i knew about the erdos problems but had never really read about him separately. while going through one of the proofs of the bertrand conjecture in the proofs from the book, i was surprised to see it was given by a 19 year old Paul Erdos.

so i went next to the wikipedia page. what a massive neuron-weights updating read.

  • first the known fact about high child mortality rate in the previous century. but its actually so different reading that in a story. because then the brain can make the connection. that here is a person i’m reading about, both of whose elder sisters died before 5. the brain can’t comprhend large tragedies. it needs individual stories.
  • then the fact that he travelled so much. in the previous century. this always surprises me. because i’m a top 5% indian in terms of wealth/income in 2026, yet travelling to other countries is still a big deal for me.
  • absolute surprising was the passing of the torch moment. he met terence tao, when tao was 10 years old. prodigy meets prodigy.
  • the mathematical fields that i haven’t even heard about. now this is interesting. because i know for a fact that i’m definitely in the top 2% (conservative estimate) of Indians in mathematical ability. yet even I feel all this is way over my abilities.

its iconic, the photo. 72 year old Paul Erdos thinking alongside 10 year old Terence Tao.

its amazing how huge the world is, and how there are so many other people, yet the brain, despite knowing all this, quickly reverts back to the default state of thinking its the most important.