Some are Mathematicians, some are Carpenters' Wives, Some are Popes.

 (Trivia: What song has the lyric Some are Mathematicians, some are Carpenters's wives ? It's not a parody song, though sometimes it's hard to tell a  parody song from a so-called real song.)

In my post about Pope Leo XIV I made the following comments in different parts of the post:

Pope Leo XIV has a degree in Mathematics.

Prevost [his pre-Pope name] has a degree in mathematics from Villanova. 

He is not the first Pope to know some mathematics.

I also wrote:

Since Pope Leo XIV was a mathematician, as Pope he won't only know about sin but also about cos.

Someone emailed me about this line, not to say it was a bad joke or even a good joke, but to say 

Since Pope Leo XIV was a mathematician: What qualifies one to be considered a mathematician?

A few thoughts on this question.

1) I blogged about this topic here. Hence today I will discuss issues I did not discuss then. 

2) Robert W  Prevost wrote a book that (just from the title) seems to use some math:

Probability and Theistic Explanations, see here.

that was published in print in 1990 and online in 2023.  I wonder if it will sell more copies now.  I am tempted to ask for a free copy to read and do a review of, but I'm not sure I really want to read it. 

One would think that if someone named Robert Prevost wrote a book that seems to use math and theology then it would be the Robert Prevost who is now called Pope Leo XIV. I thought that. A commenter on my blog thought that. But Lance read an earlier version of this post and pointed out that 

Robert W Prevost NE Robert  F Prevost AND

Robert F  Prevost = Pope Leo XIV.

Hence, alas, the author of the book is NOT Pope Leo XIV. It's striking how plausible it would be that Pope Leo IS the author.  The book STILL might sell more copies since people may think it's by the Pope. 

Robert W Prevost's Wikipedia page is here.

Robert F Prevost's Wikipedia page is here.

3) If someone keeps LEARNING math but doesn't DO math I WOULD consider them a mathematician.

4) If someone is a math crank then the question of are they a mathematician will depend on how cranky they are.

5) If one KNOWS a lot of math but is neither learning anymore or doing any more (perhaps myself when I retire) can you consider them a mathematician?

6) If someone gets a PhD from MIT in Pure math but then goes to industry and programs would you consider them to be a mathematician?

7) If X is NOT a math crank and X considers themselves a mathematician, are they a mathematician?

8) I WOULD consider applied math to be math. This should not need to be said but there may be some pure-math-snobs reading this post. Computer scientists, statisticians, are more of a borderline case that, without being a snob, I might not consider mathematicians.

9)  Someone posted on the blog where this came up Does Lance consider himself a mathematician? I asked Lance and he said:

For the next 37 days I consider myself a Dean. After that, who knows?