Dear Mathematician Who Discovered Me
Ten letters from mathematical ideas to the mathematicians tied to them: the Pythagorean theorem, geometry to Euclid, the Poisson distribution to Bortkiewicz, calculus to Leibniz and Newton, and more.
Content note: Panel 10 mentions a 'butt' (mild).
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Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2017-05-03-dear-mathematician-who-discovered-me/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)Transcript
[1] "Dear Pythagoras, I found fame in Babylon, Egypt, India, and China — all without you. So why is it your name on my marquee? You promised me a square deal, and instead, you used me. 'Yours,' apparently, Theorem" [the 3-4-5 squares] "Glory hog."
[2] "Dear Euclid, You found me in fragments and made me whole. My gratitude is like a ray, extending forever in your direction. –Geometry. P.S. I have a few quick questions about Postulate #5 when you get the chance." [parallel lines] "I'm sure there must be a good reason…"
[3] "Dear Bortkiewicz, I don't mean to be ungrateful for the job you've given me. I just feel I'm not living up to my potential. So… maybe you could give me more to do than estimate the number of Prussian soldiers kicked by horses? –Poisson Distribution" Horse: "Oops."
[4] "Dear Leibniz and Newton, Look, I can't stomach another paternity test or custody battle. I just want us to be a family. It's all the same up to a constant, isn't it? –Calculus" [area under a curve] "It's tearing me apart!"
[5] "Dear Cantor, You tryin' to start something? Go ahead, if you're so smart. Count me, tough guy. –'Countable' infinity" [ℚ] "That's what I thought."
[6] "Hey Venn, Guess who it is? The intersection of 'things you did' and 'things anyone remembers'! –Your diagram"
[7] "Dear Claude Shannon, Happy 100th birthday! (And sorry to write you such a low-entropy message. You probably knew what this said without even opening the card, didn't you?) A bit apologetically, Information Theory" [card: "C.S.: H. b-day. Sry 4 lo-entr. –Info T."]
[8] "Dear Gödel, I tell you I feel incomplete, and you reply, 'You always will! I can prove it'? What kind of sadistic crackpot therapist are you? –Arithmetic" Arithmetic: "Russell believes in me…"
[9] "Dear Andrew Wiles, Ahhhhhh, thanks! I've been trying to scratch that itch for three centuries. –Fermat's Last Theorem" [aⁿ + bⁿ ≠ cⁿ] "Ahh…"
[10] "Dear Mandelbrot, When everyone called me ugly, you alone saw me as beautiful. Now, thanks to you, my picture is everywhere. Unfortunately, that picture totally shows my butt. –The Mandelbrot Set" "OMG so embarrassing"