Paul Erdos believed that a book of his open problems was perhaps his most important project. He worked on it for years together with his friend and coauthor, whose famously busy travel schedule, countless talks and papers affected the completion date of the book. It will now be finished based exclusively on the selection of problems, their motivations and historical sketches that Paul shared with Alexander during the years of this work. The book will also be a tribute to Paul Erdos, who passed on like a mathematical soldier on duty during a September 1996 mathematical conference in Warsaw.
Paul Erdos was one of the most prolific publishers of mathematical papers in history. Born in Budapest, Erdos spent most of his life traveling from campus to campus around the world. An unique and eccentric man in many ways, he considered a book of his open problems to be in some ways his most important project. In 1996, he passed away while attending a mathematical conference in Warsaw. His good friend and collaborator, Alexander Soifer, continued with the publication of his open problems as a tribute. Alexander Soifer has been a Professor of Mathematics, Art History, and Film Studies at the University of Colorado since 1979 and a Long Term Visiting Scholar at the Center for Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science at Rutgers University. He has self-published several books and is currently working on six other exciting publications with Springer.
