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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In his letter to Hardy, what did Ramanujan say he had discovered?
(a) A solution to a problem Hardy proposed.
(b) A function for using irrational numbers in multi-variable calculus.
(c) A theory of relativity.
(d) A mistake in Hardy's theorems.

2. Who learned of Ramanujan's arrival by the newspapers?
(a) His in-laws.
(b) His mother.
(c) His wife.
(d) His old patron.

3. What does Kanigel say prevented Ramanujan from getting the care he needed?
(a) The fight between his wife and mother.
(b) His distance from the cultural centers.
(c) The Great War.
(d) His family's poverty.

4. How does Kanigel describe Ramanujan's dress?
(a) Traditional Indian dress.
(b) A unique brand of slovenliness all his own.
(c) English dress.
(d) A hybrid of Indian and English.

5. What did Ramanujan discover when his friend Mahalanobis read a puzzle from the paper?
(a) The mystical nature of numbers.
(b) A proof to all problems like that puzzle.
(c) The constant that resolves series to prime numbers.
(d) The value of pi.

6. What did Ramanujan petition Cambridge for?
(a) The right to return.
(b) A stipend.
(c) Publication.
(d) An assistant.

7. What did Littlewood and Hardy see as mathematically important?
(a) Ramanujan's infinite series.
(b) Ramanujan's use of irrational numbers.
(c) Ramanujan's nested square roots.
(d) Ramanujan's detailed proofs.

8. What did Hardy try to arrange after receiving Ramanujan's letter?
(a) A teaching position for Ramanujan.
(b) Ramanujan's passage to England.
(c) A meeting with Ramanujan.
(d) A scholarship for Ramanujan in India.

9. What conflict did Ramanujan return to?
(a) His father and the authorities.
(b) His mother and father.
(c) His parents with his in-laws.
(d) His wife and his mother.

10. Who met Ramanujan in England?
(a) Hardy.
(b) John Littlewood.
(c) Neville.
(d) Euler.

11. What was Euler's contribution to understanding partitions?
(a) A functional approximation.
(b) Notes on the performance of nested square roots.
(c) A theorem about series.
(d) An algorithm, but without values.

12. How does Kanigel describe English society from Ramanujan's point-of-view?
(a) Malicious.
(b) Effete.
(c) Rarefied.
(d) Homogenous.

13. What was it that offended Ramanujan when he invited some friends to dinner?
(a) The women declined a third helping.
(b) The men used salt.
(c) The friends wanted to use silverware.
(d) The friends criticized his cooking.

14. How does Kanigel say Ramanujan saw himself when he was returning to India?
(a) A demi-god.
(b) A complete failure.
(c) A celebrity.
(d) Not successful.

15. What value did Ramanujan work with at Cambridge?
(a) Avogadro's number.
(b) Chaitin's constant.
(c) Pi.
(d) Real numbers.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What did Hardy decide after conferring with John Littlewood?

3. What did NOT contribute to Ramanujan's discomfort during the sea voyage to England?

4. Who was Leonard Euler?

5. Who was Neville?

(see the answer keys)

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