User linda polytope - MathOverflow most recent 30 from http://mathoverflow.net 2013-05-21T11:17:59Z http://mathoverflow.net/feeds/user/11843 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdf http://mathoverflow.net/questions/44326/most-memorable-titles/50783#50783 Answer by Linda Polytope for Most memorable titles Linda Polytope 2010-12-31T04:12:53Z 2010-12-31T04:12:53Z <p>My memory is marked by the titles of two papers by Branko Grünbaum:</p> <ol> <li><p>Branko Grünbaum. `<a href="http://www.math.washington.edu/~grunbaum/Your%2520polyhedra-my%2520polyhedra.pdf1.1." rel="nofollow">Are your polyhedra the same as my polyhedra?</a>' <em>Discrete and comput. Geom.: the Goodman-Pollack Festschrift</em>, ed. B. Aronov et al, Springer (2003), pp. 461-488.</p></li> <li><p>Branko Grünbaum. `<a href="http://www.springerlink.com/content/c935nx65v82r1001/" rel="nofollow">The Bilinski Dodecahedron and Assorted Parallelohedra, Zonohedra, Monohedra, Isozonohedra, and Otherhedra</a>'. <em>The Mathematical Intelligencer</em> (2010). DOI: 10.1007/s00283-010-9138-7.</p></li> </ol> <p>The first title is easy for me to recall whenever I need to refer to the paper. The second title sounds fancy (though the article itself is not) and, more importantly, is unpronounceable by me, therefore I have put some stretch of mental effort into memorising it.</p> <p>As to the original question---What makes the title of a paper memorable?---, personally, when I look for things to read, my attention tends to be captured by titles that are short and sweet, for instance, Jean-Pierre Serre's <em>Trees</em>, Ken Brown's <em>Buildings</em>. These monographs/papers usually turn out to be the authorative treaties of the topics, with material unforgettable for one working in the field.</p>