Mathematics & science

Links about mathematics & science that Hacker News readers keep rediscovering.

Hall of Fame: 65
Candidates: 119
Types: 8
Median span: 7.4 yrs

Browse Mathematics & science by type

Every link below is about mathematics & science and belongs to the selected type.

8 types

Strongest Hall records

65 items

Project Euler is offline

projecteuler.net Reference 18 submissions · 17 people · 17.9 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2017-12 Resurfaced 2025-11-12

792max pts

A Primer on Bézier Curves (2013)

pomax.github.io Books & learning 25 submissions · 19 people · 13.0 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2017-04 Resurfaced 2026-04-28

398max pts

How Not to Sort by Average Rating (2009)

www.evanmiller.org Books & learning 18 submissions · 17 people · 15.7 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2017-08 Resurfaced 2024-10-25

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Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu Books & learning 15 submissions · 15 people · 12.2 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2017-01 Resurfaced 2026-02-10

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The True Size Of Countries: Mercator projection

thetruesize.com Tools, games & demos 21 submissions · 20 people · 9.6 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2020-11 Resurfaced 2025-04-26

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What did Earth look like X million years ago?

dinosaurpictures.org Tools, games & demos 25 submissions · 23 people · 7.4 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2020-09 Resurfaced 2023-08-08

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Jewish problems

arxiv.org Research & data 11 submissions · 11 people · 13.1 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2017-10 Resurfaced 2021-08-11

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Who Can Name the Bigger Number?

www.scottaaronson.com Essays & writing 28 submissions · 28 people · 17.9 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2015-02 Resurfaced 2020-01-21

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The Secretary Problem

en.wikipedia.org Reference 24 submissions · 21 people · 15.9 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2022-08 Resurfaced 2024-04-12

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How to Slice a Bagel into Two Linked Halves (2009)

www.georgehart.com Books & learning 9 submissions · 9 people · 14.3 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2014-05 Resurfaced 2022-03-06

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DNA seen through the eyes of a coder (2017)

ds9a.nl Essays & writing 21 submissions · 19 people · 13.4 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2018-01 Resurfaced 2018-01-25

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The magic of the Kalman filter, in pictures

www.bzarg.com Books & learning 8 submissions · 8 people · 8.6 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2020-01 Resurfaced 2024-04-03

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Boltzmann Brain

en.wikipedia.org Reference 17 submissions · 17 people · 15.6 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-12 Resurfaced 2024-12-10

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Immersive Linear Algebra (2016)

immersivemath.com Books & learning 8 submissions · 6 people · 8.7 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2021-02 Resurfaced 2024-05-11

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Simpson's paradox

en.wikipedia.org Reference 28 submissions · 28 people · 16.8 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-03 Resurfaced 2024-03-11

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Monty Hall Problem

en.wikipedia.org Reference 15 submissions · 15 people · 13.7 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2022-06 Resurfaced 2022-06-09

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Low-Background Steel

en.wikipedia.org Reference 30 submissions · 29 people · 12.6 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2020-07 Resurfaced 2021-10-24

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Show HN: Every mountain, building and tree shadow mapped for any date and time

shademap.app Tools, games & demos 17 submissions · 14 people · 5.1 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-05 Resurfaced 2026-08-12

685max pts

An earthquake could destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest (2015)

www.newyorker.com Essays & writing 19 submissions · 11 people · 9.8 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2020-01 Resurfaced 2025-04-23

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Game theory illustrated by an animated cartoon game

ncase.me Tools, games & demos 25 submissions · 24 people · 6.4 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2025-05 Resurfaced 2025-05-19

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One-electron universe

en.wikipedia.org Reference 13 submissions · 13 people · 13.4 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2018-05 Resurfaced 2015-02-06

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The Deep Sea

neal.fun Tools, games & demos 22 submissions · 22 people · 5.0 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2023-06 Resurfaced 2024-11-19

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The theory of relativity in words of four letters or less

www.muppetlabs.com Books & learning 11 submissions · 11 people · 17.1 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2025-04 Resurfaced 2025-04-14

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Manim – 3Blue1Brown's animation engine for explanatory math videos

github.com Software & code 8 submissions · 8 people · 8.3 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2022-06 Resurfaced 2025-08-23

669max pts

Harmony Explained: Progress Towards a Scientific Theory of Music

arxiv.org Research & data 9 submissions · 9 people · 11.8 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2026-07 Resurfaced 2026-07-28

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Cargo Cult Science (1974)

calteches.library.caltech.edu Essays & writing 11 submissions · 11 people · 7.3 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2023-03 Resurfaced 2023-03-06

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An Intuitive Guide to Linear Algebra (2012)

betterexplained.com Books & learning 5 submissions · 5 people · 11.7 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-06 Resurfaced 2022-03-31

709max pts

No, pi is wrong: The Tau Manifesto

tauday.com Essays & writing 15 submissions · 15 people · 12.6 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2021-05 Resurfaced 2021-05-09

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How real are real numbers? (2004)

arxiv.org Research & data 7 submissions · 7 people · 9.3 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-09 Resurfaced 2026-07-27

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Curl Wttr.in

github.com Software & code 8 submissions · 7 people · 9.4 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2025-07 Resurfaced 2025-07-17

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An Interactive Guide to the Fourier Transform (2012)

betterexplained.com Books & learning 6 submissions · 6 people · 12.9 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2023-12 Resurfaced 2025-12-02

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What I learned as a hired consultant to autodidact physicists (2016)

aeon.co Essays & writing 12 submissions · 12 people · 8.1 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2022-04 Resurfaced 2022-04-04

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How to Destroy the Earth (2006)

qntm.org Essays & writing 10 submissions · 10 people · 16.0 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2021-02 Resurfaced 2021-02-20

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The Time Everyone “Corrected” the World’s Smartest Woman (2015)

priceonomics.com Essays & writing 6 submissions · 6 people · 7.5 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2021-05 Resurfaced 2024-02-25

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The Mathematical Hacker

www.evanmiller.org Essays & writing 7 submissions · 5 people · 10.0 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2019-06 Resurfaced 2022-12-23

293max pts

Calculus Made Easy (1910)

calculusmadeeasy.org Books & learning 10 submissions · 10 people · 7.3 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2023-01 Resurfaced 2021-07-28

417max pts

No, really, pi is wrong: The Tau Manifesto (Tau Day, 2010)

tauday.com Essays & writing 7 submissions · 7 people · 14.0 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2020-06 Resurfaced 2016-06-28

367max pts

A Slower Speed of Light

gamelab.mit.edu Tools, games & demos 9 submissions · 9 people · 11.5 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-05 Resurfaced 2024-05-12

284max pts

New Mersenne Prime discovered (probably)

www.mersenne.org Sites & organizations 8 submissions · 8 people · 9.5 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-10 Resurfaced 2024-10-16

368max pts

I should have loved biology

jsomers.net Essays & writing 6 submissions · 6 people · 4.7 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2025-07 Resurfaced 2024-04-21

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Matrix Multiplication

matrixmultiplication.xyz Tools, games & demos 8 submissions · 8 people · 8.3 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2022-01 Resurfaced 2022-01-17

873max pts

Two envelopes problem

en.wikipedia.org Reference 7 submissions · 6 people · 14.9 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2022-05 Resurfaced 2022-05-30

249max pts

The control group is out of control (2014)

slatestarcodex.com Essays & writing 7 submissions · 7 people · 12.2 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2023-09 Resurfaced 2022-01-22

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Scientists rename human genes to stop MS Excel from misreading them as dates

www.theverge.com Essays & writing 5 submissions · 5 people · 3.6 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-03 Resurfaced 2024-03-26

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Banana equivalent dose

en.wikipedia.org Reference 9 submissions · 6 people · 12.9 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2023-05 Resurfaced 2023-05-02

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There’s no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically)

eukaryotewritesblog.com Essays & writing 6 submissions · 6 people · 4.2 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2025-06 Resurfaced 2025-06-30

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Cameras and Lenses

ciechanow.ski Books & learning 8 submissions · 8 people · 5.1 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2026-01 Resurfaced 2026-01-01

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Floating point visually explained (2017)

fabiensanglard.net Books & learning 9 submissions · 8 people · 8.2 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2021-11 Resurfaced 2021-11-28

451max pts

Chernobyl’s Hot Mess, “the Elephant’s Foot,” Is Still Lethal (2013)

nautil.us Essays & writing 9 submissions · 9 people · 5.7 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2016-12 Resurfaced 2019-09-08

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Potato paradox

en.wikipedia.org Reference 8 submissions · 8 people · 7.4 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2020-08 Resurfaced 2018-08-12

559max pts

Crown shyness

en.wikipedia.org Reference 6 submissions · 5 people · 7.3 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2023-12 Resurfaced 2023-12-23

332max pts

Invisible Electrostatic Wall at 3M plant (1996)

amasci.com Essays & writing 5 submissions · 5 people · 13.2 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2025-01 Resurfaced 2025-01-21

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Thirty-three Miniatures: Applications of Linear Algebra (2012) [pdf]

kam.mff.cuni.cz Research & data 5 submissions · 5 people · 10.2 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-02 Resurfaced 2019-06-21

346max pts

Consciousness as a State of Matter

arxiv.org Research & data 6 submissions · 6 people · 5.1 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2019-01 Resurfaced 2019-01-30

94max pts

Draw an iceberg and see how it would float in water

joshdata.me Tools, games & demos 5 submissions · 5 people · 4.9 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2026-01 Resurfaced 2024-06-08

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How to Read Mathematics

web.stonehill.edu Books & learning 5 submissions · 4 people · 8.0 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2017-04 Resurfaced 2017-04-30

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Animated Factorisation Diagrams

www.datapointed.net Tools, games & demos 5 submissions · 5 people · 12.6 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2025-05 Resurfaced 2025-05-21

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The man with 1,000 klein bottles under his house [video]

www.youtube.com Audio, video & images 5 submissions · 5 people · 8.6 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-02 Resurfaced 2021-06-30

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Tips for mathematical handwriting (2007)

johnkerl.org Books & learning 7 submissions · 5 people · 5.8 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2025-02 Resurfaced 2025-02-08

283max pts

Feynman on Fermat's Last Theorem

www.lbatalha.com Essays & writing 6 submissions · 4 people · 6.2 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2019-02 Resurfaced 2019-02-11

220max pts

Recently resurfaced in mathematics & science

latest 20+ point return

Show HN: Every mountain, building and tree shadow mapped for any date and time

shademap.app Tools, games & demos 17 submissions · 14 people · 5.1 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-05 Resurfaced 2026-08-12

685max pts

Harmony Explained: Progress Towards a Scientific Theory of Music

arxiv.org Research & data 9 submissions · 9 people · 11.8 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2026-07 Resurfaced 2026-07-28

213max pts

How real are real numbers? (2004)

arxiv.org Research & data 7 submissions · 7 people · 9.3 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2024-09 Resurfaced 2026-07-27

218max pts

A Primer on Bézier Curves (2013)

pomax.github.io Books & learning 25 submissions · 19 people · 13.0 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2017-04 Resurfaced 2026-04-28

398max pts

Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu Books & learning 15 submissions · 15 people · 12.2 years

Hall of Fame Class of 2017-01 Resurfaced 2026-02-10

749max pts

Candidates

Browse 119 candidates

Goiânia Accident

en.wikipedia.org Reference 17 submissions · 17 people · 11.7 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2026-08-06

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

298max pts

Seeing Theory (2017)

seeing-theory.brown.edu Books & learning 15 submissions · 15 people · 7.1 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2026-02-15

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

526max pts

Draw a math symbol and get the corresponding LaTeX code

detexify.kirelabs.org Tools, games & demos 19 submissions · 18 people · 16.7 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2023-11-14

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

193max pts

God's Number is 20 (2010)

cube20.org Research & data 10 submissions · 10 people · 15.7 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2023-03-16

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

276max pts

Benford's Law

en.wikipedia.org Reference 36 submissions · 33 people · 18.5 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2020-02-15

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

145max pts

Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences

oeis.org Reference 35 submissions · 33 people · 15.5 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2024-04-04

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

232max pts

German tank problem

en.wikipedia.org Reference 28 submissions · 28 people · 17.1 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2023-11-26

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

231max pts

Nuke Map: Interactive Nuclear Bomb Map

nuclearsecrecy.com Tools, games & demos 28 submissions · 27 people · 14.0 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2022-03-01

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

160max pts

Oh-My-God particle

en.wikipedia.org Reference 14 submissions · 14 people · 12.5 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2023-10-06

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

165max pts

Quantum mechanics as a generalization of probability (2007)

www.scottaaronson.com Books & learning 10 submissions · 10 people · 16.4 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2024-04-17

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

209max pts

Why Most Published Research Findings Are False (2005)

journals.plos.org Essays & writing 12 submissions · 12 people · 8.9 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2024-09-24

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

231max pts

List of unsolved problems in physics

en.wikipedia.org Reference 16 submissions · 15 people · 13.4 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2021-03-21

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

119max pts

Ignition: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants (1972) [pdf]

library.sciencemadness.org Books & learning 12 submissions · 6 people · 13.8 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2022-07-09

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

168max pts

Dunning-Kruger and other memes (2015)

danluu.com Essays & writing 9 submissions · 9 people · 11.1 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2017-11-10

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

243max pts

Impossible color

en.wikipedia.org Reference 12 submissions · 12 people · 15.4 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2020-09-02

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

245max pts

Interactive Periodic Table

ptable.com Tools, games & demos 12 submissions · 12 people · 13.1 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2021-06-27

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

125max pts

T * sin (t) ≈ Christmas tree (2013)

github.com Software & code 7 submissions · 2 people · 12.0 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2020-12-25

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart3 submitters

595max pts

A cheat-sheet for mathematical notation in code form

github.com Reference 9 submissions · 9 people · 6.2 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2021-09-11

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

199max pts

The Relativity of Wrong (1989)

hermiene.net Essays & writing 6 submissions · 6 people · 14.3 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2025-08-26

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

124max pts

How to Fold a Julia Fractal

acko.net Books & learning 13 submissions · 13 people · 11.1 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2024-02-20

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

231max pts

Gombe Chimpanzee War

en.wikipedia.org Reference 12 submissions · 11 people · 11.5 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2019-09-09

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

138max pts

Pi Day

en.wikipedia.org Reference 9 submissions · 9 people · 17.0 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2024-03-14

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

143max pts

Graphical linear algebra: from matrices to monoids

graphicallinearalgebra.net Books & learning 4 submissions · 4 people · 7.4 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2025-07-10

Needs:5 submissions

317max pts

Acme Klein Bottle

www.kleinbottle.com Sites & organizations 7 submissions · 7 people · 15.9 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2024-02-04

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

296max pts

52-hertz whale

en.wikipedia.org Reference 8 submissions · 8 people · 11.3 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2026-06-24

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

299max pts

An Interactive Introduction to Fourier Transforms

www.jezzamon.com Books & learning 8 submissions · 8 people · 5.4 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2020-11-14

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

421max pts

NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions

dlmf.nist.gov Reference 7 submissions · 7 people · 12.3 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2022-09-04

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

137max pts

BetterExplained: Math Lessons That Explain Concepts

betterexplained.com Reference 4 submissions · 4 people · 11.0 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2020-11-15

Needs:5 submissions

666max pts

What If Planet 9 Is a Primordial Black Hole?

arxiv.org Research & data 3 submissions · 3 people · 4.0 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2023-09-28

Needs:5 submissions

285max pts

Pfeilstorch

en.wikipedia.org Reference 4 submissions · 4 people · 6.4 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2025-08-16

Needs:5 submissions

324max pts

The Legendary Study That Embarrassed Wine Experts (2014)

www.realclearscience.com Essays & writing 6 submissions · 3 people · 10.2 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2021-02-14

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

121max pts

SageMath – Open-Source Mathematical Software System

www.sagemath.org Software & code 4 submissions · 4 people · 5.1 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2022-05-09

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart5 submissions

446max pts

Mathics: A free, open-source alternative to Mathematica

mathics.org Software & code 4 submissions · 4 people · 12.7 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2025-02-14

Needs:5 submissions

561max pts

Visually stunning math concepts which are easy to explain

math.stackexchange.com Reference 4 submissions · 4 people · 12.2 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2021-09-11

Needs:5 submissions

560max pts

Long Before Trees Overtook the Land, Earth Was Covered by Giant Mushrooms (2013)

www.smithsonianmag.com Essays & writing 4 submissions · 4 people · 4.4 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2023-04-26

Needs:5 submissions

333max pts

Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project

web.evanchen.cc Books & learning 9 submissions · 8 people · 7.8 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2025-10-02

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

245max pts

The Big Alien Theory

thebigalientheory.com Essays & writing 4 submissions · 4 people · 5.2 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2021-06-01

Needs:5 submissions

147max pts

The Two Cultures of Mathematics (2000) [pdf]

www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk Essays & writing 6 submissions · 5 people · 15.0 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2021-04-26

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

145max pts

Cat Gap

en.wikipedia.org Reference 4 submissions · 4 people · 5.2 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2025-12-10

Needs:5 submissions

315max pts

The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants (1990) [pdf]

algorithmicbotany.org Books & learning 5 submissions · 5 people · 8.6 years

Candidate Resurfaced 2023-07-24

Needs:2 breakout events 720+ days apart

146max pts