Interesting facts about mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan
To mark his birth anniversary, here are some interesting facts about Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Total Views |
“An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God”.
National Mathematics Day 2021, which is being observed today, marks the birth anniversary of Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. India declared 22 December to be National Mathematics Day. This was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 26 February 2012 at Madras University,to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. On this occasion, Manmohan Singh also announced that 2012 would be celebrated as the National Mathematics Year.
The main objective behind observing the day as National Mathematics Day is to create awareness among people regarding the importance of mathematics. Before he died at the age of just 32, he had already given the world 3500 mathematical formulae.
Srinivasa Ramanujan, who is also known as the ‘man who knew infinity', didn't receive any formal training in mathematics. However, still, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions, including solutions to mathematical problems.
According to Hans Eysenck, "He tried to interest the leading professional mathematicians in his work but failed for the most part. What he had to show them was too novel, too unfamiliar, and additionally presented in unusual ways; they could not be bothered".
To mark his birth anniversary, here are some interesting facts about Srinivasa Ramanujan.
1. After a funny incident, 1729 was coined the 'Hardy-Ramanujam' number in his honor, and such numbers are called Taxicab numbers.
2. At the age of thirteen, he worked out Loney’s Trigonometry exercises without any help.
3. Ramanujan wrote down 17 ways to represent 1/pi as an infinite series. Asper Britannica, in his notebooks, he came up with something much more elaborate that got 1/pi faster: 1/pi = (sqrt(8)/9801) * (1103 + 659832/24591257856 + …).
4. He was the second Indian to be inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1918, which is a fellowship of some of the world's most eminent scientists.
5. He is the first Indian Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
6. He got married to a 10-year-old child bride Janaki, on July 14, 1909.
7. In his last year of life, Ramanujan compiled some 600 mathematical formulae and listed them without any proof.