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Why the Key to a Mathematical Life is Collaboration -- Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-the-key-to-a-mathematical-life-is-collaboration-20250728/Rachel Crowell
Fan Chung, who has an Erdős number of 1, discusses the importance of connection — both human and mathematical.
n 1971, Fan Chung (opens a new tab), then in her second year of graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, received an assignment. Her thesis adviser, Herbert Wilf, asked her to read the proof of a problem in Ramsey theory, an area of mathematics that explores the inevitable emergence of patterns in networks of vertices and edges called graphs. They planned to discuss it again the following week.
But a week later, Chung had done far more than just read the proof. To Wilf’s surprise, she claimed that she had also figured out a way to improve it — to prove a better estimate for the problem. “He was so pleased,” she said. More than 50 years later, no one has managed to improve on her result.
. . .
It was also during her time at Bell Labs that she met Ron Graham, a mathematician who became her closest collaborator. The pair worked on math problems together for a decade before they started a different type of collaboration in 1983: marriage. Graham coined the notion of the Erdős number — a measure of the collaborative distance between mathematicians and the famed mathematician Paul Erdős. Both Chung and Graham have an Erdős number of 1, having worked directly with him.
For the past three decades, Chung has been a professor at the University of California, San Diego, where she has continued to publish groundbreaking research in graph theory, combinatorics and algorithm design. Quanta Magazine spoke with Chung about her work and the nature of the collaborations that shaped it. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
. . .
But a week later, Chung had done far more than just read the proof. To Wilf’s surprise, she claimed that she had also figured out a way to improve it — to prove a better estimate for the problem. “He was so pleased,” she said. More than 50 years later, no one has managed to improve on her result.
. . .
It was also during her time at Bell Labs that she met Ron Graham, a mathematician who became her closest collaborator. The pair worked on math problems together for a decade before they started a different type of collaboration in 1983: marriage. Graham coined the notion of the Erdős number — a measure of the collaborative distance between mathematicians and the famed mathematician Paul Erdős. Both Chung and Graham have an Erdős number of 1, having worked directly with him.
Chung with one of the graduate students she’s currently advising. “Do not give up,” she likes to tell them when they’re struggling. “A problem proves its worth by fighting back.”
For the past three decades, Chung has been a professor at the University of California, San Diego, where she has continued to publish groundbreaking research in graph theory, combinatorics and algorithm design. Quanta Magazine spoke with Chung about her work and the nature of the collaborations that shaped it. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
. . .