Erdos number(NJAS)

[Neil Fernandez]

In message <20060320190739.GA27241 at artin.maths.qmul.ac.uk>,
p.j.cameron at qmul.ac.uk writes

>On Mon, Mar 20, 2006 at 05:03:35PM +0000, Neil Fernandez wrote:
>> In message <3cce05d60603181546i30757d41x4ded0299c9bd1ea1 at mail.gmail.com>
>> , Alonso Del Arte <alonso.delarte at gmail.com> writes
>> 
>> >And would this mean that those who help Neil edit sequences have 
>> >an Erdos number E(NJAS) + 1?
>> 
>> I don't know whether there is a canonical definition, but can the chain
>> run through collaboration with someone on an OEIS entry, as recorded in
>> said entry?
>> 
>> I.e. if E(X)=k, and X and Y are joint authors of an entry, or are
>> otherwise recorded in the entry as having cooperated on it, then
>> E(Y)=k+1?

>On Jerry Grossman's web page, he lists the rules for what counts as a
>research collaboration. The answer to the question is there.

Thanks for this. To go by Jerry's rules at
<http://www.oakland.edu/enp/readme.html>, which he calls "admittedly
arbitrary", his answer to Alonso's question would be no (joint
editorship doesn't count), but his answer to my question (given in two
equivalent forms) might be yes, since

a) research collaboration between the joint authors of an OEIS entry (or
others recorded in the entry as having collaborated on it) would have
resulted in a published work, and

b) the work would not be excluded for being in the category of

joint editorship / book intro / technical report / problem session /
problem posed or solved in the problem section of a journal / seminar /
very elementary textbook / book on history / tribute / biography /
translation / bibliography / popular works

When listing his non-MR sources he neither includes nor specifically
excludes the OEIS...

Neil

-- 
Neil Fernandez