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    The Strange Math That Predicts (Almost) Anything

    Veritasium

    1 HN recommender · recommended in 3 months, 2025

    YouTube

    32:32 · 13M views · Jul 25, 2025

    A Veritasium video on how a feud between Russian mathematicians led to Markov chains and the modern prediction algorithms built on them. It covers the history and the math behind them.

    HN recommends it as an excellent, detailed history of Markov chains, often in threads on Markov models and language models.

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    3 comments from Hacker News

    1. @satvikpendemJul 2025· in “Problem solving using Markov chains (2007) [pdf]”

      I assume OP watched this excellent Veritasium video about Markov and his chains [0] and posted this article which was referenced in that video. [0] this video

      RecommendsView on HN
    2. @jcynixSep 2025· in “Markov chains are the original language models”

      Ah, yes, Markov chains. A long time agoMark V. Shaney [LINK] was designed by Rob Pike and posted on Usenet. And Veritasium's video "The Strange Math That Predicts (Almost) Anything" talks in detail about the history of Markov chains: this video

      CitesView on HN
    3. @sceaduAug 2025· in “Ask HN: What trick of the trade took you too long to learn?”

      not sure if it counts as a list of case studies, but a relevant and recent video nonetheless this video also in general bayesian statistics random medium article: [LINK]

      CitesView on HN