Top all-time · #221
Nick Berry
Personal blog · datagenetics.com/blog · on HN as squeakynickmathdataprogramming
Nick Berry writes DataGenetics, a personal blog at datagenetics.com about math, data and programming. Since 2012, 213 different Hacker News readers have linked it 477 times, most often “PIN number analysis”. The last post was in 2022, but the archive is still widely read.
Sometimes recommended · 15 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Nick Berry's DataGenetics blog for thorough, mathematically grounded analyses of everyday puzzles and security, such as PIN frequencies, Markov-chain board games, and the 100 prisoners problem.
- Recommended for · 15 comments
- Called great, solid, interesting or really good; a 'much better explanation'; Markov models called nice.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Nick Berry's blog of puzzles, probability, data and mathematics, 2009–2022.
Most-linked posts?
- PIN number analysis16 people · 16 mentions · first linked 2012-09-24
- Analysis of bank PIN numbers10 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2012-09-17
- PIN number analysis9 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2012-09-18
- Some suprising facts from Big Data.6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2012-04-09
- Impossible Escape?5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2014-12-04
- Battleship AI Algorithm5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2012-01-17
- Wounded QR Codes4 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2015-09-02
- Visualising optimal target points in Darts (for different player skill levels)4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2012-01-11
- Benford's Law4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2012-03-29
- Mathematical Analysis of beautiful math games from Nick Berry3 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2015-03-08
What Hacker News says?
Writing simple multiplayer games using just Notepad++ as my dev environment. Two games so far: Multi-Armed-Bandit http://datagenetics.com/blog/may12020/index.html Space Miner http://datagenetics.com/blog/april12020/index.html
Comment linking /blog/april12020/index.html
on “Ask HN: What's your quarantine side project?”Submitted Rotating Images as a story · 355 points
HN discussion2580 (straight down the number pad) is a popular PIN because of that. source: http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/september32012/index.html#g...
Comment linking /blog/september32012/index.html
on “Touchscreens are out, and tactile controls are back”Submitted How far can you overhang blocks? as a story · 288 points
HN discussionIt's worth mentioning that many smartphone users upload content to Youtube seemingly mistakenly and unaware that they are doing so (also known as fat-fingering[0]). A quick search for: DSC001.mp4 And then filtering that by recently uploaded always yields interesting results. For those that don't know, `DSC-XXX` is a standard naming scheme for digital cameras. More on the default naming scheme in the following link[1…
Comment linking /blog/december22012/index.html
on “Stealing Your Private YouTube Videos, One Frame at a Time”Submitted Visual Cryptography as a story · 274 points
HN discussionNice Here's a model of chutes and ladder using Markov http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/november12011/index.html And another for Candyland http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/december12011/index.html
Comment linking /blog/december12011/index.html
on “Show HN: Markov chains explained visually”Submitted Analysis of bank PIN numbers as a story · 255 points
HN discussionI write about math, coding, and general geekery in a style similar to Martin Gardner. http://www.datagenetics.com/blog.html
Comment linking /blog.html
on “Ask HN: What is your blog and why should I read it?”Submitted The Two Egg Problem as a story · 217 points
HN discussionAt the end of the day it's balls in the back of the net that count. I'm pleased for everyone, so let's see if this translates into sales. It's a hybrid mix of things to get to success; and all about execution. http://datagenetics.com/blog/september52015/index.html
Comment linking /blog/september52015/index.html
on “New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft”Submitted A Better Strategy for Hangman as a story · 215 points
HN discussionI just saw this on HN... http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/october12013/index.html This is like solving your submarine problem. Jeese.
Comment linking /blog/october12013/index.html
on “Dear Startups: stop asking me math puzzles to figure out if I can code”Submitted Wounded QR Codes as a story · 196 points
HN discussionDerivation of answer to the problem #16 here: https://datagenetics.com/blog/may32013/index.html
Comment linking /blog/may32013/index.html
on “Math Problems for children from 5 to 15 (2004) [pdf]”Submitted Why are roller coaster loops not circular? as a story · 194 points
HN discussionFor anyone else interested in scaling up pixel art, there are alternative methods to just using nearest neighbour, such as EPX or something. I found this article on Datagenics to be pretty solid: http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/december32013/index.html
Comment linking /blog/december32013/index.html
on “A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art”Submitted Why cans of soup are shaped the way they are as a story · 190 points
HN discussionIt depends on how you intend to 'score' the estimate. Are you looking for the answer that is the 'most likely', or one that has the 'lowest least squared error', or maybe one that is 'unbiased' (mean error)? http://datagenetics.com/blog/march22014/index.html
Comment linking /blog/march22014/index.html
on “The German Tank Problem”Submitted Impossible Escape? as a story · 166 points
HN discussionYears ago, for fun, I wrote a Bejeweled Blitz player. As with others here, the fun was about the challenge, not about 'beating' the game. http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/march2009/index.html
Comment linking /blog/march2009/index.html
on “Winning at Candy Crush”Submitted Voronoi Tessellations as a story · 158 points
HN discussion"You are given two eggs, and access to a 100-storey building. Both eggs are identical. The aim is to find out the highest floor from which an egg will not break when dropped out of a window from that floor. If an egg is dropped and does not break, it is undamaged and can be dropped again. However, once an egg is broken, that’s it for that egg. If an egg breaks when dropped from floor n, then it would also have broke…
Comment linking /blog/july22012/index.html
on “Show HN: Whiteboardfree – Developer Jobs at Companies That Don't Whiteboard”Submitted How Hamming codes work as a story · 145 points
HN discussionPCI-compliant networks often contain checks for credit card numbers being sent in plaintext over the network. Problem with that is that credit card numbers are computed according to a formula, and it's really easy to generate a bunch of fake 16-digit numbers that will pass the check. So if you want to troll your security team, generate a CSV with a stack of credit card numbers and drop it in a few places on a server…
Comment linking /blog/july42013/index.html
on “Things to commit just before leaving your job”Submitted PIN number analysis as a story · 134 points
HN discussionIf we are allowed to self promote, then I'll put forward my blog http://datagenetics.com/blog.html There's currently about 360 articles about math, science, programming, data-mining, geekery ... in style similar to a hero of mine, the late Martin Gardner.
Comment linking /blog.html
on “Ask HN: What niche blogs are worthwhile to follow?”Submitted Parrondo's Paradox: How two ugly parents can make a beautiful baby as a story · 130 points
HN discussionGuilty, but I make up for it in another article on JPEG :) http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/november32012/index.html
Comment linking /blog/november32012/index.html
on “Rotating Images”Submitted Most common PIN codes (2012) as a story · 127 points
HN discussion
