• buckykat@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      1 year ago

      From the Wikipedia page for Paul Erdős:

      After his mother’s death in 1971 he started taking antidepressants and amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking them for a month. Erdős won the bet, but complained that it impacted his performance: “You’ve showed me I’m not an addict. But I didn’t get any work done. I’d get up in the morning and stare at a blank piece of paper. I’d have no ideas, just like an ordinary person. You’ve set mathematics back a month.”[66] After he won the bet, he promptly resumed his use of Ritalin and Benzedrine.[67]

    • vettnerk@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      1 year ago

      Melange, I’m sure. Seeing how it enables you to fold space, I’m assuming it also helps with the math involved.