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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What interrupted Ramanujan's wedding?
(a) Drunken relatives.
(b) A fight.
(c) Objections from the girl's family.
(d) A deranged woman.

2. Where did Ramanujan go when he was 17?
(a) Uttar Pradesh.
(b) Delhi.
(c) Madras.
(d) Bengal.

3. What does Kanigel say about Ramanujan's marriage?
(a) There were omens of disaster.
(b) Both parties resisted it.
(c) It had all the ingredients for a lovely match.
(d) It was seen as fortuitous.

4. What did Ramanujan contract from a mosquito-borne disease?
(a) Partial deafness.
(b) Swelling in his scrotum.
(c) Fevers.
(d) A limp.

5. What was Ramanujan's religion?
(a) Muslim.
(b) Confucian.
(c) Hindu.
(d) Tamil.

6. What was Ramanujan like in school?
(a) He was good at all his studies.
(b) He excelled only in math.
(c) He liked math and science, but not literature.
(d) He was a poor student.

7. What does Kanigel say Ramanujan disliked as a child?
(a) Holidays.
(b) Other children.
(c) His family.
(d) Teachers.

8. What was Ramanujan's college's nickname?
(a) Oxford of South India.
(b) Harvard of South India.
(c) Cambridge of South India.
(d) The Bollytechnicum.

9. How does Kanigel characterize Ramanujan's solutions to the math problems in 'A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics'?
(a) As frequently wrong.
(b) As odd.
(c) As flawless.
(d) As inconsistent.

10. Who gave Ramanujan money to study in Madras?
(a) A relative.
(b) His parents.
(c) His in-laws.
(d) A patron.

11. How does Kanigel characterize Ramanujan's tutoring?
(a) Inspired.
(b) Unhelpful.
(c) Incoherent.
(d) Effective.

12. What happened to Ramanujan's scholarship?
(a) It was renewed for four years.
(b) It was jeopardized by Ramanujan's poor grades.
(c) It was withdrawn.
(d) It was expanded to his graduate study.

13. When did the Tripos take place?
(a) After a student's first year.
(b) After a student's third year.
(c) After a student's last year.
(d) After a student's second year.

14. What was the significance of Erode in Ramanujan's family?
(a) Where Ramanujan went to school.
(b) Ramanujan's hometown.
(c) Where Ramanujan was buried.
(d) Ramanujan's mother's ancestral home.

15. When would Ramanujan and his wife consummate their marriage?
(a) It would depend on Ramanujan's career.
(b) When she was older.
(c) As soon as she was chosen.
(d) Never--they were pledged to be chaste.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Ramanujan's parents do in response to their impatience?

2. How does Kanigel describe the skills Ramanujan got from 'A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics'?

3. Where did Ramanujan eventually find work?

4. When did Ramanujan publish his first journal article?

5. What did Ramanujan do while he waited for his wife?

(see the answer keys)

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