This is paywalled, so housekeeping first.
This is the seventeenth edition of a creative writing feature for paid subscribers, who are also able to comment on this post (and most posts). If you would like a paid subscription but can’t afford it, send an email to hollymathnerd at gmail dot com and I’ll hook you up with a free year.
Lots of pictures in this one, so your email client may not handle it well. You can also read it at the Substack website.
Context: I love mathematics, Count Von Count, and prime numbers. And I’ve been waiting for this, the 17th edition of my creative writing series, to write about them.
The Highest and Best Use of Twitter Imaginable
The Sesame Street character, Count Von Count, has a Twitter account.
His sole use of it is to count his tweets.
His most recent tweet, as I write this, was:
And he has exactly 3,923 tweets!
When I was on Twitter, I always followed Count Von Count. Every time he tweeted a prime number, I would QT it and celebrate with this gif from Oprah, as the joy and sentiment in it express how prime numbers make me feel.
(By the way, 3,923 is in fact PRIME!!!!)
But what IS a prime number? And why do I love them?