No matter how surprising it may sound, there really existed a person who could solve a math problem in more than one way. Quite depressing for the likes of us who can’t even find out one way of solving a math problem!
But all hail to Srinivasa Ramanujan, who is known as the magician of mathematics. 22nd December is his birthday and is celebrated as National Mathematics Day. Math was no less than art for him, and for his special ability to solve math problems, he was called a “Natural Genius” worldwide.
Here are some things that everyone must know about Ramanujan:
• Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on 22nd December 1887, in Erode, Tamil Nadu, to a Brahmin family. His mother's name was Komaltammal, and his father’s name was Srinivas Ayyingar.
• He became the district topper in primary exams, at the age of 10. At the age of 15, he had mastered the whole book of A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics.
• Ramanujan was not as bright in other subjects as he was in math. Due to this, he could get the scholarship of neither the Government College nor the University of Madras.
• In 1912, he started working as a clerk in Madras Port Trust. Till that time, however, he had become popular as a meritorious (medhavi) mathematician.
• He became the first Indian to become a member of the Royal Society, and to gain the fellowship of Trinity College.
• Ramanujan died at just the age of 32, on 26th April 1920 because of tuberculosis. In the state of sickness as well, he used to write theorems, as they kept occurring to him naturally.