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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who was absent from the dock when Ramanujan's ship came in?
(a) His father.
(b) His wife.
(c) His friends.
(d) His mother.

2. What was the doctor's diagnosis of Ramanujan's illness?
(a) Cancer.
(b) Depression.
(c) Heart disease.
(d) Tuberculosis.

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

4. What did Hardy and Neville nominate Ramanujan to become?
(a) A graduate student at Trinity.
(b) A dean at Oriel College.
(c) A teacher at King's College.
(d) A fellow at Trinity College.

5. What did the divergent series 1+2+3+4+5... add up to in Ramanujan's notebooks?
(a) 7.
(b) 39.
(c) Infinity.
(d) -1/12.

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

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

8. How does Kanigel describe the trip to England?
(a) Petrifying.
(b) Arduous.
(c) Sublimely beautiful.
(d) Perilous.

9. What practice does Kanigel say Ramanujan had difficulty adjusting to in England?
(a) Wearing shoes.
(b) Speaking English.
(c) Afternoon tea.
(d) English cooking.

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

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

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

13. What did Ramanujan's Master Theorem attempt to do?
(a) Reduce infinite series to prime numbers.
(b) Formulate number theory.
(c) Integrate finite integrals.
(d) Solve Fermat's Last Theorem.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Ramanujan spend all his time on returning to India?

2. What did Ramanujan work out in his research on constants?

3. What society was Ramanujan elected to?

4. How does Kanigel describe English society from Ramanujan's point-of-view?

5. What was proved incorrect in Ramanujan's work from this time?

(see the answer keys)

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