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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is it that impresses the narrator about Grigori Perelman?
(a) He did not publish his stunning mathematical work during his lifetime.
(b) He turns down a money prize for accomplishments in math.
(c) He donates all the money he wins from math prizes to the poor.
(d) He wins enormous amounts of money for solving mathematical problems.

2. What does the narrator say is the color of home?
(a) Violet.
(b) Maroon.
(c) Pink.
(d) Blue.

3. How does the narrator justify killing Daniel Russell?
(a) It prevents the spread of misunderstanding.
(b) It reduces suffering in the universe.
(c) It puts humans out of their misery.
(d) It saves many lives.

4. How does the narrator characterize the pattern Riemann discovered for the first hundred thousand or so prime numbers?
(a) Regular and scientific.
(b) Chaotic and mystifying.
(c) Random and bewildering.
(d) Beautiful and clean.

5. What is the narrator’s tone when describing humans?
(a) Irritation.
(b) Contempt.
(c) Bemusement.
(d) Indifference.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are blue lights a sign of, in the narrator’s experience?

2. What question does the narrator asks Isobel, which Isobel says has been a constant for her whole marriage to Andrew Martin?

3. What delusion does the narrator think humans have?

4. Why does the narrator call Andrew Martin’s mother back, after he hangs up on her?

5. What does the narrator say is the most significant of the human languages he will have to master?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the narrator’s rhetorical stance in The Humans?

2. What happens in the narrator’s interrogation by police?

3. What does the narrator tell Daniel Russell before he kills him?

4. How does Andrew Martin characterize his discovery in the introduction the narrator reads?

5. What makes the narrator’s narrative so funny?

6. Who are the narrator’s chief suspects for people who might know about Andrew Martin’s discovery?

7. How does the narrator ultimately get himself out of prison?

8. What does the narrator learn about mathematicians that undermines his core beliefs about human beings?

9. What is the importance of prime numbers for the narrator?

10. How does Haig characterize the marriage between Andrew and Isobel Martin?

(see the answer keys)

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