Plenty of mathematicians, Hardy knew, could follow a step-by-step discursus unflagginglyyet counted for nothing beside Ramanujan. Years later, he would contrive an informal scale of natural mathematical ability on which he assigned himself a 25 and Littlewood a 30. To David Hilbert, the most eminent mathematician of the day, he assigned an 80. To Ramanujan he gave 100.
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  • Science — Discovery, inquiry, and the wonders of the natural world

More quotes by Robert Kanigel, The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan

“Sometimes in studying Ramanujan's work, [George Andrews] said at another time, "I have wondered how much Ramanujan could have done if he had had MACSYMA or SCRATCHPAD or some other symbolic algebra...”
— Robert Kanigel, The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan
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