TITLE: Guidelines for learning about Ramanujan's work?
QUESTION [20 upvotes]: It is well known that one of the first books Ramanujan studied was "Synopsis of Pure and Applied Mathematics" and that it shaped the way Ramanujan thought and wrote about mathematics. Being interested in the works of Ramanujan, I was wondering if it would be of any help if I studied this "Synopsis".
Moreover, I would appreciate it if someone who has experience with learning about Ramanujan's work (such as his "Notebooks" and his "Lost Notebook") could explain to me what is a good way to approach his works. What are the prerequisites? Would I be able to comprehend his works after having taken courses on, say, Analytic Number Theory and (Real/Complex) Analysis? Is it better to read his notebooks (supposedly after having taken these courses) right away, or start of with books such as "Ramanujan: twelve lectures suggested by his life and work" and "Number theory in the spirit of Ramanujan" (written by Hardy and Berndt respectively)? Should I learn about modular forms beforehand? Etcetera.
Thanks,
Max

REPLY [2 votes]: I have my own take on approaching Ramanujan's work. My advice is to look at the two volumes of his Noteboks and the Lost Notebook. You may find these in some university libraries, or perhaps online. Read them selectively several times. I found his identities involving his theta functions, Lambert series and modular equations to be most interesting. You may find other topics that interest you. You can supplement this with Berndt's five volumes of editing Ramanujan's Notebook and the four volumes of Andrews and Berndt editing the Lost Notebook. The only prerequisites are power series, a bit of calculus, and college algebra. Good luck.