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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In his letter to Hardy, what was the importance of the thing Ramanujan claimed to have discovered?

2. How does Kanigel describe Ramanujan as a mathematical thinker?

3. Who did Ramanujan stay with in England?

4. How was Ramanujan treated on his return?

5. What does Kanigel say was Ramanujan's greatest talent?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Ramanujan's Master Theorem intended to do?

2. What was Ramanujan's relationship with Cambridge after he left for India?

3. What was Ramanujan's response when Hardy asked him for proofs?

4. Describe Ramanujan's trip to England.

5. What was the conflict between Ramanujan's family and his wife?

6. What accolades did Ramanujan receive for his work?

7. What problems did Ramanujan have on account of his Indian cultural practices?

8. Ramanujan kept extensive notes of his thinking. What was in Ramanujan's notebooks, and how much of his work was valuable, according to Kanigel?

9. What was Ramanujan's condition when he returned to India?

10. What cultural practices did Ramanujan hold on to from India?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

To what extent was math a social enterprise for Ramanujan? How much did his career depend on other people? What made other people believe in him? What values did those people have that made it important to help Ramanujan?

Essay Topic 2

What did Ramanujan use math for? What problems did he solve with it? Were they abstract mathematical problems, or life problems? How did math solve Ramanujan's life problems? Where did it fail to?

Essay Topic 3

Having reached a degree of fame, Ramanujan attempted suicide because he could not solve all the problems around him. Why was Ramanujan incapable of handling this inevitable limitation? Where else in his life were his needs far beyond the realm of what was possible?

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