After a visit to the
City College of New York, Bankoff studied dentistry at
New York University. Later, he moved to
Los Angeles,
California, where he taught at the
University of Southern California; while there, he completed his studies. He practiced over 60 years as a dentist in
Beverly Hills. Many of his patients were celebrities. Along with Bankoff's interest in dentistry were the
piano and the
guitar. He was fluent in
Esperanto, created artistic sculptures, and was interested in the progressive development of computer technology. Above all, he was a specialist in the mathematical world and highly respected as an expert in the field of
flat geometry. Since the 1940s, he lectured and published many articles as a co-author. Bankoff collaborated with
Paul Erdős in a mathematics paper and therefore has an
Erdős number 1. From 1968 to 1981, Bankoff was the editor of the
Problem Department of
Pi Mu Epsilon Journals, where he was responsible for the publication of some 300 top problems in the area of
plane geometry, particularly
Morley's trisector theorem, and the
arbelos of
Archimedes. == Publications ==