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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Ramanujan work out in his research on constants?
(a) A foundation for Euler's constant.
(b) A solution to pi.
(c) A new use for Euler's constant.
(d) An approximation of pi.

2. Who developed an exact solution to the question of partitions?
(a) Euler.
(b) Hardy.
(c) Ramanujan.
(d) Later mathematicians.

3. What did Hardy decide after conferring with John Littlewood?
(a) That Ramanujan was a genius.
(b) That Ramanujan was a small thinker.
(c) That Ramanujan was unstable.
(d) That Ramanujan was dangerous.

4. In his letter to Hardy, what was the importance of the thing Ramanujan claimed to have discovered?
(a) It was just being discovered simultaneously at other math departments.
(b) It was already common knowledge.
(c) It had been a mystery for years.
(d) No one under thirty had even tried it.

5. What did Hardy and his friends arrange for Ramanujan?
(a) A bureaucratic appointment.
(b) A research position.
(c) A teaching position.
(d) A sinecure.

6. What are partitions in math?
(a) The divisions between theorems and proofs.
(b) The separation between rational and irrational numbers.
(c) The distinctions between prime numbers and other numbers.
(d) The number of ways to arrive at a number.

7. How did Ramanujan spend all his time on returning to India?
(a) With his parents.
(b) On math.
(c) At the school where he taught.
(d) With his wife.

8. When did Ramanujan write to Hardy?
(a) 1916.
(b) 1913.
(c) 1920.
(d) 1909.

9. Who is NOT included in the list of people who have benefited from Ramanujan's work, in Kanigel's account?
(a) Computer scientists.
(b) Surgeons.
(c) Engineers.
(d) Physicists.

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

11. What does Kanigel say was Ramanujan's greatest talent?
(a) His associative abilities.
(b) His calculations.
(c) His perception.
(d) His intuition.

12. How does Kanigel say Ramanujan passed his time on the ship?
(a) Playing games.
(b) Sick.
(c) Reading novels.
(d) Working feverishly.

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

14. What was the result of Ramanujan clinging to his cultural practices?
(a) He generated fear and hostility in those around him.
(b) He taught English students how to cook Indian dishes.
(c) He brought Indian culture to English intellectuals.
(d) He remained an outsider.

15. What was proved correct in Ramanujan's work from this time?
(a) His conclusions.
(b) His proofs.
(c) His assumptions.
(d) His theorems.

Short Answer Questions

1. When do mathematicians believe Ramanujan did his best work?

2. Who met Ramanujan in England?

3. Who was Neville?

4. What value did Ramanujan work with at Cambridge?

5. How does Kanigel describe Ramanujan's dress?

(see the answer keys)

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