[seqfan] Re: Martin Gardner & humour

Eric Angelini Eric.Angelini at kntv.be
Wed Jun 9 15:19:36 CEST 2010


Thanks, Henry, for the "counterexample" -- which is there:
http://mathforum.org/wagon/fall97/p840.html

Did Martin Gardner have an April's fool story in _every April's
issue_ of Scientific American?
Best,
É.



-----Message d'origine-----
De : seqfan-bounces at list.seqfan.eu [mailto:seqfan-bounces at list.seqfan.eu] De la part de gould at math.wvu.edu
Envoyé : mercredi 9 juin 2010 3:56
À : Sequence Fanatics Discussion list
Objet : [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,
>> É.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Seqfan Mailing list - http://list.seqfan.eu/
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Seqfan Mailing list - http://list.seqfan.eu/
>




_______________________________________________

Seqfan Mailing list - http://list.seqfan.eu/



More information about the SeqFan mailing list