Paul Erdős: Biographies and a film | Tangente

Both portray Erdős through his nomadic lifestyle, his many collaborations, and some of the mathematical problems he tackled, which are explained in terms accessible to readers without a mathematical background. The two books are My Brain Is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdős, written by Bruce Schechter (Simon & Schuster), and The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman (Hyperion), published in French as L’homme qui n’aimait que les nombres (see below).

One film about Erdős is N is a Number: A Portrait of Paul Erdős, directed by George Csicsery and based on interviews filmed between 1988 and 1991 (see the article), several of which were used in writing My Brain Is Open.

The essential biography ---------------------------

Paul Hoffman is an American science writer. He became interested in Paul Erdős, whom he met in 1986 to interview him, and went on to follow his work until the mathematician's death in 1996. Hoffman naturally spoke with Erdős's correspondents—the many mathematicians to whom Erdős posed problems and with whom he published papers—and especially with his friends Ronald Graham and Fan Chung, who, after Erdős's mother died, helped him manage the practicalities of his wandering life (see the article).

The author describes in detail Erdős's idiosyncrasies, habits, language, view of mathematics and of the divine proofs contained in what he calls the Book, of which we know only a few pages. The Book in question is a volume held by the being Erdős calls SF, short for Suprem Fascist, his nickname for God, even though Erdős himself was agnostic. Hoffman also offers a vivid picture of mathematics, although he focuses particularly on number theory and combinatorics, including Ramsey theory—branches of mathematics especially dear to Erdős.