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Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel in The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)

Goofs

The Man Who Knew Infinity

Edit

Continuity

When G.H. Hardy is reaching for Srinivasa Ramanujan's letter, the newspaper on his lap has the top half of the first page facing up, but in the next shot of Hardy holding the envelope, the bottom half of the first page is facing up.
In his final plea for Srinivasa Ramanujan, G.H. Hardy's pronunciation of the name goes from RaMAnujan to RamaNUjan (sloppy take selection at editing, easily correctable by retouching the sound)
Unless he has two pairs of brown shoes, he has light brogues on when he leaves India and then they change into dark brown lace ups.

Factual errors

Cambridge was not bombed by Zeppelins in World War I.
Srinivasa Ramanujan arrives at Cambridge after the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose death on 28 June is reported in a newspaper which Hardy is reading, but before war is declared on 4 August. This period is the Long Vacation, when very few students are in Cambridge and no lectures are held. Despite this, Ramanujan is ordered to attend lectures and we see him doing so in the company of other students.
Srinivasa Ramanujan being a devout Vaishnava Iyengar Brahmin, doesn't worship Lord Ganesh (elephant faced god) as shown in the film when he goes to England (washes deities in a bowl of water).
When Srinivasa Ramanujan arrives at Trinity College, Littlewood points to a tree and claims that is the tree where Isaac Newton got hit in the head by an apple and "invented"/discovered the theory of gravity. It is generally believed that Newton achieved the key insights to develop the Theory of Gravity while Cambridge was closed due to the Great Plague (August of 1665 through March of 1667); so even if the story of the apple were true, it would not have occurred at Trinity College.

Additionally, the tree is called a sapling -- which it clearly is not. Further, if the tree had been there at the time of Newton, then could not be a sapling at the time this event occurred.
The precised dates of scenes are not specified, but the sequence of historical references do not seem to line up. There is discussion between G.H. Hardy and his assistant of Balkan troubles in 1914, perhaps in May or early June, but the Second Balkan War had ended in August of 1913 and diplomatic matters were relatively calm prior to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914. Shortly after said discussion and before Srinivasa Ramanujan is invited to Cambridge, faculty at Cambridge are shown warning about certain war. Since Ramanujan arrives at about the same that reports of Ferdinand's assassination are shown on a newspaper page, he would have had to receive his invitation at least two or three weeks earlier because it would take him at least that long to prepare to leave and travel by steamship to England. Thus, the depiction of war fears in early June 1914 was about a month too early.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs

When Prof. Littlewood welcomes Srinivasa Ramanujan to the college and shows him the tree under which Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity, Littlewood says, "That's the very tree under which Newton sat, and the apple dropped on his head and he invented gravity." While Newton discovered (not invented) gravity, this is clearly Littlewood's attempt at a joke.

Miscellaneous

G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons) spells "Jacobi" incorrectly when writing on the blackboard by transposing the 'c' and the 'b.' This is changed in later cuts of the film.

Anachronisms

In a scene set at the outbreak of World War I in 1914 Srinivasa Ramanujan goes into Trinity College Chapel. The memorial to members of Trinity College who died in World War II which took place 30 years later is clearly visible behind him.
The start of the movie shows Srinivasa Ramanujan's struggles dated to 1914. Ramanujan was already corresponding with G.H. Hardyn in 1913, and was favorably well-known in the years before because of his mathematical abilities.

Character error

Forty-four minutes into the film, G.H. Hardy demonstrates that p(4) = 5 by showing that there are five different partitions for the number four. Then, he states that "when you raise the number of 'p' to one hundred, there are 204,226 different combinations", which is not true because the value for p(100) = 190,569,292. He meant to say that when the number is increased to 50 (not one hundred) there are 204,226 different combinations because the value for p(50) = 204,226.
Srinivasa Ramanujan being a religious Iyengar never wore a blue cloth around his waist and legs (called 'lungi') as shown in the movie. The cloth was he wore was pure white cloth tied around his waist and called 'panchagajam' (5 knots). The style/method of wearing that panchagajam is totally different from whats depicted in this movie.
While showing Srinivasa Ramanujan Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathematica" in the Wren Library, Hardy says "It took a long time for Newton to be proved." In actuality, the "Principia" consists mainly of proofs.

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Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel in The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)
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