Round 9: Tossup 5

An essay on this discipline opens by describing the author’s dispute with A. E. Housman about whether “exposition… is work for second-rate minds.” A work in this discipline by Aigner and Ziegler is titled for a practitioner’s claim that “you don’t have to believe in God, but you should believe in The Book.” In an essay on this discipline, the 62-year-old author calls (10[1])it a “young man’s game” and praises its “uselessness.” George Andrews discovered the so-called “lost notebook” of a scholar of this discipline, who died at 32 after being brought to (10[1])Cambridge (10[1])by the author of an “Apology” for this (10[1])discipline. Games (-5[1])in this discipline were the subject of a column by Martin Gardner. (10[1])For 10 points, what academic discipline was studied by G. H. Hardy (10[1])and Srinivasa Ramanujan? ■END■ (10[2])

ANSWER: mathematics [or maths; accept mathematical proofs; accept specific branches of mathematics such as number theory]
<Illinois C, Other Academic> | Packet H - Yale A, Ohio State C, Illinois C, Virginia Tech B, MIT A
= Average correct buzzpoint

Back to tossups