The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets

Name: The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets
ISBN: 1620402785

by Simon Singh · first published 2013

11mentions

6recommended by

11HN commenters

2014–2026first – last mentioned

55% recommend45% neutral

Why HN recommends it

Explains the math hidden in Simpsons episodes and the show's history of hiring math-minded writers; informative for fans of both math and the show, including readers with only casual familiarity with the series.

Summarised by Claude from recommending comments

Mathematics

"Aunque muchos han tratado de encontrar enseñanzas filosóficas, psicológicas o incluso literarias en Los Simpson, lo cierto es que si hay una disciplina por la que sus guionistas sientes devoción, esa es las matemáticas. Ya en su episodio piloto, Bart, el genio, aparece una sutil broma sobre ecuaciones diferenciales. Los conceptos más sencillos hasta complejas paradojas, la serie ha recorrido en sus más de veinte años en antena, todas las ramas de las matemáticas. Los Simpson y las matemáticas es un libro para amantes de la disciplina, para seguidores de la serie, y, muy especialmente, para aq

BuyBookshop.org Amazon

Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

View on Open Library ISBN 1620402785

Mentions per year

What Hacker News says

Insanity · Dec 23, 2018 · Recommends

They weren't written in 2018, but some I enjoyed: * Hackers: Heroes of the computer revolution (Steven Levy) * Masters of DOOM (David Kushner) * The simpsons and their mathematical secrets (Simon Singh) * Countdown to zero day (about stuxnet, by Kim Zetter) * Sapiens: A brief history of human kind (Yuval Noah Harari) * Coders at work (Some interviews, not all, but I enjoyed it. By Peter…
on “Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?” ↗
cookie_monsta · Dec 7, 2019 · Recommends

You may be interested in Simon Singh's The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets which details the show's long tradition of hiring math geeks as writers and the plethora of math-based in-jokes that has resulted.
on “The Lesson to Unlearn” ↗
rurp · Dec 9, 2021 · Recommends

This theorem and a whole bunch of other cool math easter eggs are described in The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh, which I highly recommend. Despite the name, it includes some stories from Futurama, which makes sense given how similar the writing teams were. It's incredible how many sophisticated…
on “The Futurama Theorem” ↗
deepakkapoor · Jun 30, 2014 · Recommends

Reading Simpsons and their mathematical secrets this week. The book is both entertaining and informative.
on “Ask HN: What Books Are You Reading?” ↗
couchand · Nov 10, 2014 · Recommends

As an aficionado of both math and The Simpsons myself I quite liked the author's book "The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets". One thing to note before reading: it's targeted at an audience with a passing familiarity with The Simpsons, so an unfortunate percentage of it is a description of episodes you probably already know…
on “Homer's Last Theorem” ↗
wrboyce · Sep 7, 2026 · Recommends

“The Code Book” and “The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets” are also great books by the same author.
on “Formalizing Fermat's Last Theorem” ↗
kqr2 · Sep 9, 2015 · Mentions

Simon Singh, a well known popular science & math writer, also wrote The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets. http://smile.amazon.com/Simpsons-Their-Mathematical-Secrets/...
on “Guide to Mathematics and Mathematicians on the Simpsons” ↗
885895 · Nov 10, 2015 · Mentions

…(Collective gasp from the audience. Prof. Frink now has their attention.) --- Edit: Went looking for part of the quote which I couldn't catch, found a book which seems interesting. Simon Singh, 2013. The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets [1]. Singh is also known for his 1997 book Fermat's Enigma [2] and his 1999 book The Code Book [3]. The former of the books I've heard is interesting and the latter of which I enjoyed very much back when…
on “Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land (1959) [video]” ↗
StClaire · Dec 22, 2016 · Mentions

01. The second machine age 02. The Firm: The secret history of McKinsey and it's influence on American business 03. The Simpsons and their mathematical secrets 04. League of denial 05. The Martian chronicles 06. The Sixth extinction 07. Lost stars 08. The Devil in the white city 09. China in ten words 10. The Fourth revolution 11. Red Mars 12. Iron…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗
femto · Sep 30, 2026 · Mentions

…Matthew Watson Recently read books by Anthony Doerr (Shell Collector, About Grace, Memory Wall, All the Light We Cannot See) and Simon Singh (Code Book, Fermat's Last Theorem, Trick or Treatment, The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets).
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗
acqq · Nov 10, 2014 · Mentions

And the author of the article is also the author of the book: "The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets" http://www.simonsingh.net/Simpsons_Mathematics/book/
on “Homer's Last Theorem” ↗