I Beg to Introduce Myself Summary and Analysis

On January 16th, 1913, Ramanujan wrote Hardy a letter that described Ramanujan's situation in Madras as a clerk and tried to give an indication of his mathematical skill. Ramanujan explained that he had discovered the value to a prime number function that solved a problem that Hardy proposed in an earlier paper. This prime number function had been a mystery to the world's greatest mathematicians for years and now Ramanujan claimed, in a letter to a stranger, that he had solved the problem. He also included several pages from his notebook in the letter to show Hardy his credentials. Ramanujan's theorems and formulas were odd by the standards of English mathematics. His notation was unfamiliar and non-standard. This caused Hardy to wonder whether or not the letter was a hoax or the work of...