johnl (08/10/82)
The story about Von Neumann solving the travelling bee problem by intantaneously summing the series in his head has been floating around Princeton (both the university and the town) for decades, with the usual punch line being "Oh, is there another way?" Since he lived there, one is tempted to give the story some credence. A similar story reports of the time that Einstein had missed his entrance three times in a row while rehearsing with a string quartet and one of the other players yelling in amazement "Can't you count?" John Levine, decvax!cca!ima!johnl, harpo!esquire!ima!johnl