Top all-time · #2801
James Propp
Personal blog · mathenchant.wordpress.commathphilosophywriting
James Propp's personal blog at mathenchant.wordpress.com covers math, philosophy and writing. Since 2016, 27 different Hacker News readers have linked it 73 times, most often “Prof. Engel’s Marvelously Improbable Machines”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-18, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link James Propp's blog for mathematics essays, including posts on whether 1 is prime, what a matrix is, the history of vectors, and a mathematical parody.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
monthly writings in and around mathematics by James Propp
Most-linked posts?
- Prof. Engel’s Marvelously Improbable Machines4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2017-08-17
- Our Fractional Universe3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-09-17
- Solving the Flat Cube3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2026-08-19
- Plus and Times Set Free3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-02-18
- What Bad Bases Are Good For3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2026-07-19
- Numbers Far Afield2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-11-18
- The Muffin Curse2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-08-17
- When 1+1 Equals 12 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-07-20
- Can Math Save Your Soul?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-11-17
- When .999... isn't 12 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-07-17
What Hacker News says?
Similar. But I recently read this parody all the way through and lolled https://mathenchant.wordpress.com/2024/09/17/our-fractional-...
Comment linking /2024/09/17/our-fractional-universe/
on “John Wheeler saw the tear in reality”Submitted Calculus Is Deeply Irrational as a story · 335 points
HN discussionFound it: https://mathenchant.wordpress.com/2017/08/16/prof-engels-mar...
Comment linking /2017/08/16/prof-engels-marvelously-improbable-machines/
on “A new algorithm for graph crossings, hiding in plain sight (2020)”Submitted Is Matrix Multiplication Ugly? as a story · 161 points
HN discussionI agree, modern definitions exclude 1 since "we lose" unique factorization. It's interesting to note [1] that this viewpoint solidified only in the last century. [1] https://mathenchant.wordpress.com/2025/04/21/is-1-prime-and-...
Comment linking /2025/04/21/is-1-prime-and-does-it-matter/
on “Six-decade math puzzle solved by Korean mathematician”Submitted Industrious Dice as a story · 136 points
HN discussionA tangent, and (for Dr Propp) suggestion and question: - Related: https://mathenchant.wordpress.com/2023/06/16/what-is-a-matri... - May I suggest adding a link to https://mathenchant.wordpress.com/feed/ somewhere more easily found than via "View Source"? - Since you (a) mentioned a working title "... Adventures of Plus and Times" and (b) have classroom experience, do you have any opinions on the following: when over…
Comment linking /feed/
on “Vectors from Leibniz to Einstein”Submitted How to Be Wrong (2016) as a story · 115 points
HN discussionSubmitted Picturing Mathematics as a story · 109 points
HN discussionSubmitted Is 1 Prime, and Does It Matter? as a story · 92 points
HN discussionSubmitted How Pi Almost Wasn't as a story · 85 points
HN discussionSubmitted Solving the Flat Cube as a story · 47 points
HN discussionSubmitted Dedekind's Subtle Knife as a story · 45 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why Does Exploding Dots Work? as a story · 42 points
HN discussionSubmitted When 1+1+1 Equals 1 as a story · 41 points
HN discussionSubmitted Believe It, Then Don’t: Toward a Pedagogy of Discomfort as a story · 29 points
HN discussionSubmitted Really Big Numbers (2015) as a story · 22 points
HN discussionSubmitted Stance and distance in popular writing about math as a story · 19 points
HN discussionSubmitted "Jewish Mathematics"? as a story · 15 points
HN discussionSubmitted Math and the Museum as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted When 1+1 Equals 1 as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted What Bad Bases Are Good For as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted In Praise of Stupid Questions as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Randomness Made to Order, part 1 as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted When .999... isn't 1 as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Our Fractional Universe as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Our Fractional Universe as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Null Salad as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Plus and Times Set Free as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Numbers Far Afield as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
