About The Palindrome Newsletter

The fastest-growing math & machine learning newsletter on Substack. Highly relevant for machine learning practitioners and software engineers, useful for those working in tech. Written by Tivadar Danka, mathematician and machine learning enthusiast.

What to expect:

Some of the topics we cover:

  • Machine learning fundamentals. While everyone else is focusing on the latest AI trends and news, we focus on providing you with the fundamental knowledge that will still be true 50 years from now.

  • The mathematics of machine learning. People often rush into adopting new technologies without knowing how they work under the hood. We fix that by showing you the minimal set of maximally useful mathematical skills you need to master to become a top-class machine learning practitioner.

  • Foundational mathematics. Deep dives into the mathematics that built the modern world as we know it. Intuitive explanations and clear visuals that teach you math like your teachers should have, but never did.

Join 23,000+ subscribers on the fastest-growing mathematics and machine learning newsletter on Substack. Some reviews from the readers:

For free subscribers:

  • Every week: long-form educational articles. These articles typically go deep into a topic relevant for machine learning practitioners, and tend to offer actionable advice. See the full archive here.

  • Listen to articles. Using the Substack app, you can listen to articles, too.

For paying subscribers: on top of the above:

  • Every week: exclusive long-form educational articles. These articles usually go even deeper into technical aspects or hands-on implementations of the theoretical concepts we teach.

  • Exclusive learning tracks. Four premium series of articles on graph theory, building neural networks from scratch, foundational mathematics, and epsilons (math concepts in under 500 words).

  • Access to the full archive. Read all 80+ articles on mathematics and machine learning.

  • Message Tivadar via this chat and suggest topics you would like us to cover.

  • Invitations to our cohort-based courses. At no additional cost, you’ll get invited to all our courses. The next one is starting on September 26th, 2025.

  • How much does it cost? $10/month or $100/year (or local currency equivalents). See also the “Discounts” section below for students and purchase pricing parity.

To get the full value of this newsletter, subscribe to the weekly, paid edition. Many subscribers expense this newsletter to their team’s learning and development budget. Here’s an email you can send to your manager.

(Subscribe either for free, or for $10/month or $100/year)

Expensing the newsletter

Many subscribers expense this newsletter using their learning, professional development, or training budget. Here’s an email you can send to your manager.

When becoming a paying subscriber, you immediately receive a receipt.

Group/company subscriptions

Buy a group subscription here. It’s 25% cheaper than a regular subscription for each member if your group consists of at least two people.

When setting up a group subscription, an administrator can purchase X annual seats for the group. They can add/remove/replace people in the organization who receive newsletter issues.

To add further group members: the group admin can add additional seats. Follow the steps outlined here.

Discounts

  • Purchasing pricing parity: if you are based in a country with a lower income compared to the US and Western Europe, send me a message on Substack with your country of residence to get a more affordable option.

  • Students: Student discount for academic email addresses. Don’t have an .edu email address? Send me a message on Substack!

Gift subscriptions

Get gift subscriptions here.

Usage guidelines & sharing content

One subscription is intended for one individual, and not for groups. See the ‘Group/company subscriptions’ on details for group subscriptions.

Occasional forwarding of newsletter issues internally is completely fine. If you find yourself doing this regularly, please consider getting those people a subscription - or gifting them one!

Refunds

My business philosophy is that if you, as a customer, are not happy, then I’m not happy. I have a 30-day, no-questions-asked refund policy. Please email [insert email here] for a full refund. I appreciate if you can share the reason you are unhappy with the contents or purchase, but doing so is not necessary for a refund.

Read past articles

Get a sense of the type of content I write with these essays:

(See the full archive here.)

Ask a question

For billing inquiries, topic suggestions, or anything else email tivadar@thepalindrome.org.

Guest posts

Occasionally, The Palindrome features in-depth, practical guest posts from hands-on machine learning professionals. Submit your proposals to tivadar@thepalindrome.org.

Sponsorships and advertisements

The newsletter runs sponsorships from products that I think are a good fit for their readers.

If you want to sponsor The Palindrome and get your product in front of a combined audience of 100k+ readers, follow the instructions here.


Hey, this is Tivadar, it’s great to have you here!

As long as I can remember, I have been stunned by mathematics. Unfortunately, it wasn’t always because of its beauty: I struggled with math early during my early years. (My elementary school math teacher still can’t believe that I managed to obtain a PhD from it.)

I am convinced that mathematics is taught wrong. Its usefulness and beauty are hidden behind convoluted formulas, technical nuances, and abstract nonsense. Throughout the years, math has enhanced my professional and personal life in ways I can’t even begin to describe. My mission is to take you to the same place.

In this newsletter, you’ll receive stories about how mathematics makes our world work. Stories. Not textbook chapters, or boring technical exercises.

If you enjoy my content, a paid subscription is a great way to support me keep on the newsletter going!

You’ll get every issue straight into your inbox, but you can also read all current and previous issues on The Palindrome blog. I also regularly share deep-dive mathematical explanations on Twitter. Feel free to connect!

User's avatar

Subscribe to The Palindrome

mathematics ∪ machine learning

People

Just an Eastern European punk, writing about tech, math, and machine learning. INTJ personality. Chaotic good.
I turn top Tech and Science Substack authors into six-figure creators. DM me if you're ready to scale your newsletter to $100K ARR.