“Infinitely Rich” Mathematician Richard Guy Turns 100 | Hacker News Reader

“Infinitely Rich” Mathematician Richard Guy Turns 100

nautil.us

124 pointsdnetesn19 comments

This is a lovely article about the man I know. I've had dinner with Richard several times, meeting him sporadically, and he always seems interested and interesting. A charming man. One of my most treasured possessions is an early copy of "Winning Ways" signed by all three authors.

I wish Richard a very happy birthday, and many more to come.

Can anyone lend some background to the story that opens the article and gives it its title?

> [Erdős] said, “Guy, veel you have a coffee?” It cost a dollar, a small fortune to a professor of mathematics at the hinterland University of Calgary who was not much of a coffee drinker …. When they sat with their coffee, [Erdős] said, “Guy, you are eenfeeneeteley reech; lend me 100 dollars.”

> “I was amazed,” recounted Guy. “Not so much at the request but rather at my ability to satisfy it. Once again, Erdős knew me better than I know myself. Ever since then, I’ve realized that I’m infinitely rich: Not just in the material sense that I have everything I need, but infinitely rich in spirit in having mathematics and having known Erdős.”

I don't mean to interpret this too literally, but I don't understand. How can it be that someone has to check his budget for a dollar cup of coffee, but is infinitely rich, in (as he himself says) not just, but at least, the literal sense of having $100 to spare?

(I know that the point is the richness of knowing Erdős, a privilege I missed—my Erdős number is and will probably remain 3—but the non-metaphorical part of the story doesn't make any sense to me. Also, it avoids the question of whether Guy made the loan!)

If you take 100 from Infinity it still remains Infinity. So I take the Erdős comment as meaning if you give me $100 your financial situation will not change. Which probably was true.

"so Erdős—who sustained himself with espresso and other stimulants"

Paul Hoffman’s biography has Erdős on “10 to 20 milligrams of Benzedrine or Ritalin”

so yea the coffee, it was the coffee.

He was quoted as saying going without amphetamines for a month set back mathematics a month.

Which he did to win a bet on whether he could go without stimulants for a month.

I read that he complained bitterly the whole time and proclaimed that the bet had cost Mathematics immeasurably. I wonder how true that is.

The complaining part is probably true—amphetamine withdrawal will make you extremely irritable, and moreover he probably felt like he was being held back from his full potential.

Probably. He seems like an endlessly fascinating character to me. He's almost tragic in a sense, but I also can't help but thinking that he probably felt more fulfilled than most people.

The story in which this background is embedded is about Erdös and Guy getting a cup of coffee, so it doesn't seem unreasonable, and is entirely factually accurate, to mention first Erdös's reliance on coffee to fuel his inexhaustible mathematical energy, and then to acknowledge other drug abuse.

Culturally we're doing everything we can to destroy the "Great Man" narrative. When I read stories like this I think it's a mistake. Richard Guy had his life changed by someone he looked up to and wanted to emulate.

We need to remember that whenever we knock people down and say they their achievements are not due to them. Fame has positive social effects.

"A lifelong mountain climber and environmentalist, he spent his centenary day hiking at (not up) Mount Assiniboine"

I didn't even think that was possible. The guy's an inspiration.

I don't think I get it. What is the difference between 'at' and 'up' in this context?

Maybe going on trails on/around the mountain as opposed to heading to the top?

For an article appearing to praise an old man for being active in his old age, there is a distinct lack of pictures of the man himself while being old, only a picture of him when he was young.

There's a touching write up of him and his wife - http://www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/...

What a pleasurable read. It's no shocker that a man so well versed in such a variety of interests (teaching, the english language, mathematics, thinking) has such an outsized impact on his field of choice. I find that the best and the brightest tend to be such people and I aspire to attain such a wonderful status whether at a more local or in this case global level.

Here's to a 100 more Richard! You sound like a pleasure to be around.

> Richard Guy teaching calculus in Delhi

I couldn't find any other Delhi connection on Google...

He was a teacher at IIT Delhi teaching metro-logy and mathematics and also wrote a book while there.

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