Top all-time · #10869
John Derbyshire
Personal blog · johnderbyshire.comwritingculturemath
John Derbyshire's personal blog at johnderbyshire.com covers writing, culture and math. Since 2008, 7 different Hacker News readers have linked it 13 times. The last post was in 2022, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link John Derbyshire's math puzzle posts, including an exposition of how Ramanujan worked and a note on Benson's law of leading digits in powers of two, as background for number discussions.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 2 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
What Hacker News says?
An exposition of how Ramanujan did it: http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/Diaries/Puzzles/2009-...
Comment linking /Opinions/Diaries/Puzzles/2009-06.html
on “Three Puzzles Inspired by Ramanujan”Submitted Trust Science as a story · 58 points
HN discussion"But the assumption that digits in a big power of two occur at random" That may not be the best of assumptions, but it doesn't hurt his argument. Benson's law learns us that the initial digits of 2^n tend to be low (empirically, but in this case, also mathematically. See http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/Diaries/Puzzles/2004-... ). Less than 8% of powers of two begins with the digit '5'. Also, fewer powers of f…
Comment linking /Opinions/Diaries/Puzzles/2004-09.html
on “A Challenge from Freeman Dyson”Submitted Mapping the Human Phenome as a story · 17 points
HN discussionJohn Derbyshire wrote an interesting review of the book and general claims both ways: http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/HumanSciences/tigermo... Two telling quotes from his article: Professor Chua's article was a bracing rebuttal to the sappy-clappy "we're all special" sentimentality that is too prevalent in American child-raising. Her methods worked, too, at least in meeting her own goals: Her daughters are st…
Comment linking /Opinions/HumanSciences/tigermom.html
on “Daughter of Tiger Mom responds to controversy”Submitted Prime Obsession as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Strangest Travel Book Ever Written (2004) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Dissidence and Doom as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Importance of Not Thinking Too Much (2003) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Strangest Travel Book Ever Written (2004) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Educational Reductionism (book review) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Gossipedia as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Just What Is "Singularity"? as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
