The Big Book of Proof

Question

Some time ago, I came across an anecdotal story about the "Big Book of Proofs" that God always keeps up in the heaven, which records valid proofs of all theorems in the world. A noted mathematician was quoted as saying that if he was to die tomorrow, the first thing he would do is to take a look at the book, since he had such burning questions about some math proofs.

Kindly let me know if you happen to know the source and the person's name; I would love to quote them in my writing. Thank you for your time and help.

@BarryCipra: Awesome! Thank you very much! – A.Magnus Dec 01 '14 at 18:04 — A.Magnus, Dec 01 '14 at 18:04

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 01 '14 at 18:27

19

I think the gentleman you're thinking of is Paul Erdős: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofs_from_THE_BOOK

edited Dec 01 '14 at 18:27

Asaf Karagila

393,674

answered Dec 01 '14 at 18:01

daOnlyBG

2,711

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Awesome! Thank you very much! – A.Magnus Dec 01 '14 at 18:05
2

Who is Paul Erdös? Do you mean Paul Erdős by any chance? – Asaf Karagila Dec 01 '14 at 18:24
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@AsafKaragila a simple correction/edit would be just fine, no need to play dumb :) – daOnlyBG Dec 01 '14 at 18:27
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But... that's the only way I can be dumb! Please don't take that away from me! :-P – Asaf Karagila Dec 01 '14 at 18:28
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@AsafKaragila: Who is this Paul Erdős? Do you mean Erdős Pál by any chance? – TonyK Dec 01 '14 at 18:45
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For the record, I'm referring to the gentleman with the Erdős number of $0$. – daOnlyBG Dec 01 '14 at 18:47
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@TonyK: I didn't know him personally, so I can't say that he was my Pál. :-) – Asaf Karagila Dec 01 '14 at 18:59
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@TonyK, yes, most of this comment thread is all in good fun 8) – daOnlyBG Dec 03 '14 at 02:47

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 01 '14 at 19:31

8

Based on Erdős's idea of that book of proofs that God keeps in Heaven, another book, called Proofs from the Book was written by Martin Aigner and Günter M. Ziegler.

answered Dec 01 '14 at 19:31

Michael Hardy

1

The Big Book of Proof

2 Answers2