Formulas that made it to the screen, and luckily there are a few, are correct and carry meaning. Picture: Warner Bros.ĭirector Matthew Brown has gone out of his way to make sure that the mathematics in The Man Who Knew Infinity is depicted truthfully. It comes as a shock to Ramanujan when Littlewood notices that his argument for deducing the prime number theorem is flawed, and this moment opens his eyes to the nuances of the mathematical proof. Hardy repeatedly emphasises the importance of providing logically sound arguments and proofs of mathematical statements, at times almost belittling Ramanujan for his lack of mathematical rigour.Īs he explains, in this way one can be sure that statements are true beyond mere examples, and indeed can be trusted to be true forever.
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(The results) must be true, because, if they were not true, no one would have the imagination to invent them.Ī major theme of the movie is this idea of a mathematical ‘proof’. Nevertheless, as Hardy famously remarked: Moreover his style was very enigmatic as he commonly just stated his results without explanation or any kind of proof.
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Not that the movie is a waste of time – both Irons and Patel are convincing in their roles and skilfully develop a deepening tension between Hardy and Ramanujan.Īt the time, Ramanujan’s results were astounding as he was self-trained and virtually unknown in professional circles. The pace of the movie is slow and one wonders whether, without the mathematics, there is enough content for a feature film. Most of the story takes place on the hallowed grounds of Trinity College, and besides mathematical struggles the film also depicts bitter rivalries and politics within the academic ranks.īut we have seen all of that before and those not familiar with the depth and beauty of Ramanujan’s mathematics may leave the cinema feeling somewhat unfulfilled. The movie revolves around the relationship between the young Ramanujan and Professor G.H. It respectfully approaches the quest of two men (Hardy and Ramanujan) to solve one of the most challenging mathematical problems of the era, but more on that later. The Man Who Knew Infinity does an excellent job at portraying mathematicians as human beings with all their virtues and faults. While less well known by the average moviegoer than Alan Turing or Stephen Hawking, among mathematicians Ramanujan’s is a famously romantic story about a man in love with numbers who finds early companions in Hardy and Littlewood and later earns the respect of all. Littlewood (Toby Jones), and died soon after from the effects of tuberculosis. Hardy (Jeremy Irons) and, to a lesser extent, J. Ramanujan visited Trinity College in Cambridge during 1914-1919 to collaborate with G.
The latest maths biopic is The Man Who Knew Infinity, about Indian mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel), who shocked and surprised the English mathematical establishment at the start of the 20th century by the depth and originality of his research in additive number theory.
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