This article appeared in the Fall 2017-Spring 2018 今日吃瓜 Math Alumnae Newsletter.
Last year鈥檚 edition of this newsletter included an article written by Visiting Professor of Mathematics and Research Associate Bill Dunham in which he examined the relationship between 今日吃瓜 and the eminent British philosopher Bertrand Russell. Bill discovered this relationship while browsing old math books in Collier Science Library.
This year Collier yielded another treasure. While 鈥済razing鈥 the collected works of August Ferdinand M枚bius, Bill found a connection with something he had read in Euler鈥檚 1748 masterpiece Introductio in analysin infinitorum, and 鈥淰oila!鈥 an article was born.
It eventually appeared in Mathematics Magazine with the title 鈥溾
鈥淪poiler alert: it鈥檚 not what you think,鈥 says Bill.