Re: [math-fun] Wilf's pi and determinant problems
I heard recently a (possibly apocryphal) story about a mathematician who gave co-authorship on a math paper to a dead (non-mathematician) friend. Apparently the friend came to him in a dream & helped him get to the answer. Perhaps someone here knows more about this story? At 07:51 PM 8/13/2012, you wrote:
I actually dreamed about Herb a few months ago. In my dream, I told him about some recent mathematical discovery of mine (I no longer remember what) that I thought he'd like. He replied that, being dead, he no longer found math interesting.
Supposedly, the mathematician was Robert Thomason, and this incident is described by Michael Harris in this article: http://www.institut.math.jussieu.fr/~harris/androids.pdf At 08:00 AM 8/14/2012, Henry Baker wrote:
I heard recently a (possibly apocryphal) story about a mathematician who gave co-authorship on a math paper to a dead (non-mathematician) friend. Apparently the friend came to him in a dream & helped him get to the answer.
Perhaps someone here knows more about this story?
At 07:51 PM 8/13/2012, you wrote:
I actually dreamed about Herb a few months ago. In my dream, I told him about some recent mathematical discovery of mine (I no longer remember what) that I thought he'd like. He replied that, being dead, he no longer found math interesting.
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Henry Baker