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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Euler's contribution to understanding partitions?

2. What were Ramanujan and Hardy looking for in their work on partitions?

3. What obstacle stood in the way of Hardy's plan?

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

5. What did Ramanujan and Hardy develop for working with partitions?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How was Ramanujan treated on his return to India?

3. How much did Ramanujan's bride share in his mathematical life?

4. What was Ramanujan's interest in pi?

5. Describe the decline of Ramanujan's health.

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

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

8. What was the conflict between Ramanujan's family and his wife?

9. What did Ramanujan write to Hardy?

10. What did Hardy do with Ramanujan's letter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a character sketch of the author based on his handling of the material in Ramanujan's life. What are the author's values like? What evidence do you have for them?

Essay Topic 2

To what extent is Ramanujan's (or Hardy's) life an example to be followed? What lessons do these two lives teach? What lessons did they fail to learn themselves that they teach as negative examples?

Essay Topic 3

To what extent was math a social enterprise for Ramanujan? How much did his career depend on other people? What made other people believe in him? What values did those people have that made it important to help Ramanujan?

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This section contains 700 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample