On Sun, 28 Mar 2004 10:58:11 EST, Ray Jones <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>In a message dated 3/28/2004 9:06:54 AM Central Standard Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
>> > Past tense now. He died in 1996, according to my copy of "The Man Who
>> > Loved Only Numbers", a gripping read about this bizarre man.
>>
>>
>
>Thanks Bjorn, I'm gonna go Monday and order the book.
>
>Take care sir,
>
>Ray

Sir Ray,

Actually that book is a MISNOMER, even though I have not read it, but
I KNOW that while he loved numbers, he LOVED Big "O" and Little "o"
much better than he loved numbers.  :-)

Big O and Little o are mathematical symbols in ASYMPTOTICS.

ALL of Erdos's theorems I referred to hardly had a number in them.  :-)
But they were full of Big Os and Little os.

Naming a book in mathematics or about mathematicians with a MISLEADING
title is a marketing trick.  :-)  It attracts the layman into reading
about him than a book titled, say, "The Man Who Loved "O" and "o" and
other Asymptotics in Mathematics".  :-)

My mentor, Leonard Jimmy Savage, as well known for his ground breaking
work in Bayesian statistics as Neyman-Fisher in Classical statistics,
co-authored a book with Dubins, titled "How to Gamble If You Must",
with a subtitle, "Inequailities in Submartingales".  :-))

Gamblers rushed to buy the book, and about 1 out of a 1000 professional
gambler could understand a word of it, because the book contains
VERY advanced probability theory and proof of the inequalities in
submartigales.  :-)    And speaking of martigales, they are not the
kind that sings either, except in advanced probability theory.

So, DON'T buy that book if you're looking for gambling tips.

This says it all, "There is NO SYSTEM that can win against the House.
if in each trial of the game, the odds favor the house."

Subsummary:  The house ALWAYS wins.  Save your money on buying books
on gambling strategies, in craps, roulette, baccarat, etc., etc.

You probably will find Erdos book a good read about Erdos, and
probably WITHOUT any of his asymptotic theorems for which he is
much better know.  :-)

-- Bob.