Convincing Pickup Line
Convincing Pickup Line
[Cueball and Megan sit at a small table in a cafe. Megan holds up a graph.] Megan: We're a terrible match. But if we sleep together, it'll make the local hookup network a symmetric graph. Cueball: I can't argue with that.

A graph is a mathematical object consisting of nodes connected by lines called edges . The nodes could represent for example people, and the edges could represent a connection from having slept together. Now, Megan has such a graph. Arguably, a graph that is symmetric is nicer than a regular one, which is why Megan suggests that they should sleep together.
The title text is a small-world joke on the concept of an Erdős number . Paul Erdős was a Hungarian mathematician renowned for his eccentricity and productivity. He holds the world record for the number of published math papers, as well as for the number of collaborative papers. A person's Erdős number is the "collaborative distance" between the person and Erdős. Paul Erdős's Erdős number is 0 by definition. All of his 511 collaborators have the Erdős number of 1; anyone (excluding Erdős) who has collaborated on a mathematical or scientific paper with any of those collaborators has an Erdős number of 2, and so on. Thus, if you have written a paper with someone who's written a paper with someone who's written a paper with Paul Erdős, your Erdős number is 3. If you know a mathematician or are a mathematician, you can calculate their or your Erdős number here .
This may also be a reference to Chapter 4 of Candide , wherein Pangloss tells the protagonist of the genealogy of his syphilis.  He received the disease from Paquette, who acquired it from a Franciscan , as so on until the lineage starts with one of the adventurers of Christopher Columbus .
In 599: Apocalypse , Cueball actually manages to write a paper with zombie Erdős, thus having a Erdős number of 1.
[Cueball and Megan sit at a small table in a cafe. Megan holds up a graph.] Megan: We're a terrible match. But if we sleep together, it'll make the local hookup network a symmetric graph. Cueball: I can't argue with that.
