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In article <1159617129.457796.32290@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
<titus_piezas@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Most of us here have heard of Ramanujan's letter to Hardy. This is
> from www.maths.abdn.ac.uk/courses/mx4531/chap_gamma/pdf/ram.pdf :
>
> "S. Ramanujan to G.H.Hardy
> 16 Jan 1913
> Madras
>
> Dear Sir,
>
> I beg to introduce myself to you as a clerk in the Accounts Department
> of the Port Trust Office at Madras on a salary of only 20 pounds per
> annum. I am now about 23 years of age. I have had no University
> education..."
>
> An identical letter is also given here,
> http://www.parabaas.com/SHEET2/LEKHA10/bCarr_eng.html a nice article by
> the mathematical physicist Amitabha Sen.
>
> But since Ramanujan had the lifespan (1887-1920), died 32 (he would
> have turned 33 on Dec) then 1913-1887 = 26, so he was 26 when he sent
> the letter. (When I realized this I had to check my calculator twice.)
> For somebody who instantly recognized/remembered that 1729 = 1^3+12^3 =
> 9^3+10^3, I don't think he would make an arithmetical mistake on his
> age! So the only conclusion is that this is a typo. Even Wikipedia
> picked up this mistake and in fact that was where I first noticed it.
>
> So where did this typo start? Is it in the book "Ramanujan: Letters and
> Commentary" or is the correct age given there? (If you have JSTOR
> access it should be there.)
>
> -Titus
>
Interesting. As we know, Ramanujan had written to many others before
Hardy. Maybe he had been writing to various mathematicians for about 2
years by then, and just copied the same letter for them all. Then he
would, indeed, have been 23 when he started.
Also: December 1887 to January 1913 is 25 years and 1 month, not 26
years.
--
G. A. Edgar www.math.ohio-state.edu/~edgar/">http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/~edgar/
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