Srinivasa Ramanujan : The Man Who Knew Infinity
Srinivasa Ramanujan : The Man Who Knew Infinity
Srinivasa Ramanujan: Childhood, and Early Life
The
family was of high caste and was very poor. Srinivasa Ramanujan's parents moved
around a lot, and so he attended a variety of different elementary
schools.
Education
In
November 1897, he passed his primary examinations in English, Tamil, geography,
and arithmetic, and gained vest scores in the district. He entered Town Higher
Secondary School in the same year and encountered formal mathematics for the
first time.
Srinivasa Ramanujan: Discovery as a Mathematician
of Genius
·
At the age of 11, he had taken the mathematics knowledge of two
college students who were lodgers at his home. Later, he lent a book written by
S. L. Loney on advanced trigonometry.
By the age of 13, he had mastered it and discovered his theorems on his own.
·
At 14 years of age, he received merit certificates and academic
awards that continued all through his school career. Also, he completed an exam
in mathematics in half of the allotted time and showed familiarity with
geometry and infinite series.
·
In 1902, he showed how to solve cubic equations. He also developed his
own methods.
· At the age of 15, he obtained a copy of George Shoobridge Car's
Ramanujan’s major contributions to mathematics:
Ramanujan's contribution extends to mathematical fields such as
complex analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions.
Infinite series for pi : 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.
Game theory: Ramanujan discovered a long list of new ideas for solving
many challenging mathematical problems that have given great impetus to the
development of game theory. His contribution to game theory is purely based on
intuition and natural talent and is unmatched to this day.
Mock theta function: He elaborated on the mock theta function, a concept in
the field of modular forms of mathematics.
Ramanujan number: 1729 is known as the Ramanujan number which is the sum of the
cubes of two numbers 10 and 9.
Circle Method: Ramanujan, along with GH Hardy, invented the circle method which
gave the first approximations of the partition of numbers beyond 200. This
method contributed significantly to solving the notorious complex problems of
the 20th century, such as Waring's conjecture and other additional questions.
Theta Function: Theta function is a special function of several complex
variables. German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi invented several
closely related theta functions known as Jacobi theta functions. Theta function
was studied by extensively Ramanujan who came up with the Ramanujan theta
function, that generalizes the form of Jacobi theta functions and also captures
general properties. Ramanujan theta function is used to determine the critical
dimensions in Bosonic string theory, superstring theory, and M-theory.
He contracted tuberculosis in 1917. His condition
improved so that he could return to India in 1919. He died the following year.
He left behind three notebooks and some pages, also known as the "lost
notebook" that contained various unpublished results. Mathematicians continued
to verify these results after his death.
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