Sometimes there are so many things on your agenda that you need a little bit of a break and perspective. And what better way to do so than by calculating your Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath number?!

Let me explain. The Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath number (or EBS number) is the summation of your individual Erdos number, Bacon number, and Sabbath number.

Erdos number: Paul Erdos was a prolific Hungarian mathematician who boasted an immense collaboration network of over 500 scientists. He basically lived out of a suitcase, venturing from one research venture to another popping up at anyone’s doorstep asking whether they needed some math problems solved. Hence, the Erdos number is a metric describing the collaborative distance between you and Paul Erdos. I.e. if you co-authored an article with Paul Erdos, your Erdos number is 1. If you co-authored an article with someone who co-authored an article with Paul Erdos, your Erdos number is 2. And so on.

Bacon number: Similar to the Erdos number, the Bacon number describes the distance between yourself and actor Kevin Bacon in a visual medium; films & television. Anyone who has co-starred with Kevin Bacon has a Bacon number of 1. If you co-starred with someone who co-starred with Kevin Bacon, then your Bacon number is 2. And so on.

Sabbath number: This is where things get interesting. Can you find a link between yourself on the musical stage and Black Sabbath? The Sabbath number describes the distance between yourself and Black Sabbath. If you have played or performed with someone who has played for Black Sabbath, then your Sabbath number is 1. You get the idea.

So. Let’s start digging.

My Erdos number: 6

I recently co-authored e.g.  “Threshold Photelectron Spectrum of the Anilino Radical” with my former boss, Laurent Nahon (5).

He co-authored “Experimental and theoretical study of a differentially pumped absorption gas cell used as a low energy-pass filter in the vacuum ultraviolet photon energy range” with Bertrand Mercier (4).

He co-authored “Analysis of a mixed finite element method for elasto-plastic plates” with Franco Brezzi (3).

He co-authored “Virtual bubbles and Galerkin-least-squares type methods (Ga.L.S.)” with Claudio Baiocchi (2).

He co-authored “Ingham-Beurling type theorems with weakened gap conditions” with Vilmos Kovornik (1).

He co-authored “Characterization of the unique expansions () and related problems” with Paul Erdos.

My Bacon number: 3

I appeared in the Icelandic television series ‘Ævar Vísindamaður’ just as the Icelandic actor Ingvar E. Sigurðsson (2).

He appeared in ‘K-19: The Widowmaker’ just as Peter Sarsgaard (1).

He appeared in ‘Black Mass’ with Kevin Bacon

My Sabbath number: 4

I played drums on the Naðra EP ‘Form’ along with Eiríkur Hauksson (3).

He played in Artch with Brent Jansen (2).

He played in Holter with Jørn Lande (1).

He played in in Heaven and Hell with Geezer Butler, Toni Iommi, Dio and Vinny Appice, all of whom played in Black Sabbath.

This means that my EBS number is 6+3+4 = 13.

This is not too shabby considering that one of my heroes Brian Cox has the same EBS number and I am only two below fucking Queen legend Brian May who has 11.

So… Time to retire? Or just keep working?

Eh. I can beat Brain May, right? Let’s keep doing something useful.