View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

5. Based on his letter, what was Hardy trying to determine about Ramanujan?
(a) Who his teachers had been.
(b) How he had devised his theories.
(c) Whether he was a crank.
(d) Where he was from.

6. What did NOT contribute to Ramanujan's discomfort during the sea voyage to England?
(a) The strangers.
(b) The temperatures.
(c) Seasickness.
(d) Homesickness.

7. What is the state of Ramanujan's work now?
(a) Not completely collected.
(b) Not completely published.
(c) Fragmentary.
(d) Completely published and evaluated.

8. How does Kanigel describe Ramanujan when he returned to India?
(a) Devout.
(b) Spirited.
(c) Friendly.
(d) Sullen.

9. What other Indian thinker does Kanigel compare Ramanujan's experience with?
(a) Ghandi.
(b) Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
(c) Anant Raje.
(d) Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.

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

11. Who was Leonard Euler?
(a) Hardy's protégé.
(b) Ramanujan's tutor.
(c) A brilliant mathematician to whom Hardy compared Ramanujan.
(d) A teacher at Cambridge.

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

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

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

15. What does Kanigel say characterized Indian intellectuals' experience at Cambridge?
(a) Depression.
(b) Disorientation.
(c) Alienation.
(d) Frustration.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what extent does Kanigel say Ramanujan blended in with Cambridge society?

2. When did Ramanujan die?

3. How does Kanigel describe Ramanujan as a mathematical thinker?

4. How does Kanigel say Ramanujan saw himself when he was returning to India?

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 420 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample