For most of the twentieth century, if you studied higher mathematics in Russia, you worked from one problem book. This is its first English edition. Günter and Kuzmin's Collection of Problems in Higher Mathematics began in 1912 as a working set of problems compiled by the mathematics department of the Institute of Engineers of Ways of Communication in St Petersburg. It grew to three volumes, ran to a thirteenth edition, and became the standard problem book of the Soviet universities and the higher technical institutes alike. Russian biographical accounts record that its problems supplied the mathematics of the entrance examination Lev Landau set his prospective students — the celebrated "theoretical minimum." Here is the part most people don't know. The two men who assembled it were not textbook compilers. They were working research mathematicians, and it shows on every page. RODION KUZMIN (1891–1949) left two permanent results. In 1928 he settled a question Gauss had raised and left unanswered — the limiting distribution of the partial quotients of a continued fraction — and was the first to prove it with an estimate of the rate of convergence. The theorem and the distribution now carry Gauss's name and his. In 1930 he proved that a^b is transcendental whenever a is a positive algebraic number other than 1 and b is a real quadratic irrational. So 2^√2 is transcendental. That is a case of Hilbert's seventh problem, and he got there four years before Gelfond and Schneider settled it in general. He was expelled from Petersburg University for student politics, finished his degree at Petrograd in 1916, and held the chair of general mathematics at Leningrad University from 1945 until his death. NIKOLAI GÜNTER (1871–1941) was taught by Korkin, Markov and Possé — the direct line of Chebyshev's school. Doctorate in 1915 on the characteristics of systems of partial differential equations. Professor from 1916 until his death. Corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences from 1924. His treatise on potential theory was published in Paris in 1934, in Borel's collection at Gauthier-Villars, and reviewed in the English mathematical press on publication. He led the higher mathematics department at the Institute of Engineers of Ways of Communication from 1906, and for long stretches taught at four institutions at once, across some four decades. Günter died in 1941. Kuzmin finished the last revision alone and signed its preface from Biysk, in 1944, a long way from Leningrad. WHAT IS IN THE BOOK 6,314 problems, numbered continuously from 1 to 6,314, running from analytic geometry in the plane through to the calculus of variations and the theory of probability. Higher algebra, integration, multiple and surface integrals, ordinary and partial differential equations, special functions, series, approximate computation, complex variables, mathematical physics. The theoretical interludes that make the problems usable sit exactly where a working student needs them — not in an appendix. a.co/d/07jMUsK1

BREAKING: France offers students $4.5 billion in school renovations and education reforms in a bid to end nationwide protests that have erupted into riots & looting.

$MSFT Microsoft's job cuts aren't done, and Xbox is where to watch next. Asha Sharma is reportedly planning three more rounds: this month, November and January. 1,868 jobs are gone against a 3,200 target, so roughly 1,300 more are coming. Spreading cuts across a whole year is a choice. It keeps the margin story moving and leaves everyone who's left waiting. I'm watching for the October round.

88% of VC-backed founders who exited their companies got $0. Eduardo Azevedo and Kent Smetters analysed 157,669 startups and 248,454 founders from 1987 to 2025. Let that sink in...

Nik Storonsky is one of the most hardcore and competitive founders I’ve ever talked to. He’s the founder of Revolut, a $115 billion company, and wants to be the number one bank in 100 countries. When someone asked Nik if he was coming for Jamie Dimon's lunch, he said “I’m coming for his dinner.” “We want to dominate, otherwise what’s the point?” He removed every VC from his board, and when one investor pushed him too far, he started his own fund to compete with them. Nik has a lot of ideas on talent, product design, marketing, constraints, and what makes founder-led companies special. This is a fascinating conversation about competition, speed, and building a machine-like company. 0:00 Coming for Jamie Dimon's dinner 2:04 Building the #1 bank in 100 countries 6:12 Why founders beat professional CEOs 8:45 Revolut's biggest mistake 12:47 Why legacy banks can't innovate 17:20 Running a company like a machine 20:28 Funding winners and cutting losers like a trader 23:31 How AI is changing Revolut's team structure 25:23 50 direct reports and spreading innovation fast 29:59 Hiring self-guided missiles 33:31 Too much money makes founders weaker 37:38 What Europe's constraints taught Revolut 41:08 Why VCs are like football cheerleaders 49:28 Starting a fund to compete with VCs 54:28 From zero marketing to buying Europe's airports 1:00:21 Funding moonshots like a global tech company 1:03:58 Building an unstoppable machine Includes paid partnerships.

Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky: “The US is not that competitive. Europe is even less competitive.” “China is competitive.” “China is 9/9/6. Even if you are good in Europe, or in the US, how can you out-compete the people who work 9:00 to 9:00, six days a week?” “I started in a co-working space with 140 companies. Within 5 years, only 3 companies survived. They all worked on the weekends.” “Within 10 years, only 2 companies survived out of 140.” “Working weekends is a must if you want to survive. Purely statistically.”

Striking detail in the big NYT piece on Taiwanese families adjusting to working at the huge new TSMC chip plant in Arizona: their surprise at the lack of rigor in US schools.

Striking detail in the big NYT piece on Taiwanese families adjusting to working at the huge new TSMC chip plant in Arizona: their surprise at the lack of rigor in US schools.

JUST IN: 🇨🇳🇯🇵 Chinese cars overtake Japanese cars in Europe for the first time ever.