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Topics /
Math & Algorithms
The most popular blog posts about math & algorithms on Hacker News. 151 posts.
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The Sun seen through the Earth in “neutrino light” (2007)
Physics blog quantum computation
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Test for Divisibility by 13
How to manually test whether a large number is divisible by 7, 11, and 13 all at the same time.
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Life Is Made of Unfair Coin Flips
It’s time we did a non-pandemic related newsletter issue. So this week we’ll do something more fun. Today we’re going to talk about an interesting journal article that came out two weeks ago,…
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The Recursive Universe
A few years ago I came across this video, showing a complex machine built entirely in Conway’s Game of Life:
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Calculate the day of the week for any date in your head
The Doomsday Algorithm gives the day of the week for any date (and you can do it in your head)
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Building a computer in Conway's game of life
A new (and better) version of the GOL computer is available here : https://github.com/nicolasloizeau/scalable-gol-computer
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Is Probability Real?
Today, I want to address an issue with statements involving chance. To demonstrate, let’s first consider a statement that doesn’t involve chance:
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The Most Common Errors in Undergraduate Mathematics (2009)
This page describes the errors that I have seen most frequently in undergraduate mathematics, the likely causes of those errors, and their remedies.
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Anxiety as an algorithm
Founder, Investor, Author
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Cache Oblivious Algorithms
Cache-Oblivious Algorithms Cache-oblivious algorithms seemed incredible to me when I first heard about it in 6.854 (Advanced Algorithms). It’s relatively straightforward to imagine algorithms that utilizes information about page size $B$ and cache size $M$ to create efficient data structures. However, cache-oblivious…
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Entropy explained, with sheep (2016)
An explorable blog post about entropy, with sheep.
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Ramanujan's Easiest Formula
A while ago I decided to figure out how to prove one of Ramanujan’s formulas. I feel this is the sort of thing every mathematician should try at least once. I picked the easiest one I could f…
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Math is an insurance policy
We live in interesting times. For instance, we are witnessing several extinction events all at once. One of them is the massive extinction of species. The other is the extinction of jobs. Both are …
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Gamedev Tutorial: Dot Product, Rulers, and Bouncing Balls
[latexpage] 本文之中文翻譯在此 Prerequisites Trignometry Basics – Sine & CosineTrigonometry Basics – Tangent, Triangles, And CannonballsInverse Trigonometric Functions, Slope Angles, And Facing Objects Overview The dot product is a simple yet extremely useful mathematical tool. It encodes the relationship between two vectors'…
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How much math you need for programming (2014)
Whenever I wanted to learn Algorithms, Mathematics used there somehow seemed to be an obstacle. I admit my Math is not that good but it ain’t that bad either but this “ain’t bad&#…
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The largest city in each 10x10 degree latitude/longitude box
From the highly eclectic blog of Mark Dominus
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The Case for Bayesian Deep Learning
The Case for Bayesian Deep Learning Andrew Gordon Wilson Abstract Bayesian inference is especially compelling for deep neural networks. The key distinguishing property of a Bayesian approach is margin
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Sphere Eversion
Topology is the study of the properties of geometric objects which aren’t changed by continuous deformation. A standard low-grade math joke is that toplogists consider a coffee mug and a doughnut equivalent because they’re both torii—(pauses for laughter)—one can be continuously deformed into the other, called a…
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Is every game of Slay the Spire winnable?
There is a lot of randomness in a game of Slay the Spire. From the cards and relics offered, to the potions dropped, to the map layouts and random encounters, very little remains the same between two playthroughs. This is part of the beauty of the game, forcing you to adapt and make the most out of the resources you…
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Reminder of Complexity
An impressive poster summarizing biochemical pathways reminds us how complex life is, and how interconnected the world is.
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Modern Portfolio Theory: A Case Study on Turnips
And how having friends makes the stalk market a lot more profitable.
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Banned math book
The applied math classic Courant & Hilbert was banned in Nazi Germany. The US seized the copyright and published an English edition.
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Making the Monty Hall problem weirder but obvious
It’s this simple: Do you want what’s behind one door or the other nine?
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The Stack Monoid
(Updated 2020-09-06 with pointers to related work and a bit more explanation)
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