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Re:Ramanujan's Easiest Formula by Blammar on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @05:05AM (#25135036)
I have read (though can't find the source) that Ramanujan had access to a black board, chalk, and just the paper in his notebooks -- no other paper.

So he did his derivations and proofs on the blackboard, and just wrote down the result in his notebook and then erased the blackboard.

He knew he didn't have room for anything else in his notebooks.

Re:Ramanujan's Easiest Formula by qart on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @05:45AM (#25135300)
Not a blackboard, but just a slate. Paper was too expensive for him, so he used it only to write down results.

Source: https://www.quantamagazine.org/three-puzzles-inspired-by-ram...

Re:Ramanujan's Easiest Formula by cpach on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @06:31AM (#25135625)
That’s very fascinating. I guess it still is the case for many people in the world, that paper is too expensive. Whereas for many of us it’s readily available in massive, one might even say infinite, quantities.
Re:Ramanujan's Easiest Formula by SamBam on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @03:05PM (#25141752)
An actual, literal case (instead of a cop-out) of "a truly marvelous proof, which this margin is too narrow to contain."
Re:Ramanujan's Easiest Formula by wglb on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @12:56PM (#25139957)
It is talked about in his biography "The Man who Knew Infinity"