The best mathematics textbooks, according to hackers
20 mathematics textbooks were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one. None of them earns the Hacker Approved badge yet.
All 20 mathematics textbooks, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Algorithms for Optimizationby Kochenderfer and Wheeler | 10 | 1 | 91% | 1 | — | — |
| 2 | Mathematics for Computer Scienceby Lehman, Leighton and Meyer | 8 | 4 | 67% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 3 | Numerical Recipesby Press et al. | 7 | 1 | 88% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 3 | Concrete Mathematicsby Graham, Knuth and Patashnik | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 3 | Start Doing Graph Theoryby Sam Burns | 7 | 1 | 88% | 1 | — | — |
| 6 | Visual Complex Analysisby Tristan Needham | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Analysis Iby Terence Tao | 4 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Conceptual Mathematicsby Lawvere and Schanuel | 4 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaosby Steven Strogatz | 4 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Visual Differential Geometry and Formsby Tristan Needham | 4 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Homotopy Type Theoryby the Univalent Foundations Program | 4 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Immersive Linear Algebraby Ximena Fernández | 4 | 1 | 80% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Knots Knotesby Justin Roberts | 4 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 14 | Category Theory Illustrated | 3 | 1 | 75% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 14 | Principles of Mathematical Analysisby Walter Rudin | 3 | 2 | 60% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 14 | How to Think About Analysisby Lara Alcock | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 14 | A Primer of Infinitesimal Analysisby John L. Bell | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 14 | Treesby Jean-Pierre Serre | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 14 | Abel's Theorem in Problems and Solutionsby V.B. Alekseev | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| 20 | Visual Group Theoryby Nathan Carter | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same mathematics textbook in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to mathematics textbooks that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.