My boyfriend is a crazy mathematician. I was wondering if any of yall could relate and give me ideas of what to give him for a gift.

If you want to spend a lot of money, a Mathematica License and/or the 4 Michael Trott books (Mathematica Guidebooks).If not, some interesting books:A Course in Computational Number Theory (Textbooks in Mathematical Sciences)By: David Bressoud , Stan WagonPrime Numbers: A Computational Perspectiveby Richard Crandall, Carl PomeranceCryptonomiconby Neal StephensonGödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid: A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carollby Douglas Hofstadter

there was a thread a while back about someone selling an Erdos number on Ebay or somewhere(that is, someone with a low Erdos number offering to put there name on one of your papers in return for $$$ with the purported advantage to you that you got a fairly low Erdos number out of it).Maybe that would make a good gift ?

It depends on what type of "crazy mathematician" he is.If he's more into hard-core abstract math, he'll enjoy the "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics" 2-volume set from MIT Press. If he's into lots of in strange math tibdits, he'll enjoy the "CRC Concise Encyclpedia of Mathematics" by Weisstein (1900+ pages of entries on everything)If he's more into applied math, then the "BETA Mathematic Handbook" or "CRC Standard Mathematics Tables and Formulas" are good.And, if he wants some fun math, I'll second MCarreira's suggestion of Hofstadter book and add Hofstadter's "Metamagical Themas" to the mix.

One of these?Car of course.

Thank you for your ideas...but something within $100 would be more affordable. I looked at the MIT Mathematical Encyclopedia...I know he'd love that but I can't afford it, unfortunately.

presents under 20 smackeroos:1)buy a star 2)geomag set from target (US)2)The world of karl pilkington book(US/UK)3)trogdor tee shirt4)stone roses CD5)antique slide rule6)model rocket set7)fly fishing gear/book8)pipe and tobacco9)micro brewed beer10)something by polya

Puzzles normally go down quite well.

QuoteOriginally posted by: rmaxPuzzles normally go down quite well.Banach-Tarski puzzle?

double

Bake a Pi cake, cake formed as Pi and invite him for the movie Pi and of course you should wear this Pi T shirt

QuoteOriginally posted by: CuchulainnQuoteOriginally posted by: rmaxPuzzles normally go down quite well.Banach-Tarski puzzle?This is only interesting and useful if you worked at Enron. I was thinking more along the lines of Mr Puzzle

The pi cake idea is v funny - and how about a pi pie??

you mean her wearing a Pi tie and ZERO t-shirt.... yes I like your idea then you can give him this Smell like Pi

QuoteOriginally posted by: SonyahThe pi cake idea is v funny - and how about a pi pie??