# James Grime on Reddit (u/JamesGrime)

Part of Scientists on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/scientists-on-reddit/james-grime

James Grime: Mathematician and Numberphile presenter.

- Reddit account: [u/JamesGrime](https://www.reddit.com/user/JamesGrime/) (AMA only)
- How we know it's theirs: [The 2014 r/IAmA AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2klw5q/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/IAmA (61)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2014 to 2014
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q14949225

## Moments

### u/JamesGrime in r/IAmA, Oct 28, 2014 · Personal story

Replying to a redditor:

> Why are you a mathematician? I'm always interested in how people became one or another thing in life :)

> The real answer to that is because I am lazy. And maths is the perfect subject for the lazy student. If you go to lectures you can do the coursework, if you can do the coursework you can do the exam. There are no books to read and no essays to write. Perfect! And for me it was all games and puzzles, and that's not a bad life.

(Excerpt.)
Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2klw5q/comment/clml4ug/ · 101 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/JamesGrime in r/IAmA, Oct 28, 2014 · Explains things

In the thread "I am James Grime, mathematician, Alan Turing fan, and numberphile. AMA!".

> I get asked this one a lot, and I will give you the real answer - I do not have a favourite number. (shock!)
>
> To me they are tools, and I have not anthropomorphised the numbers. Mathematicians do get asked this a lot and I think it's like asking an author "what's your favourite letter".
>
> However, if you really want to put me on the spot, I'll say.... 1? Where would we be without the 1. In a semigroup, that's where.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2klw5q/comment/clmjabl/ · 115 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/JamesGrime in r/IAmA, Oct 28, 2014 · Explains things

Replying to a redditor:

> I don't know much about Turing but I would like to hear more from you, especially as it seems you're wanting to talk about him!... So just just going off of one of your previous answers, can you tell us more about his work on mathematical biology? What part of it are you most…

> If you don't know this it's pretty cool. Alan wanted to answer the question, why do Zebras have stripes, leopards have spots, cows have patches. He model the development of the pigmentation with mathematical equations similar to the equations that describe waves. He called it "waves on cows and waves on leopards". This is something he did in 1952, so after the war and a couple of years before his death. It is still a fundamental paper in mathematical biology.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2klw5q/comment/clmm2zs/ · 6 points as of Nov 7, 2026