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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. How did Ramanujan see himself socially, according to Kanigel?
(a) As a citizen.
(b) As a Brahmin.
(c) As a mathematician.
(d) As a celebrity.

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

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

6. What did Ramanujan and Hardy develop for working with partitions?
(a) Nested square roots.
(b) A refinement of Euler's suggestion.
(c) The circle method.
(d) A precise method for determining partitions for prime numbers.

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

8. What society was Ramanujan elected to?
(a) Phi Beta Kappa.
(b) The Royal Society.
(c) The Apostles.
(d) The Academy of Sciences.

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

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

11. When do mathematicians believe Ramanujan did his best work?
(a) At Cambridge.
(b) Before he left for England.
(c) On the ship back to India.
(d) During his illness.

12. How does Kanigel describe John Littlewood?
(a) A consultant.
(b) A math prodigy.
(c) A therapist.
(d) A bureaucrat.

13. What aspect of the English does Kanigel say affected Ramanujan?
(a) Nationalism.
(b) Chauvinism.
(c) Intellectual rigor.
(d) Affected coldness.

14. How was Ramanujan treated on his return?
(a) As an untouchable.
(b) As an outcast.
(c) As a celebrity.
(d) As an exile.

15. What does Kanigel say Ramanujan distrusted in English society?
(a) Public transportation.
(b) High tea.
(c) Secret societies.
(d) School cafeterias.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Littlewood and Hardy see as mathematically important?

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

3. Based on his letter, what was Hardy trying to determine about Ramanujan?

4. How does Kanigel describe Ramanujan's relationship with his wife?

5. How did Ramanujan respond to Hardy's request for proofs?

(see the answer keys)

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