The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
by Paul Hoffman

Review by Richard Johnson, Head of Biblical Studies and Library Supervisor, Redcliffe College.

Paul Erdös (pronounced 'air-dish') was a Hungarian mathematical prodigy who lived from 1913-1996. He was not a missionary, and did not even believe in God, but his life was so passionately devoted to a single cause that I found this biography one of the most challenging (and enjoyable) books I have recently read. Despite his agnosticism, those describing his life frequently resorted to religious imagery to describe him: he was 'a mathematical monk', devoting his life to 'a single narrow mission' (p25); his energies were 'given entirely to the Temple of Mathematics... To see his faith was to be given faith. The religious world might better have understood Paul's special personal qualities' (p ix).

Much of the book is of course enjoyably mathematical in nature, but let me comment briefly on a number of Paul Erdös’s personal qualities which I found fascinating and challenging:

- he lived a completely focussed life, with 'no wife or children, no job, no hobbies, not even a home, to tie him down' (p6). For the last 25 years of his life he spent 19 hours a day working on mathematics; he used to say that 'a mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems' (p7). On one occasion, when lecturing at the age of 83, he collapsed unconscious. The audience were being moved from the room when he regained consciousness. 'Tell them not to leave,' he said. 'I have two more problems to tell them' (p245).

- he had almost no personal possessions. He kept everything he owned in a suitcase and a plastic bag. He needed very little money, and frequently gave away any he had. In the early 1960s he spent a year at University College, London, and one student recalls, 'After collecting his first month's salary he was accosted by a beggar on Euston station, asking for the price of a cup of tea. Erdös removed a small amount from the pay packet to cover his own frugal needs and gave the remainder to the beggar' (p10). Erdös used to say: 'Some French socialist said that private property was theft. I say that private property is a nuisance' (p9).

- despite his individual brilliance, he was a team player, writing mathematical papers with 485 different collaborators – more than any other mathematician in history. For him, mathematics was 'a group activity' (p28), and he loved nothing better than helping others think through their problems. He had a genius for asking questions at just the right level to help others grow in their understanding.

- he was a mentor, going out of his way (literally crossing continents) to encourage others to be interested in his subject. Richard Guy wrote, 'Erdös contributed an enormous amount to mathematics. But for me his even greater importance is that he created a large number of mathematicians' (p41). He was always concerned for the development of the subject as a whole, not for whether he got personal credit for his own contributions.

- he loved children (or 'epsilons', as he called them), and was loved by them in return. He had great compassion for the vulnerable. For example, on one occasion he 'disappeared' from a party to which he had been specially invited. 'Only when everyone was ready to leave did we learn that Erdös had found out that our host had a blind father, who could not join the party... Erdös preferred spending the time with the lonely blind man rather than with the people in the party, who were eager to meet him.' (p136)

- despite his eccentricities, and his almost complete inability to cope with any area of life other than mathematics (severely taxing the patience of his friends), he was deeply loved by them. After his death, one wrote, 'most of all, I will just miss Paul, the human. I loved him dearly.' (p3)

Of course, a life like that of Paul Erdös is as unusual as that of a Francis of Assisi, or a G.K. Chesterton. It would be futile to try to imitate it, but it challenges you to look at your own priorities afresh. And it raises the all-important question: if a man can be so passionately dedicated to the kingdom of mathematics, can a Christian be any less dedicated to the kingdom of God?

Author:  Paul Hoffman
Publisher:  Fourth Estate
ISBN:  1857028295