Ramanujan's taxicab
titus_...@yahoo.com
If you've heard of the story of Ramanujan and the taxicab number 1729,
you might be interested to take a peek at a picture of how the _real_
taxicab might have looked like. See
http://www.geocities.com/titus_piezas/ramanujan_page13.html
(Does anybody have an idea how to trace this famous taxicab? I tried
the email in the LVTA website but nobody seems to handling queries. I
wonder how much the license plate would go in e-Bay?)
Ah, yes, i almost forgot, the paper there discusses the Fermat surface
a^k+b^k = c^k+d^k for k = 4,6,8. :)
--Titus
david bandel
that ramanajun had already figured out this property about the number
1729 by reading the notebook in which ramanujan had already written
about this and simply wanted to test to see if ramanujan was mentally
functioning by bringing up the number. he was probably testing his
memory. either he or someone else probably twisted the result later on
into trying to make it look like srinivasa derived the result on the
spot. even so, if it was true and there was some silly looking taxi cab
strolling around with this number, why hunt it down? let some legends
maintain their aura of mystery. no need to try to be some little
indiana jones.. it just cheapens the story but i guess that's what
people like you love to do.
titus_...@yahoo.com
david bandel wrote:
> the story isn't necessarily true word for word.
You are the sole authority on this statement? Because more competent
authorities like Berndt and Bhargava (the latter of which is the first
SASTRA Ramanujan Prize awardee) maintain this story _word for word_.
> maybe hardy was aware
> that ramanajun had already figured out this property about the number
> 1729 by reading the notebook in which ramanujan had already written
> about this and simply wanted to test to see if ramanujan was mentally
> functioning by bringing up the number. he was probably testing his
> memory.
You underestimate Ramanujan and Hardy. If Hardy wanted to test
Ramanujan he would have used something a _lot_ harder than 1729 (dry
tone). As was mentioned, Hardy was not exactly the Oscar Wilde of
conversational wit and remarked on his taxicab number for lack of
something else to say.
> either he or someone else probably twisted the result later on
> into trying to make it look like srinivasa derived the result on the
> spot. even so, if it was true and there was some silly looking taxi cab
> strolling around with this number, why hunt it down?
For the same reason why the bridge where Hamilton impulsively wrote the
rules for the quaternions now has a memorial plaque on it: it is a part
of mathematical folklore. (Though the difference is that Hamilton's
bridge does not exactly move around Dublin and does not get lost over
the years.)
> let some legends
> maintain their aura of mystery. no need to try to be some little
> indiana jones.. it just cheapens the story but i guess that's what
> people like you love to do.
Finding that cab does not exactly remove the "aura of mystery". In
fact, it would reinforce it. As I pointed out in the paper, what are
the odds that a) Hardy would ride a taxicab whose number had a peculiar
property Ramanujan already knew, b) Hardy would care to remember the
number to begin with?
And as for my remark on how much the license plate would go in e-Bay,
that would supposed to be a facetious remark. (dry tone) Humor does
not go over Usenet well, or on some people, unless you _really_ specify
it was to be humorous. If this plate were supposed to be found, some
London math department should keep it in a memorial hall. And if I
could travel to London, I'd make it a point to include it in my
itinerary. After Buckingham Palace and Big Ben.
(That again was supposed to be a stab at humor, in case it was missed.)
--Titus
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
01/18/2006
at 09:21 PM, titus_...@yahoo.com said:
>Finding that cab does not exactly remove the "aura of mystery". In
>fact, it would reinforce it. As I pointed out in the paper, what are
>the odds that a) Hardy would ride a taxicab whose number had a
>peculiar property Ramanujan already knew, b) Hardy would care to
>remember the number to begin with?
A better question would be What are the odds that a.) Hardy would ride
a taxicab whose number Hardy thought dull, b) Hardy would care to
remember the number to begin with, c) Ramanujan would *find* (not
remember) something interesting about it? Given Ramanujan's
extraordinary abilities, I suspect that c at least is highly likely.
--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT <http://patriot.net/~shmuel>
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Charles Francis
1) The registration mark (as exhibited by all vehicles). Enquiries re
this number should be to the DVLA
2) The Hackney Carriage number. I believe that this taxi was in London
(Putney). If so, any records will be kept by the Public Carriage Office.
This, at the time we are talking about, was run by the Metropolitan
Police but was taken over by Transport for London in 2000. I believe
that it is still the same organisation, in the same place, so should be
able to help with their records.
The story was contained in Hardy's autobiography, A mathematicians
apology, so no reason to think it wasn't true. Filling in the detail on
such stories enriches them. Good luck.
Regards
--
Charles Francis
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