Srinivasa Ramanujan and his Contributions to Mathematics

Srinivasa Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician who made substantial contributions to mathematics despite having little formal training. Ramanujan was born in 1887 in India. He showed prodigious ability in mathematics at a young age and learnt mathematics by writing formulas on scraps of paper.

Education

In 1907, Ramanujan travelled to England to study mathematics at Cambridge University. There, he continued to develop his unique approach to mathematics based on deep intuition about the subject. Ramanujan’s work caught the attention of some of the leading mathematicians of the time, and he soon became known as one of the most brilliant mathematicians in the world.

Discoveries

Srinivasa Ramanujan is considered one of the great mathematicians in the world. He has made some extraordinary discoveries in mathematics during his short life span. One such discovery was on the counting of prime numbers. Ramanujan found a new way to count prime numbers. His work helped mathematicians understand the nature of prime numbers and their distribution.

Ramanujan’s other famous discovery was on a specific type of infinity known as transcendental numbers. He proved an infinite number of transcendental numbers, which shook the very foundation of mathematics at that time. Ramanujan’s work on transcendental numbers is still studied and admired by mathematicians worldwide.

One of Ramanujan’s most important discoveries was his work on the partition function. This function determines the number of ways a given number can divide into smaller parts. Ramanujan was able to find exact solutions to many problems in this field, which had never been done before.

Ramanujan’s work on the transcendental number pi (π) is also well-known. He was able to find many new and exciting properties of π, including a formula for its approximate value. Mathematicians have used Ramanujan’s work on π for over 100 years, and his discoveries continue to be studied today.

More About Him

Apart from his great discoveries, Ramanujan was also a prolific writer. He wrote several papers during his short life span! Most of these papers were on various aspects of mathematics, but some were also on subjects like philosophy and religion. 

Conclusion

Ramanujan’s work revolutionised the Number Theory and contributed to the development of modern analytical mathematics. He died in 1920 at the age of 33, but his work has continued to influence mathematicians. Ramanujan’s story is an inspiring example of the power of dedication and intuition in mathematics.