LVC 4 – Question 3

Have done my homework on this one. Connects to only a single person. Neat interpretation of clues required.

Lone crack by Varun Karthik. Brilliant stuff, maga!

So here’s the funny thing. I was looking for a question that would connect to Stanislaw Ulam. Quite accidentally, as Varun Karthik’s answer shows, it does connect equally well to John von Neumann. Since it was the general funda I was going for,  I grant him full points on this one.

Varun’s answer – ” Image 1: Poster of the Movie “Monte Carlo”. Image 2: British Mathematician John Conway. Image 3: Archimedean spiral

Connection: Professor John Von Neumann

The name Monte Carlo method, a class of mathematical algorithms was coined by John Von Neumann.
John Conway is currently the John von Neumann Chair of Mathematics at Princeton University.
John von Neumann and Archimedes both worked on approximation of the value of Pi.
Archimedes developed the polygonal approach. John von Neumann was part of the team who used computer for the first time to approximate the value Pi.”

Answer : Same interpretation of clues. Except, John Conway also worked on cellular automata (Game Of Life, for example), which was something pioneered in parallel by Ulam and von Neumann. The Monte Carlo method was also co-discovered by Ulam and von Neumann. Ulam is also credited with the Ulam prime number spiral.