3 ms·

Comstock is a recurring name throughout Stephenson's works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle in pa

• mnutt 16y ago
  Definitely. And the "rookie solves a seemingly impossible math problem without knowing it's supposed to be difficult" is a pretty common archetype, but it seemed like enough details matched that maybe there was a connection.
  • mzl 16y ago
    One nice instance of the archetype is George Danzig: http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/unsolvable.asp http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/unsolvable.asp