National Mathematics Day, December 22, commemorates the birth anniversary of India’s renowned mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Mathematicians have compared Ramanujan’s brilliance to figures from the 18th and 19th centuries, such as Jacobi and Euler. His contributions to number theory are incredibly well-regarded, and he pioneered the partition function. Since 2012, December 22 has been designated as India’s National Mathematics Day, with a variety of educational activities taking place in colleges and institutions around the country.
Who was Srinivasa Ramanujan?
Born on 22nd Dec 1887, Srinivasa Ramanujan, the mathematical genius, was only recognized posthumously for his enormous contributions to mathematics. Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) died at the young age of 32, yet he left an indelible mark on mathematics that few could match.
He is regarded as one of history’s finest mathematicians because of his contributions to mathematical analysis, infinite series, continuous fractions, number theory, and game theory. Surprisingly, he never had any formal mathematics training. Most of his mathematical findings were based solely on intuition and were eventually proven right.
With a humble and sometimes difficult beginning, his personal story is as fascinating as his great work.
Ramanujan was born in Erode, Tamil Nadu, India, and showed a remarkable intuitive command of mathematics from an early age. Despite being a mathematical prodigy, Ramanujan’s career did not start so smoothly. He obtained a college scholarship in 1904 but immediately lost it after failing non-mathematical subjects. Another try at college in Madras (now Chennai) was unsuccessful when he failed his first Arts exam. Around this period, he began writing his famous notebooks.
Srinivasa Ramanujan began formulating mathematical theories and published his first article in 1911. He was mentored at Cambridge by GH Hardy, a well-known British mathematician who urged him to publish his research in several papers. In 1918, Ramanujan became the Royal Society’s second Indian Fellow.
Know Ramanujan’s Significant Contributions to Mathematics:
Ramanujan’s contributions to mathematics include complex analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continuous fractions.
- Infinite series for pi: Many modern algorithms are based on the formula for infinite series for pi that Ramanujan discovered in 1914. Finding an accurate approximation of π (pi) has been one of the most important issues in mathematics throughout history.
- Game theory: Ramanujan created a plethora of new ideas for tackling numerous difficult mathematical problems, which fueled the development of game theory. His contribution to game theory is unparalleled today, relying solely on intuition and natural aptitude.
- Mock theta function: He expanded on the mock theta function, a notion in the field of modular mathematics. The Ramanujan number, 1729, is the sum of the cubes of the integers 10 and 9.
Ramanujan and GH Hardy created the circle technique, which provided the first approximations for partitioning integers greater than 200. This method contributed substantially to resolving notoriously complex problems of the twentieth century, such as Waring’s conjecture and other related questions. - Theta Function: A particular function of several complex variables. Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, a German mathematician, devised a family of closely related theta functions known as Jacobi theta functions. Later, Ramanujan investigated theta functions extensively and developed the Ramanujan theta function, which generalizes the form of Jacobi theta functions while also capturing generic features. The Ramanujan theta function calculates the critical dimensions in Bosonic string theory, superstring theory, and M-theory.
Ramanujan, a renowned mathematician, made other significant contributions to the field of mathematics, such as hypergeometric series, Riemann series, elliptic integrals, the theory of divergent series, and functional equations of the zeta function. His achievements were characterized by elegance, depth, and surprise. Despite contracting a fatal illness in England in 1918, Ramanujan returned to India in 1919 and continued to produce profound mathematics until his death in 1920. His mathematical discoveries are still alive and flourishing today, and his ability to reveal the human mind’s potential is rare and precious. His life and work, though esoteric, are a testament to the power of genius and the importance of recognizing the genius within us.
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