On December 22, India's eminent mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan celebrates his birth anniversary. Mathematicians consider Ramanujan's intellect to be on par with that of Euler and Jacobi in the 18th and 19th centuries. His work in number theory is well appreciated, and he produced significant breakthroughs in the partition function. Since 2012, India has celebrated National Mathematics Day on December 22nd each year, with several educational events held in schools and universities around the country. The inauguration of the Ramanujan Math Park in Kuppam, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, in 2017 added to the day's prominence. Mathematics enthusiasts like Sri Ramanujan may be found all throughout the world, and some even help others improve their knowledge of the subject.
HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS DAY
Srinivasa Ramanujan is the outstanding mathematician who inspired the creation of Mathematics Day in India, and whose works influenced many people throughout the country and around the world. Ramanujan was born in Erode, Tamil Nadu, in 1887 to an Iyengar Brahmin family. Despite his lack of formal schooling, he excelled at trigonometry at the age of 12 and discovered several theorems for himself.
Ramanujan became qualified for a scholarship to study at the Government Arts College, Kumbakonam, after finishing secondary school in 1904, but he was denied since he did not excel in other courses. Ramanujan ran away from home at the age of 14 and joined at Pachaiyappa's College in Madras, where he also excelled in mathematics but struggled in other courses and was unable to graduate with a Fellow of Arts degree. Ramanujan conducted independent research in mathematics despite living in severe poverty.
The aspiring mathematician was soon discovered in Chennai's mathematics circles. Ramaswamy Iyer, the founder of the Indian Mathematical Society, assisted him in obtaining a clerk position at the Madras Port Trust in 1912. Ramanujan subsequently began sending his work to British mathematicians, and in 1913, Cambridge-based GH Hardy invited him to London after being impressed by Ramanujan's theorems.
Ramanujan arrived in Britain in 1914, where Hardy enrolled him at Trinity College, Cambridge. Ramanujan was well on his way to success after being elected to the London Mathematical Society in 1917, and he also became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1918, making him one of the youngest to attain the prestigious post.
Ramanujan returned to India in 1919 because he couldn't adjust to the British cuisine. His condition deteriorated further, and he died in 1920 at the age of 32. His talents in mathematics, however, are still highly appreciated around the world. Ramanujan left behind three notebooks with unpublished results that mathematicians continued to work on for years. So much so that in 2012, former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced December 22 — Ramanujan's birthday — as National Mathematics Day, to be observed throughout the country.
Ramanujan number - 1729
The Ramanujan Number is another name for 1729. When Ramanujan, the brilliant Indian mathematician, was in England, he became very unwell. Prof. Hardy contacted Ramanujan in the hospital and told him that 1729 sounded like a boring number and that he hoped it didn't turn out to be an unfavourable omen. However, Ramanujan stated that 1729 is a highly fascinating number since it is the smallest number that can be represented in the form of the sum of cubes of two numbers in two ways, i.e. 1729=1³+12³=9³+10³. Since then, the number 1729 has been dubbed Ramanujan's number.
