National Mathematics day – Remembering – Srinivasa Ramanujan

Hi all,

Today we are celebrating National Mathematics Day. It is celebrated on December 22nd and honors the legacy of Srinivasa Ramanujan.

The 2024 theme, “Mathematics: Bridge to Innovation,” highlights its crucial role in advancements, and marks the birth anniversary of one of the world’s greatest mathematicians “Srinivasa Ramanujan.

An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God.

– Srinivasa Ramanujan

Srinivasa Ramanujan

1. Srinivasa Ramanujan (22 December 1887 – 26 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician.
2. Often regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics.
3. On 16 March 1916 Ramanujan graduated from Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts by Research (the degree was called a P.H.D. from 1920). He had been allowed to enroll in June 1914 despite not having the proper qualifications.
4. Ramanujan didn’t have any formal training.
5. He was a curious child and discovered his love for numbers and equations early on.
6. He used to discuss mathematics with college students, and whenever he got a new book, he used to learn it all by himself.
7. Ramanujan initially developed his mathematical research in isolation.
8. Seeking mathematicians who could better understand his work, in 1913 he began a mail correspondence with the English mathematician G. H. Hardy at the University of Cambridge, England.
9. Recognizing Ramanujan’s work as extraordinary, Hardy arranged for him to travel to Cambridge. In his notes, Hardy commented that Ramanujan had produced groundbreaking new theorems, including some that “defeated me completely; I had never seen anything in the least like them before”, and some recently proven but highly advanced results.
10. During his short life, Ramanujan independently compiled nearly 3,900 results (mostly identities and equations).
11. The Ramanujan Journal, a scientific journal, was established to publish work in all areas of mathematics influenced by Ramanujan, and his notebooks—containing summaries of his published and unpublished results—have been analyzed and studied for decades since his death as a source of new mathematical ideas.
12. He became one of the youngest Fellow of the Royal Society and only the second Indian member, and the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

What happened to him, which led to early age death?

In 1919, ill health—now believed to have been hepatic amoebiasis (a type of gastro, that is a cause of diarrhea among travelers to developing countries) compelled Ramanujan’s return to India, where he died in 1920 at the age of 32.

His last letters to Hardy, written in January 1920, show that he was continuing to produce new mathematical ideas and theorems.

His “lost notebook“, containing discoveries from the last year of his life, caused great excitement among mathematicians when it was rediscovered in 1976.

The beauty of mathematics lies in the simplicity and complexity, both at the same time.

– Srinivasa Ramanujan

Contributions by Srinivasa Ramanujan

Taxicab Number

In a famous anecdote, Hardy took a cab to visit ill Ramanujan. When he got there, he told Ramanujan that the cab’s number, 1729, was “rather a dull one.” Ramanujan said, “No, it is a very interesting number. It is the smallest number expressible as a sum of two cubes in two different ways. That is, 1729 = 1^3 + 12^3 = 9^3 + 10^3. This number is now called the Hardy-Ramanujan number, and the smallest numbers that can be expressed as the sum of two cubes in n different ways have been dubbed taxicab numbers.

Ramanujan Magic Square

Ramanujan’s work on recreational mathematics and magic squares can be found in his early notebooks.

A magic square is a matrix in which every row, column, and diagonal sums up to the same number. The sum is called the magic constant or magic sum of the magic square.

Ramanujan created the following birthday magic square from his date of birth (in DD MM YYYY format) where all four rows, four columns, four squares in the middle, four corners, and two diagonals sum up to 139 which is unique.

We can also make our own magic square by using the formula given by the Ramanujan. Where a, b, c, d are the four numbers which you can choose

Interesting facts about Srinivasa Ramanujan

1. Ramanujan compiled around 3,900 results consisting of equations and identities. One of his most treasured findings was his infinite series for pi. This series forms the basis of many algorithms we use today. He gave several fascinating formulas to calculate the digits of pi in many unconventional ways.
2. On 6 December 1917, Ramanujan was elected to the London Mathematical Society. On 2 May 1918, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, the second Indian admitted. At age 31, Ramanujan was one of the youngest Fellows in the Royal Society’s history.
3. Ramanujan made mathematical theories for black holes, string theory when their was no concept of black holes. The Science always progresses like this : first the concept, then the theory and then the mathematics. But he made the mathematics first before their was a concept before their was a theory.
4. Hardy came up with a scale of mathematical ability that went from 0 to 100. He put himself at 25. David Hilbert, the great German mathematician, was at 80. Ramanujan was 100. When he died in 1920 at the age of 32, Ramanujan left behind three notebooks and a sheaf of papers (the “lost notebook”). These notebooks contained thousands of results that are still inspiring mathematical work decades later.
5. He kept on pouring mathematics, filling notebooks and notebooks on his deathbed
6. When people asked him from where is this mathematics coming from he said from his goddess Namagiri Thayar.
7. The best achievement of Srinivasa Ramanujan is – In 1914, Ramanujan found a formula for infinite series for pi, which forms the basis of many algorithms used today. Finding an accurate approximation of π (pi) has been one of the most important challenges in the history of mathematics.

Hollywood had also made a very interesting movie on Srinivasa Ramanujan about his life. Everyone should watch this movie once. Movie: “The Man Who Knew Infinity”

As there are a lot of things to write about the world’s most legendary mathematician “Srinivasa Ramanujan”, we could not conclude in one article. We will continue to explore more about him in further articles. About his most unique and surprising discoveries in further articles, till then stay tuned.

Thank you🙂 Life is Beautiful🙂

Have a nice day🙂🙂 Happy Mathematics Day🙂