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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How was Ramanujan treated on his return?

3. What did Hardy and his friends arrange for Ramanujan?

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

5. What was the doctor's diagnosis of Ramanujan's illness?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Ramanujan's interest in pi?

2. What did Ramanujan discover when P. C. Mahalanobis read him a puzzle one evening?

3. What was Ramanujan's response when Hardy asked him for proofs?

4. Where did Ramanujan go when he reached England?

5. What problems did Ramanujan have on account of his Indian cultural practices?

6. Describe the decline of Ramanujan's health.

7. What is a formalist in mathematical thinking?

8. What was Ramanujan's decline like, and death?

9. What was Ramanujan's relationship with Cambridge after he left for India?

10. What was Ramanujan's condition when he returned to India?

(see the answer keys)

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