National Day of Mathematics 2020: Celebrating the birthday of S. Ramanujan and his contributions to mathematics

National Mathematics Day is celebrated every year in India on December 22, 2020 to mark the anniversary of the birth of the legendary Indian mathematician – Srinivasa Ramanujan. Born in Erode in 1887, S. Ramanujan became a world-renowned mathematician. His life was an amazing journey that not only unraveled many mathematical principles, but placed him squarely among the greatest minds of all time.

There are many anecdotes and contributions of the young genius that are often cited. And yet the most remarkable fact about Ramanujan was that he failed all other subjects except mathematics. In addition, curiously, as a student he only tried those mathematical questions that intrigued him and left the “easy enough” ones. Here’s a look at his many contributions to mathematics and some other interesting facts about the man himself.

Srinivasa Rmanujan – Interesting Facts, Contributions and More

1. S. Ramanujan was born on December 22, 1887 into a Tamil Brahmin Iyengar family in Erode. Although his mother, a stay-at-home mom, had three other children later, none of them survived even to his first birthday.
2. Ramanujan went to the local school and was recognized as a math prodigy at the age of 11. At that age, he could do advanced mathematics taught at the college level. It was at that age that he was introduced to trigonometry and at 13 he was already a master of the subject.
3. As a student, you would help your school assign 1,200 teachers to 35 teachers based on their specific needs and requirements.
4. He graduated from Town Higher Secondary School in 1904 and was awarded the K. Ranganatha Rao Mathematics Prize by the school principal, Krishnaswami Iyer. He even got a scholarship to study at Government’s Arts College Kumbakonam. However, not being interested in any other subject, he failed to obtain the minimum passing grades and lost the scholarship.
5. After the same, he enrolled in Pachaiyappa’s College in Madras, now Chennai, but failed his Fellow in Arts in 1906 and then 1907, as he could not be inclined to study any other subject and even in mathematics he only chose to ask questions’ challenging ‘. .
6. Ramanujan gained recognition again in 1910 after he met the founder of the Indian Mathematical Society, V. Ramaswamy Aiyer and gradually gained a reputation in mathematical circles. His remarkable work earned him a research position at the University of Madras.
7. He wrote to many English mathematicians, but his work was often ignored because it lacked a “formal” presentation and style. Before being “found” by GH Hardy, his work was returned by two professors at the University of Cambridge, unread.
8. He first refused to leave India for England, but then agreed. For the most part, he claimed that he got the genius of divinity and that’s where he got his answers.
9. He collected up to 3,900 results and identities in his lifetime.
10. Among the most important contributions are mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions. His work on Ramanujan prime, Ramanujan’s theta function, partition formulas, and simulated theta functions continue to open up new areas of research.
11. Among the most famous are the Ramanujan Number, also called the magic number, which is 1729. It is the smallest number that can be expressed as a sum of cubes of two different sets of numbers. Ramajuna Square is another mathematical puzzle that captivates everyone.
12. The great mathematician, however, was plagued with poor health throughout his life. The condition was often exacerbated due to poverty and strict dietary restrictions that he followed as part of his religious beliefs.

The world lost the great mathematician at the young age of 32 in 1920. To honor his contribution to mathematics and celebrate his remarkable genius, the day is celebrated as National Mathematics Day. The purpose is to instill in the students a love for the subject.