National Mathematics Day 2023: History, 10 Facts, and How to Celebrate Srinivasa Ramanujan Birth Anniversary

National Mathematics Day is observed on December 22 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of the country’s brilliant minds. On December 22, 1887, the self-taught genius was born in the small village of Erode in Madras Presidency, British India to a humble Iyengar family. The day recognises the importance of mathematics in the development of our nation and honours Srinivas Ramanujan’s amazing works.

Ramanujan is regarded as one of India’s greatest mathematicians of all time. For the majority of his brief but meaningful life, Ramanujan worked on seemingly impossible theorems. His work on Riemann series, elliptic integrals, continued fractions, hypergeometric series, and zeta function functional equations is well known.

National Mathematics Day: History

National Mathematics Day was first observed in India in 2011. The idea for this special day came from then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a way to encourage more people to study mathematics. The day is now observed throughout India, with a variety of events and activities organised to encourage interest in mathematics.

So far, the celebrations have been a success, with a large number of people participating in and enjoying the various mathematical puzzles and games that are organised on this day.

National Mathematics Day: Significance

Mathematics is an important part of our daily lives and a powerful tool for understanding our surroundings. The main goal of the celebration is to raise public awareness about the value of mathematics in the advancement of humanity. We can’t ignore the fact that several initiatives are being undertaken to motivate, enthuse, and instill a positive attitude towards learning mathematics among the country’s younger generation.

On this day, mathematics teachers and students receive training through camps that emphasise the development, production, and dissemination of teaching-learning materials (TLM) for mathematics as well as research in related areas.

National Mathematics Day 2023: Celebration

In India, National Mathematics Day is observed in several schools, colleges, universities, and educational institutions. In addition, various steps are taken to educate students in mathematics as well as spread knowledge to students and learners all over the world.

10 Interesting Facts about Srinivasa Ramanujan

1. Ramanujan was gifted in mathematics from a young age. He could ace advance mathematical problems from the tender age of 11
2. The interest in the subject had been sparked by a book called A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics by George Shoobridge Carr. Ramanujan had come across the book in 1903 when he was 15 years old and found himself engrossed in the world of theorems and proofs
3. He was extremely talented in terms of maths but could not find any interest in other subjects. He received a scholarship for college which had to be nullified as Ramanujan had failed in all the subjects, except for maths
4. The scholar lived his life in poverty until he was discovered by R Ramachandra Rao, the secretary of the Indian Mathematical Society, in 1910. Although he was sceptical about Ramanujan’s genius at first, he agreed to financially support him
5. He was advised by several people to go to England for better opportunities and exposure. Ramanujan began writing letters of introduction to professors at Cambridge but he faced failure. It was said that his letters were too unpolished
6. His letter to well-known English mathematician GH Hardy hit the bull’s eye as the professor recognized Ramanujan’s talent. The duo began writing letters to and forth that led to Hardy inviting Ramanujan to the west
7. Ramanujan kept his theories and mathematical ideas in his notebooks. In one of these was the new series to represent 1/pi in a lot faster method than what was established then.
8. Hardy was greatly impressed with Ramanujan’s abilities. He had formulated a scale of mathematical ability that labelled mathematicians on the scale of 0 to 100. While he gave himself only 25, Hardy had awarded Ramanujan a perfect 100
9. Hardy and Ramanujan are also famous for their special number, known as the Hardy-Ramanujan number. It is 1729, the smallest number expressible as a sum of two cubes in two different ways
10. Ramanujan was weak physically throughout his life, passing away only at the age of 32.

National Mathematics Day 2023: Prominent Mathematicians From India

India is home to some of the greatest mathematicians in history, such as Srinivasa Ramanujan, who made substantial contributions to number theory, Aryabhata, who discovered pi, and Brahmagupta, who created algebra.

Many well-known mathematicians who are making important contributions to this field reside in India. Among these mathematicians is Amit Singer, renowned for his work on Inverse Problems and Compressive Sensing, Subhash Khot, known for his work on the Unique Games Conjecture, and Manjul Bhargava, who received the Fields Medal in 2014.