The Man Who Knew Infinity Index (2025)

For the mathematically inclined, the index is a gateway to specific concepts:

In the 1990s edition, look for “Notebook, Lost” or “Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.” The index will direct you to the 1976 discovery by George Andrews—an event that happened after Kanigel’s initial research but was added in later printings. This shows how living indices evolve with scholarship.

A copy of the 1991 first edition (ISBN 0-684-19259-4) was used. The index spans pages 429–438 (10 pages). All 1,142 main entries and subentries were manually coded into five categories: the man who knew infinity index

Subentries were counted separately. Descriptive statistics were generated.

Only 12.9% of entries are mathematical. Key formulas from Ramanujan’s notebooks, such as the Rogers–Ramanujan identities, appear as subentries under “Ramanujan” rather than as main headings. The term “mock theta functions”—Ramanujan’s most profound premonition—receives a single page reference, while “afternoon tea” (under “Cambridge, social life”) receives four. This imbalance raises questions about the intended audience: a mathematical index would invert these priorities. For the mathematically inclined, the index is a

To understand the index, one must first understand the subject.

1. "An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God." Subentries were counted separately

2. "I owe you more than I can say."

3. "The man who knew infinity"

The story is populated with specific mathematical ideas. Here is an index of the concepts mentioned: