7

Like many mathematicians, I have long been fascinated by Ramanujan's work and also by what little I know of his life. I would like to learn more, but have found the standard book on this subject (Kanigel's The Man Who Knew Infinity), while well-written, to be lacking in mathematical depth.

Is there an account of Ramanujan's life that places it in the context of his mathematical work, and actually discusses his results (and where they came from) rather than describing them poetically as "formulas of a genius never seen before" or similar phrases that serve to mystify, rather than illuminate, what is actually going on?

user2568
  • 71
  • 1
  • 1
    Not to be too counter-illuminative but why are you so determined that Ramanujan's discoveries were due to just the kind of thinking as can be understood in a way that you (excuse me) are used to having presented to you? Are his discoveries non-mystical even though you don't understand them? –  Jul 19 '15 at 02:37
  • 1
    The closest you will get to a biography I reckon would be Hardy's accounts of working with Ramanujan. – Ali Caglayan Oct 29 '15 at 01:39

4 Answers4

8

You could find the original manuscript by Ramanujan in the following work.

  • Srinivasa Ramanujan: Notebooks of Srinivasa Ramanujan. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 1984.

This work contains 390 pages of scanned version of Ramanujan's lost notebook.

The two famous book series which contains proofs and added details of Ramanujan's work are:

At last:

user153012
  • 355
  • 2
  • 10
4

The English mathematician Hardy, who was close to Ramanujan, authored "Ramanujan: Twelve Lectures on Subjects Suggested by His Life and Work".

Danu
  • 3,852
  • 2
  • 29
  • 53
Bob Terrell
  • 141
  • 2
  • 3
    This answer is not really thorough, or well-researched enough to fit the SE model. You should have at least checked the name of the book by Hardy, and a link to some more information about it would be useful as well. – Danu Jul 13 '15 at 20:19
1

For some bits of mathematics did and/or inspired by Ramanujan, I would recommend the following books in addition to the already mentioned ones:

B. C. Berndt, Number Theory in the Spirit of Ramanujan, published by American Mathematical Society.

N. D. Baruah, B. C. Berndt, T. Huber, M. Schlosser (eds.), Ramanujan Rediscovered, published by Ramanujan Mathematical Society.

K. Alladi, Ramanujan's Place in the world of Mathematics, published by Springer.

Manjil P. Saikia
  • 890
  • 6
  • 12
-1

The BBC has a podcast called A Brief History of Mathematics which gives 10 short (approximately 10 minute) biographies of famous mathematicians, including Ramanujan and Hardy. It discusses the famous letter from Ramanujan to Hardy (which Hardy initially thought was a fraud), how Hardy brought Ramanujan to Britain, and discusses the collaboration, and, later personal problems of both men. Be forewarned the ending is rather sad.

Greg Thatcher
  • 192
  • 1
  • 7
  • 1
    Although this appears to be a genuine attempt to answer the question, I don't think it addresses it very well, since it seems highly unlikely that a 10-minute biography would treat the mathematics of Ramanujan in any depth. – Danu Jul 19 '15 at 12:46