Math genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, the man who knows countless endless numbers

Another proof that "genius is destiny". But in a short life of 32 years, Ramanujan left a huge mathematical legacy for mankind.

If you haven't really believed in Srinivasa Ramanujan 's genius math brain, pull down to read two examples, two short stories to understand why he is an "endless count".

In the great movie Good Will Hunting , the Will in the film has a definition of "genius" as follows: an outstanding individual can see things that ordinary people never envision. Like genius composers, they look down on piano keys, they will see each note and beat their instincts. As a great physicist, they look at the interrelationships of things that are theories that can be proved hundreds of years later.

And as when a genius mathematician looked at a thick page of formulas, they figured out all the relationships of those equations, saw numbers, calculations that had to be abandoned for years, I just understand. There is such a person, it is Srinivasa Ramanujan, an Indian mathematician.

He himself did not learn about pure mathematics - the type of mathematics focused only on abstract concepts, different from the math used in navigation, astronomy, physics, economics, and engineering - but there are countless contributions in mathematical analysis, number theory, endless numbers, . and even, solving problems that are supposed to be impossible to find results.

He was born in 1887 and died when he was very young. Ramanujan was only 32 years old, but in his short life, he himself created 3,900 mathematical research results, most of them are isomorphisms and identities - the right equation for all variables. Even while living the last hours of his life at home, he still sent letters to Professor GH Hardy at Cambridge University, saying he was still continuing to contribute to mathematics.

In the picture below, Ramanujan stands in the middle, Professor GH Hardy stands at the far right.

The genius potential is awakened by a book

One would think a genius like him would come from a family with a tradition of mathematical research. But people were wrong: Ramanujan was born and raised in his grandfather's house in Kumbakonam, with his father working at a clothing store, his mother was a housewife at home and sometimes the main vocalist of the local temple. His family has two more children, but both children cannot live to the age of 1.

Moving to a new school building soon after, grandfather of Ramanujan died, he had to follow his family to go to his house in Madras. He did not like the new school and often dropped out of school. Although the family made an effort to bring him to school, he retired for six short months and returned to Kumbakonam, following the old place as Kangayan school. 10-year-old Ramanujan passed the entrance exam of English, arithmetic, geometry, Tamil with the highest score in the district. Ramanujan first came into contact with regular mathematics when he reached Level 2.

At just 11 years old, he surpassed two students staying in the same house on math knowledge. Soon after, he borrowed a book on advanced trigonometry. At the age of 13, he studied and mastered trigonometry himself, discovering his own mathematical theorems.He displayed outstanding talents in the field of geometry and endless numbers.

In 1903, when he was 16 years old, Ramanujan borrowed a book of Summary of Primary Results of Pure Mathematics and Applied Mathematics , containing 5,000 different theorems. He deliberately studied the book and according to the scientists who had contacted him, the book was a boost to Ramanujan's rise to genius. He developed and studied his own mathematical projects, individuals of Ramanujan's age "rarely understood him".

He received a scholarship but because nothing else but mathematics attracted the attention of this rare genius, he soon lost the scholarship. In August 1905, Ramanujan left home, then attended a school in Madras. Still "used to the old horse" , he devoted his love to mathematics and ignored all other subjects.

He failed the exam, left the university but continued to study mathematics on his own. At this time, Ramanujan was living in extreme poverty, almost starving.

Because very few individuals understand Ramanujan's genius, not many people keep up and support him. Fortunately, when he was 23 years old, the founder of the Indian Mathematical Community Ramaswamy Aiyer discovered the Ramanujan gem, met with countless other famous professors to bring a young individual to college. study in the name of a genius scholar.

Genius footsteps chase after a mathematical career

Ramanujan made contact with world-renowned professor of mathematics GH Hardy working at Cambridge. The first letter that Mr. Hardy received was the historical mark of mathematics: it contained 120 theorems that Ramanujan argued about (although there is no specific argument for every theorem). Many theorems are completely beyond the knowledge of Professor Hardy and his colleagues. Although they thought some of the results were wrong, they still wanted to meet their creator. The decision to trust Ramanujan and support this genius was right.

A lot of obstacles from both the family side and from the top math professors in the UK did not trust a young genius from India, but in May 1914 Ramanujan also set foot in England. From that moment, the mathematical genius from India reached the peak of his career, when he was working with the world's leading global minds, writing millennia studies.

"Ordinary people" we cannot understand Ramanujan's mind so it is best, his sublime wisdom will be best presented by two short stories.

The final year student at Cambridge was Mahalanobis who frequently went to Ramanujan's home to play and one day, was invited by the genius of mathematics to lunch. While waiting for the Ramanujan to cook, Mahalanobis sat down to solve a problem of finding a couple of houses posted in the newspaper. After a few minutes of applying the type test, Mahalanobis found the result that pairs 3 and 1 were happy to tell Ramanujan.

House 18 of Alahiri Street, Erode, where Ramanujan's genius was born.

The genius of the Indians hears through the problem, even while cooking with the pan, immediately derive the result for the above problem by an infinite numerical sequence equation. All pairs of results obtained from the series that Ramanujan calculated are consistent with the difficult problem.

He could immediately find an endless range of results of a problem, when he only heard it once.

When Hardy visited Ramanujan, he was ill. The two sat on the taxi number 1729. Hardy said the number was bad and said he hoped it would not bring misfortune to the two. Ramanujan dismissed: "It is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number that can be written in the sum of two natural two pairs of positive numbers, presented in two different forms."

Seeing the number 1729, he immediately saw two additions of 13 + 123 and 93 + 103. Later, such numbers were called "taxi number - taxicab number".

The number of cabs we have found.

Faith in the gods and difficulties in working with a genius

Ramanujan has been studying in Cambridge for almost five years, with two other math professors, Hardy and John Edensor Littlewood - both comparing Indian geniuses to bright stars that have made great discoveries in history. mathematics. However, Hardy and Remanujan's personality, faith and method of work are contradictory, making collaboration easy.

For decades before they met, mathematics always needed close evidence to prove it. While Hardy is a man of evidence and strict rules, Ramanujan has strong faith in his intuition and his innate wisdom. Hardy tries to lead Ramanujan to his way of thinking and obviously both are uncomfortable with the way the other person works.

Ramanujan believed that the genius mathematical achievements he had were thanks to Namagiri. According to him, she will appear in the illusion before his eyes, write down mathematical formulas for him to prove himself. He reported one of these events as follows:

"When I slept, I experienced an unusual experience. There was a red curtain flowing like blood. I stood there watching it. Then suddenly a hand appeared to write on the curtain. What's going on, the hand writes the numbers, they stick to my memory, when I wake up, I'll rewrite them. "

Namagiri herself also contributed to bringing Ramanujan to England, when she dreamed for the mother of mathematical genius, forbidding Indian women "not to prevent her child from reaching the fulfillment of a life wish." ".

Life is full of illness, another proof for "genius is destiny"

In December 1889, Ramanujan suffered from smallpox but fortunately he passed away. It was indeed a miracle, when 4,000 other people living in the district he lived in had died of illness.

At the end of 1909, after getting married, he suffered from vitreous test (hydrocele testis) . The disease is very easy to cure, only need to be repaired again, but the Ramanujan family has no money for treatment. Fortunately, in January 1910, there were doctors volunteering to perform the surgery for free.

But by the end of 1910, Mr. Ramanujan was seriously ill. Fearing he could not escape, he asked his friend to give a mathematical handbook to math professor Singaravelu Mudaliar or English professor Edward B. Ross. However, he passed away and received the precious book.

The health condition of Ramanujan is getting weaker and weaker during the working days in the UK. Having kept a religious diet and living through the harsh conditions of war, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and severe vitamin deficiency. Ramanujan returned to his hometown of Kumbakonam and died shortly after, on April 26, 1920, enjoying 32 years of age.

Ramaujan's mathematical notes are synthesized and sent to individuals who are able to understand them. As for Ramanujan's wife, Janakiammal, has benefited from a lot of funds - the research units are extremely sorry for the departure of a brilliant mathematical genius of human history. She died in 1994.

Also in 1994, Dr. DA B Young analyzed and re-diagnosed Ramanujan's pathology, finding that the mathematical genius was likely to be caused by amoeba infection, a common disease in Ramanujan's hometown, not tuberculosis. When not treated properly, the disease can be incubated for years before the disease develops. At that time, if it was true that Ramanujan had a disease caused by amoeba, he would be cured in time.

But Jamanujan will be immortal when all his achievements are permanent

In a lecture in India in 2011, American mathematics professor Bruce Carl Berndt said that over the past 40 years, almost all of the theorems Ramanujan had raised proved to be accurate. People are increasingly paying attention to his efforts and genius, as brilliant achievements spread to all areas of modern mathematics and physics.

Nature science journal named Ramanujan as one of the outstanding individuals of human history. His home country of India released a stamp imprinted on him in 1962, commemorating 75 years of Ramanujan's birth, to commemorate the brilliant genius. On December 26, 2011, the precious stamp was redesigned.

Also in 2011, India declared it would choose December 22 - Ramanujan's birthday - to be the National Math Day. Another way to remember the merits that genius has brought to mankind.

Ramanujan will remain alive until the numbers no longer make sense. That also means "immortality."