[FRIAM] from 5/15 virtual FRIAM

[Jon Zingale]

Frank,

Thank you for your response. As a variant of your statement
about mathematics and god, Paul Erdos believed in *the book. *He
believed that the book was were god kept all of his most elegant
proofs of theorems. He would say to his collaborators, 'Yes, that
is a *proof*, but now let's look for the *book* *proof*'. He would also say,
'You don't have to believe in god, but you *must* believe in the book.'

I miss the conversations that I would have with Reuben on the train
to Albuquerque. It was really great to hear his thoughts on Lakotos,
Ukrainian mathematics, Rota, Erdos and Stillwell. We would walk
up central when he didn't want to wait for a bus. He would lecture
in Jens Lorenz's PDE class. The thai restaurant he liked appears to
be closed now. We would catch the train home to Santa Fe and Vera
would be waiting for him at the bus stop. What a tremendous love
they shared. Reuben's thoughts on mathematics and humanity have
left an indelible mark on my thinking.

Jon
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