1 pointby ibobev4 hours ago1 comment
  • zahlman3 hours ago
    > The source I linked to above cites Mathematical Cranks by Underwood Dudley, but I couldn’t find it in the book.

    I don't know why someone would make an AI slop fake of old mathematical crankery, but I think that has to be considered as a possibility. Especially given that the formula is being attributed to Dudley, who was actually cataloguing the nonsense of others.

    (Also, a conventional Internet search tells me that Dudley was born in 1937, not 1912; and that rather than dying in 2005, he is still alive.)

    (Perhaps Cook noticed these things and is too polite to point them out?)

    • madcaptenor3 hours ago
      It's hard to be totally sure, but I also don't think that's a picture of Dudley.