# Numerical Recipes by Press et al.

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/numerical-recipes/

5 people recommended Numerical Recipes by Press et al. in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for algorithm coverage and ready-made numerical code that is hard to beat. Critics say it is not focused on physics and not rigorous.

Summary written by Claude from 8 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 7 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Rigorous algorithms and quality code (2 comments in the sample): "Numerical Recipes and Hacker's Delight have tons of gems that you won't get from an LLM" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46195415)) "that's quite likely to be better quality than what I -- or most folks -- can code up" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46796019))
- Fortran learning resource, free online edition (2 comments in the sample): "Two valuable (and related) resources when learning FORTRAN are" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46308574)) "Read the older 2nd ed. book in Fortran online for free." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50016188))

## What people warn about

- Not focused on physics, not rigorous (1 comment in the sample): "It's not focused on physics.  It's also not rigorous." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47657986))

## Other mathematics textbooks people recommend

- [Algorithms for Optimization by Kochenderfer and Wheeler](https://hackerapproved.com/p/algorithms-for-optimization/): 9 recommend, 1 mixed, 1 criticize
- [Mathematics for Computer Science by Lehman, Leighton and Meyer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mathematics-for-computer-science/): 8 recommend, 0 mixed, 4 criticize
- [Start Doing Graph Theory by Sam Burns](https://hackerapproved.com/p/start-doing-graph-theory/): 7 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize
- [Visual Complex Analysis by Tristan Needham](https://hackerapproved.com/p/visual-complex-analysis/): 5 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Numerical Recipes by Press et al.", https://hackerapproved.com/p/numerical-recipes/ (5 recommend, 1 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.