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I remember once going to see him [Ramanujan] when he was ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi cab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a
by huhtenberg 15y ago
I remember once going to see him [Ramanujan] when he was ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi cab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavorable omen. "No," he replied, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.
Courtesy of G.H.Hardy
- rehack 15y agoIndeed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1729_(number) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1729_(number)
- ricksta 15y agoDid he just figured that out on the spot when his ill or knew it from before?
- top_commenter 15y agoI have a feeling that even he would not be able to tell you the answer to that question if he were alive!
- abhaga 15y agoI think Kanigel's book talks about this. It seems he had worked through first few thousand numbers and knew all of them quite well. Thus instead of a spark of genius, this seems to be a fruit of years worth of hard work and an excellent memory.
- Someone 15y agoFew thousand? There are only 12 third powers below 1729: 1, 8, 27, 64, 125, 216, 343, 512, 729, 1000, 1331, 1728. Spotting that 729 + 1000 almost is equal to 1728 is not hard, either. Everybody who has computed that list will have noticed it. Translating that observation into a concise, interesting description is not hard, either, but it does require creativity. That, he had way more than most. I wonder what he would have said about the pair 3^5 and 7^3 (243 and 343)
- LearnYouALisp 15y agoThe first few thousand integers, and knew their properties quite well; that seems to be what is meant.
- josyula 15y agoHe was a genius,Yet shy person ,Its said that he also gave properties of many other numbers which were not documented by anyone, But only Hardy knew them and would tell it to others.