AMS Chelsea Publishing
2 total works
Ramanujan occupies a unique place in analytic number theory. His formulas, identities, and calculations are still amazing three-quarters of a century after his death. Many of his discoveries seem to have appeared as if from the ether. His mentor and primary collaborator was the famous G. H. Hardy. Here, Hardy collects twelve of his own lectures on topics stemming from Ramanujan's life and work. The topics include partitions, hypergeometric series, Ramanujan's $\tau$-function and round numbers. Hardy was the first to recognize the brilliance of Ramanujan's ideas. As one of the great mathematicians of the time, it is fascinating to read Hardy's accounts of their importance and influence. The book concludes with a chapter by chapter overview written by Bruce C. Berndt. In this overview, Berndt gives references to current literature, developments since Hardy's original lectures, and background information on Ramanujan's research, including his unpublished papers.
From the Preface by J. E. Littlewood: 'All [Hardy's] books gave him some degree of pleasure, but this one, his last, was his favourite. When embarking on it he told me that he believed in its value (as well he might), and also that he looked forward to the task with enthusiasm. He had actually given lectures on the subject at intervals ever since his return to Cambridge in 1931, and he had at one time or another lectured on everything in the book except Chapter XIII [The Euler-MacLaurin sum formula]...[I]n the early years of the century the subject [Divergent Series], while in no way mystical or unrigorous, was regarded as sensational, and about the present title, now colourless, there hung an aroma of paradox and audacity'.