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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. How does Kanigel describe Ramanujan when he returned to India?

2. Who is NOT included in the list of people who have benefited from Ramanujan's work, in Kanigel's account?

3. In his letter to Hardy, what did Ramanujan say he had discovered?

4. What does Kanigel say characterized Indian intellectuals' experience at Cambridge?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Ramanujan kept extensive notes of his thinking. What was in Ramanujan's notebooks, and how much of his work was valuable, according to Kanigel?

2. Describe Ramanujan's trip to England.

3. What accolades did Ramanujan receive for his work?

4. Describe the decline of Ramanujan's health.

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

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

7. What has been the impact of Ramanujan's work?

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

9. What problem kept Ramanujan from coming to England, as Hardy hoped he would?

10. What is a formalist in mathematical thinking?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the intersection the British culture of secret society and prestige with Ramanujan's culture of Brahmin prestige and privilege. How much did these cultures clash in Ramanujan's experience? How did they work together?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the role of Ramanujan's wife in his life and career. How important was it for him to be married? Was he married to someone or something else besides his wife?

Essay Topic 3

Was Ramanujan different 'as a person' than he was 'as a mathematician'? Did his work in math redeem the discomforts or failures he suffered elsewhere in his life? How does his life balance out--was he a mathematician, or a fully-developed human being, who could adjust to any number of human experiences?

(see the answer keys)

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