Plenty of mathematicians, Hardy knew, could follow a step-by-step discursus unflaggingly–yet counted for nothing beside Ramanujan. Years later, he would contrive an informal scale of natural mathematical ability on which he assigned himself a 25 and Littlewood a 30. To David Hilbert, the most eminent mathematician of the day, he assigned an 80. To Ramanujan he gave 100. Robert Kanigel
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Hardy was a great mathematician and Littlewood was one of his colleagues in Cambridge University. Hardy knew that there were many great mathematicians who could follow a step-by-step discursus unflaggingly—yet counted for nothing beside Ramanujan. He was determined to help Ramanujan succeed and wanted to elevate his level of mathematical ability to the top spot. However, he realized that Ramanujan was so brilliant and so far ahead of everyone else in the field that he could not be compared to these other great mathematicians.

So, Hardy made an informal scale of mathematical ability on which he assigned himself a 25 and Littlewood a 30. To David Hilbert, the most eminent mathematician of the day, he assigned an 80. To Ramanujan he gave 100.

Source: The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life Of The Genius Ramanujan

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