Floor e?

by Brian Hayes

Published 7 January 2011

On what floor was this sign placed?

At most conferences, the sign above might provoke a moment of puzzlement. But this is the JMM, the Joint Mathematics Meetings, being held this year in New Orleans. As far as I can tell, the 5,400 mathematicians gathered here are quite untroubled by these instructions. And after all, they know perfectly well that a whole uncountable continuum lies between floors 2 and 3.

Onward and upward, indeed. And downward. And everything in between.

 

 

Responses from readers:

  • A comment from Frank Ch. Eigler, 7 January 2011 at 4:21 pm

    The typeface and the slogan reminded me of IBM corporate meetings.

  • A comment from Sam Hobbs, 15 January 2011 at 1:39 pm

    I hate to be on the practical side (especially since Brian has always commented on the continuum), but the sign might have been on a mezzanine floor between floors 2 and 3.

Please note: The bit-player website is no longer equipped to accept and publish comments from readers, but the author is still eager to hear from you. Send comments, criticism, compliments, or corrections to brian@bit-player.org.

Tags for this article: mathematics.

Publication history

First publication: 7 January 2011

Converted to Eleventy framework: 22 April 2025

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