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From: leimkuhl@uiuccsb.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.math
Subject: Re: Mathematicians' names - (nf)
Message-ID: <4449@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 11-Dec-83 22:30:37 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.4449
Posted: Sun Dec 11 22:30:37 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 13-Dec-83 06:00:56 EST
Lines: 19

#R:seismo:-44900:uiuccsb:9700015:000:568
uiuccsb!leimkuhl    Dec 11 11:51:00 1983


   I think it's clear why there are so few mathematicians with one
   syllable last names: there is an inverse relationship between the
   # of syllables in a good mathematician's last name and the greatness
   of his or her work.  
 
   Thus Guass is the greatest mathematician, while Euler, Newton, Euclid,
   Leibniz, and Cantor are all at another level.  

   This explains, too, why no one has ever heard of babanakastbadada, a 
   Babylonian mathematician who could have been great but for his multi-
   syllabic name.


   Ben Leimkuhler
   (uiucdcs!leimkuhl)