 |
| A taxicab |
Ramanujan demurred. It is an interesting number, he said, because it's the smallest number that can be expressed a sum of two cubes in two different ways.
That is to say, 1729 = 93 + 103 = 13 + 123
And there's a galaxy (in Orion) with the catalogue number NGC 1729. (A supernova was detected there on February 20, 2012. Check it out here.) We could conceivably name it after Ramanujan, I daresay?
But 1729 is interesting in several other ways too. Sure, these are mere numerical coincidences. Numerologists base their entire lives on the like. I am inclined to point out some of these below because it's a slow day and it's raining and Usain Bolt has done his thing and I'm bored.
 |
| 1729 steps to Mandalay Hill |
If you go to Mandalay, your eye will oftentimes be drawn to the enormous Mandalay Hill. Pagodas and shrines surround the long path that leads up to it. How many steps on that path? 1729.
There's a baroque musical group called Ensemble 1729. I think they're a bunch of Canadians. They are inspired by Ramanujan and by the fact that the year 1729 has several historical coincidences - you can see what they were on the group's website.
There's a baroque musical group called Ensemble 1729. I think they're a bunch of Canadians. They are inspired by Ramanujan and by the fact that the year 1729 has several historical coincidences - you can see what they were on the group's website.
 |
| Gideon Rubin: Louis XV |
Speaking of champagne, Baltimore, Maryland, was founded in 1729 and scarcely seventeen years later, its first manufacturing industry was beer.
I'm forced to admit that this litany of 1729-hood is rapidly devolving into a list of dates, which is not interesting at all. Hence a rapid exit is indicated.
3 comments:
Ah you are around. All well?
Have you read The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt? It's a novel about Hardy and Ramanujan. I haven't read it yet although it's sitting on my shelf and looking at me accusingly...
sakura: you asked me exactly the same question two years ago! no wonder the book's glaring at you. i did dip into it - i found its fictionalisation somewhat tedious and the discussions of the mathematics unsatisfying.
Post a Comment