> Hardy either knew of Ramanujan’s work on this problem or noticed himself that 1729 had a special property. He wanted to cheer up his dear friend Ramanujan, wh

> Hardy either knew of Ramanujan’s work on this problem or noticed himself that 1729 had a special property. He wanted to cheer up his dear friend Ramanujan, who was lying deathly ill in the hospital. So he played the fool by walking in and saying that 1729 was “rather dull”. If this is the case, it really increases my respect for Hardy. Anybody can brag, but to willingly seem to be the fool, in order to help someone else (and notice how even in his retelling of the story, he still plays the fool for others as foil to Ramanujan) takes a really big person.