[seqfan] Re: Martin Gardner & humour

Robert G. Wilson v rgwv at rgwv.com
Wed Jun 9 04:26:23 CEST 2010


Et al,

    I recall, very vaguely, one of his columns in which he say that 
e^(Pi*sqrt(163)) was an integer. Even Theoni Pappas repeated the spoof in 
one of her "Joy of Math" series.

Bob.

--------------------------------------------------
From: <gould at math.wvu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 9:55 PM
To: "Sequence Fanatics Discussion list" <seqfan at list.seqfan.eu>
Subject: [seqfan] Re: Martin Gardner & humour

> Some years ago Martin Gardner ran an April fool story in his Scientific
> American column giving a "counterexample" to the four color conjecture.
> The map he presented  certainly seemed to show a map required five colors.
> but it  required only a few minutes to trace around and show that the
> fifth color was  redundant.
> HOWEVER a reviewer for the German Zentralblatt für Mathematik totally
> misunderstood the gag and write a serious review saying that the article
> indeed showed a 4CC counterexample!
> I got a big bang fro, the joke!
>
> Henry Gould
>
> = = = = = = =
>
>> Not sure if this helps, but here goes...
>>
>> The recent Car Talk podcast includes a phone call recorded several
>> years with a listener who called into the show to object to an
>> incorrect report at the time that Martin Gardner had died. The caller
>> said on the air that he had called his dad who confirmed that Martin
>> Gardner was still alive. What made your dad so sure of that? asked the
>> radio host. Because my dad is Martin Gardner! the caller said.
>>
>> --Graeme McRae,
>> Palmdale, CA
>>
>> On Jun 7, 2010, at 7:09 AM, "Eric Angelini" <Eric.Angelini at kntv.be>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Hello Math-Fun and SeqFan,
>>> I'm asked to write a 10,000-sign paper on Martin Gardner's
>>> sense of humour (the man &/or his articles, columns, books).
>>> Do some of you have nice stories or souvenirs?
>>> Best,
>>> Ã?.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>>
>>> Seqfan Mailing list - http://list.seqfan.eu/
>>
>>
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>>
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>
>
>
>
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>
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