The answer to life, universe and everything
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Hi there 👋
I’m Théo, a self-taught software engineer based in Paris, France. Four years working as a CTO has taught me many lessons in problem solving, but the lack of a solid mathematical foundation has always been that annoying rock in my shoe I was eager to remove.
This chance is now, and, knowing I’m not alone wishing for more, I’ve decided to take up the opportunity to help other engineers along the way develop a better understanding of mathematics.
At its core, programming is pure maths. I believe adding to your mathematical toolbox can only make one a better engineer, those skills being almost directly transferable from one area to the other1.
To do so I thought it’d be fun to work in reverse2: Sharing mathematical challenges I find interesting because they provide opportunities to learn useful concepts in-context, before sharing my approach.
To be clear, I’m not a mathematician by any means. I just want to know more, so suggestions and corrections are more than welcome.
You can support me in writing this newsletter by subscribing to the paid version, which incidentally serves as a proxy for me to understand its value.
However, I’m committed to make everything here free, so there will be no added benefit to upgrading other than knowing you’re buying me a coffee3 and showing your support.
There are enough paywalls around knowledge in the world as it is, and I’d rather tear down one than build yet another one.
You’re welcome to submit answers and ask questions in the comments. For everything else, hit contact@fortytwo.email.
P.S.: For fun, I’ve set up an alternate domain name for this newsletter, 101010.email.
It’s probably why Lisp is the best programming language in the world, too. I don’t care much about programming languages beyond choosing the right tool for the job, but it’s true Lisp is tightly entangled with mathematical thinking. Now, between learning Lisp or Maths, I’d say go for the latter.
At least from the traditional way of teaching
Okay, maybe half of coffee in you live in SF