from Hacker News

Ahab's Arithmetic: The Mathematics of Moby-Dick (2021)

by sebg on 9/26/25, 9:27 AM with 2 comments

• by QuesnayJr on 10/1/25, 5:52 AM

  The article was interesting, but it convinced me of the opposite of its thesis. The books mentioned are 1) a standard school textbook, 2) a standard book for navigators, and 3) a chart of whale hunting grounds that someone created (that Melville anticipated). It all seems like the kind of books a ship's captain would own.

  Still, it was interesting to read about the things themselves. I had no idea that the US Navy put out a mathematics reference book. (It's easy to find online, too. The most recent edition came out in 2021.)

• by putnarnNsons on 9/30/25, 7:22 PM

  “True art thou, lad, as the circumference to its centre:

           MOBY DICK
  
             OR
  
           THE WHALE
  
             OR   
  
          $556.37*
  
  

  Herman Mellville's lifetime earnings from it were a grand total of $556.37.