The Latke Number

Mathematicians have the Erdos number, which honors the late Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdos, an astonishingly prolific writer of mathematical papers. During the course of his career, he authored approximately 1500 articles. More amazing still, he had 509 different collaborators. This is where the whole Erdos number thing comes in. Each of those 509 collaborators have an Erdos number of 1. To have an Erdos number of 2, you need to have collaborated with someone with an Erdos number of 1, and so on.

Which brings us, after only a short paragraph, to the coveted Latke number. I'm sure you'll see the parallels right away. Just as Paul Erdos himself had a Erdos number of 0, so too does genre author Jay Lake (aka jaylake) have a Latke numberof 0. And all without eating any latkes. Anyone who has coauthored a work of genre fiction with Jay Lake (and eaten a latke in his presence) has a Latke number of 1. Anyone who has coauthored a work of genre fiction with anyone with a Latke number of 1 and eaten two latkes, either in the presence of that co-author or Jay Lake, has a Latke number of 2. And so on.

Obviously, we cannot necessarily prove the consumption of the latkes, but as a matter of personal honr (and to ferret out the gluten-sensitive writers) it is assumed to have occurred before an author seeks investiture or update of his/her Latke number.

NB: At no time will waffles be considered an acceptable substitute for latkes.

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At some point (i.e., either when I get around to it, or if someone donates the money) this LJ will turn into a Paid Account, thus acquiring a LJ email address. When that happens, authors wishing to submit their bonafides for investiture will be able to write in.

As this begins, an ongoing list of Latke number authors will be listed on this LJ.