6 ms·

Ask HN: Which mathematics subject should I base my book's plot on?

I'm about to resume my book project I had to stop in 2008. The plot is about a journalist unraveling a secret society in Rio de Janeiro whose members communicate only through numbers. What do you think would be an interesting subject within mathematics for the plot? Something that the journalist would eventually find out, research and explore in order to know more about that group of people. edit: changed term "hidden society" to "secret society"

jndsn402 12y ago
Roots of unity
- rodolphoarruda 12y ago
  too complex for the mainstream market
  - jndsn402 12y ago
    It's complex, but has that aspect of simplicity (unity). Lots of different applications as well, constructions of polygons and so on. I'm not a mathematician, but when I first read that the number one has cube roots, fifth roots, etc I found it very counterintuitive and cool.
LarryMade2 12y ago
How about pi, they now have it worked out to millions of decimal places... would make a great key. Would be easier for folks to grasp too.
- rodolphoarruda 12y ago
  Interesting. It is well known, easier to grasp as you say, can be calculated and the number doesn't change, but it's long enough to allow infinite indexations along the decimal side. Finding the rationale behind the indexations might be a good challenge. Thanks!
S4M 12y ago
How about Goldbach's conjecture: "Every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two primes." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldbach%27s_conjecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldbach%27s_conjecture