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The n-th birthday of a very famous mathematician coincides with a year that corresponds to the (n+1)st prime number. Who is this mathematician?



This puzzle was contributed by Aziz Inan, Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Portland. His own name, when written in capital letters, is a geometric word puzzle. Swap the vowels and turn the consonants 90 degrees and the words have switched places. "My parents didn't plan this," he says. "It's just fun."

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I wondered what sort of coincidence and correspondence might be involved, then realized that the question simply used unnecessarily long words. Following the maxim, "Never use a long word when a short one will do," this question can be rephrased:

What famous mathematician's nth birthday falls on a year that is the (n+1)th prime number?

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Euler, born 1707, would have been 304 in 2011, which is the 305th prime number.

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I believe 1707 and 2011 are same calendar years (though dont get me wrong) i dont think the whole world was on the same calendar yet. I believe 1707 is composite though

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If we use the Taiwanese/Minguo Calender, then Paul Erdös would work too, because in 1914, he will be 1. A conversion over to the Taiwanese calender puts the year at 3, the (1+1)th, or 2nd prime. Even though he is only the 96th most famous mathematician, he has spawned numerous things such as the Erdos number and is famous enough to be put on this list:

http://fabpedigree.com/james/mathmen.htm