The Influence of Carr’s Synopsis on Ramanujan

Bruce C. Berndt

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Almost all biographers of Ramanujan (e.g., P.V. Seshu Aiyar and R. Ramachandra Rao [13, p. xii]) point to G.S. Carr’s A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure Mathematics [10] as the book which kindled the fire of Ramanujan’s devotion to mathematics. How much did Carr’s Synopsis influence Ramanujan? Which published papers and which entries in his notebooks [14] have their seeds in the Synopsis? We cannot provide definitive answers to these questions, because we know very little about the other books Ramanujan might have studied in his formative years. However, upon a close examination of Carr’s book, we can suggest some topics which Ramanujan might have learned from Carr.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationNumber Theory and Discrete Mathematics
EditorsA K Agarwal, Bruce C Berndt, Christian F Krattenthaler, Gary L Mullen, K Ramachandra, Michel Waldschmidt
PublisherBirkhäuser
Pages31-35
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-0348-8223-1
ISBN (Print)978-3-0348-9481-4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

Publication series

NameTrends Math.
PublisherBirkhäuser, Basel

Keywords

  • Continue Fraction
  • Integral Calculus
  • Elliptic Integral
  • Pure Mathematic
  • Infinite Series

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