- 84,395
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
Okay, this has a rather complicated explanation, but is essentially a game for geeks to find the most important people in the universe (allegedly!). If that's not your thing, don't bother reading the explanation...
Some time in the 12th Century BC (1994), someone came up with a game called "The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". This was the general idea:
In 1969, a similar concept (but predating the Bacon Number - Bacon was 11) was applied to the field of academia with the Erdős Number - based on famed Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős. There is a similar, basic theme:
These two concepts were smooshed together to make Erdős-Bacon Numbers - people who had a finite Erdős Number and a finite Bacon Number. The rules were relaxed slightly, to include mutual television appearances for the Bacon Number, but nonetheless created an impressive list of individuals.
This wasn't enough for nerd blog Timeblimp who, in 2009ish, decided that simply being smart and photogenic wasn't enough and saw fit to incorporate a third, similar game called "The Black Sabbath Game". Again, the concept should be familiar:
Timeblimp nailed together the three numbers to come up with the Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath Number and came up with just four people in the world who qualified:
In June 2012, math graduate Ross Churchley encountered the Timeblimp blog while trying to calculate the Erdős number of Brian May and managed to come up with two further known, finite EBS holders on his own blog:
Since June 25th 2012, the EBS Number ranks have swelled from 4 to 17 and includes some of the most famous people in the world. Here is a list of all the known finite Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath Number holders and their primary claim to fame:
So here's the game. Help out Timeblimp and Ross Churchley's mutual Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath Number by coming up with more people. Ross came up with some suggestions on his blog that he was unable to finalise finite numbers for that might prove a good start:
Some time in the 12th Century BC (1994), someone came up with a game called "The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". This was the general idea:
- Through films in which actors had mutually appeared, one could link any actor to Kevin Bacon in six films or fewer because Bacon had appeared in many cross-genre films.
In 1969, a similar concept (but predating the Bacon Number - Bacon was 11) was applied to the field of academia with the Erdős Number - based on famed Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős. There is a similar, basic theme:
- Through academic papers in which authors had mutually contributed, one could link any academic to Paul Erdős because Erdős had published so many papers (1500) with so many different collaborators.
These two concepts were smooshed together to make Erdős-Bacon Numbers - people who had a finite Erdős Number and a finite Bacon Number. The rules were relaxed slightly, to include mutual television appearances for the Bacon Number, but nonetheless created an impressive list of individuals.
This wasn't enough for nerd blog Timeblimp who, in 2009ish, decided that simply being smart and photogenic wasn't enough and saw fit to incorporate a third, similar game called "The Black Sabbath Game". Again, the concept should be familiar:
- Through musical performances or media releases in which musicians had mutually contributed, one could link any musician to Black Sabbath because Sabbath had performed and published with so many different collaborators.
Timeblimp nailed together the three numbers to come up with the Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath Number and came up with just four people in the world who qualified:
- Brian May (Queen) - E7, B3, S1 - EBS 11
- Richard Feynman - E3, B3, S4 - EBS 10
- Natalie Portman - E5, B1, S4 - EBS 10
- Stephen Hawking - E4, B3, S2 - EBS 9
In June 2012, math graduate Ross Churchley encountered the Timeblimp blog while trying to calculate the Erdős number of Brian May and managed to come up with two further known, finite EBS holders on his own blog:
- Tom Lehrer - E4, B2, S3 - EBS 9
- Professor Brian Cox - E7, B3, S4 - EBS 14
Since June 25th 2012, the EBS Number ranks have swelled from 4 to 17 and includes some of the most famous people in the world. Here is a list of all the known finite Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath Number holders and their primary claim to fame:
- Stephen Hawking (Physics) - E4, B3, S2 - EBS 9
- Tom Lehrer (Math/Music) - E4, B2, S3 - EBS 9
- James Randi (Magician and Sceptic) - E5, B2, S2 - EBS 9
- Carl Sagan (Astronomy and Author) - E4, B2, S3 - EBS 9
- Richard Feynman (Physics) - E3, B3, S4 - EBS 10
- Natalie Portman (Film) - E5, B1, S4 - EBS 10
- Terry Pratchett (Author) - E4, B2, S5 - EBS 11
- Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (Astronaut) - E6, B2, S3 - EBS 11
- Brian May (Music [Queen]) - E7, B3, S1 - EBS 11
- Richard Vranch (Music/TV) - E5, B3, S3 - EBS 11
- Greg Graffin (Anthropology/Music [Bad Religion]) - E5, B3, S3 - EBS 11
- Phil Plait (Astronomy) - E4, B3, S5 - EBS 12
- Colin Firth (Film) - E6, B1, S5 - EBS 12
- Patrick Tewson (None) - E3, B3, S6 - EBS 12
- Professor Brian Cox (Physics/Music [D:Ream]) - E7, B3, S3 - EBS 13
- Famine (None) - E6, B4, S3 - EBS 13
- Milo Aukerman (Biochemist/Music [Descendents] - E7, B3, S3 - EBS 13
- Woody Paul (Music [Riders in the Sky]) - E7, B2, S5 - EBS 14
- Touring Mars (None) - E5, B3, S6 - EBS 14
- Patrick Moore (Astronomy) - E8, B3, S4 - EBS 15
- Adam Rutherford (Genetics/Journalism) - E6, B3, S6 - EBS 15
- Thomas Edison (Innovation) - E6, B6, S6 - EBS 18 - Honorary
So here's the game. Help out Timeblimp and Ross Churchley's mutual Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath Number by coming up with more people. Ross came up with some suggestions on his blog that he was unable to finalise finite numbers for that might prove a good start:
- Winston Churchill - Missing Erdős
- Shaquille ONeal - Missing Erdős (despite Ph.D)
- Neil deGrasse Tyson - Missing Sabbath
- Bill Nye - Missing Erdős
- Sir David Attenborough - Missing Sabbath
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) but few have publications.
