious licensing restrictions. I would be extremely surprised if it were used as a source for this.
- usergenerated 14y ago
  IMDB, which started in the days of Usenet, was founded on user contributions. In today's parlance, it's built from user generated content (UGC). It would be surprising to see any suit to enforce the licensing restrictions on a database built from user contributions like IMDB actually go to trial. We might come away with some interesting answers to the questions of what licensing terms on such databases are truly enforceable (as opposed to mere intimidation). What happened to that Craigslist lawsuit? How is that progressing?

Actually there is an automated Erdos number search here: http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/collaborationDistance.html http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/collaborationDistance.html using the MathSciNet reference database. Unfortuately, it is only accessible to MathSciNet subscribers, so basically on all university campuses or libraries. My Erdos number is no higher than 5 :-).

evincarofautumn 14y ago
Hm. My old professor has an Erdős number of 3. I should see about authoring a paper with him…

maxerickson 14y ago

Microsoft's Academic search uses Erdos as a gimmick: http://academic.research.microsoft.com/VisualExplorer http://academic.research.microsoft.com/VisualExplorer (The gimmick is that Erdos is the default for the co-author path visualization)

joshAg 14y ago

http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/ http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/

teeeler 14y ago

http://www.freebase.com/view/en/mathematician/-/people/profession/people_with_this_profession http://www.freebase.com/view/en/mathematician/-/people/profe... http://www.freebase.com/view/en/computer_scientist/-/people/profession/people_with_this_profession http://www.freebase.com/view/en/computer_scientist/-/people/... The more important piece thats missing is the one that Journals need to contribute - papers and author lists. ;)

adgar 14y ago

IMDB data has serious licensing restrictions. I would be extremely surprised if it were used as a source for this.

usergenerated 14y ago
IMDB, which started in the days of Usenet, was founded on user contributions. In today's parlance, it's built from user generated content (UGC). It would be surprising to see any suit to enforce the licensing restrictions on a database built from user contributions like IMDB actually go to trial. We might come away with some interesting answers to the questions of what licensing terms on such databases are truly enforceable (as opposed to mere intimidation). What happened to that Craigslist lawsuit? How is that progressing?