SHSHSHH

1. SRINIVASA
RAMANUJAN

2. SRINIVASA IYENGAR RAMANUJAN
Born - 22 December 1887
Kumbakonam, Madras
Presidency British India
Died - 26 April 1920
Chetput, Madras, British India
College - Government Arts College
Pachaiyappa’s College
Cambridge University
Academic Advisors -
G.H.Hardy

3. RAMAJUNA – THE MATHEMATICIAN
 No formal training in Mathematics
 Made extraordinary contributions to
Mathematical Analysis, Number Theory,
Infinite Series and Continued Fractions.
 Expert in Trigonometry at age 12
 Discovered theorems of his own
 Fellow of the Royal Society and Trinity
College, Cambridge

4. EARLY LIFE
 Born in Erode to K. Srinivasa Iyengar
and Komalatmmal
 Lived in Sarangapani Street in
Kumbakonam
 Went school first on 1.10.1892.
 Had to switch primary school 3 times
due to circumstances.
 Completed Math exam in half the allotted
time.
 A synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure
and Applied Mathematics. Book
acknowledged in awakening the genius
of Ramanujan.
 Left college without a degree and
pursued research in Mathematics.

5. ADULTHOOD IN INDIA
 Married to a 9 year old bride Janaki
Ammal on 14 July 1909
 Went door to door for job
 Tutored college students

6. ATTENTION FROM MATHEMATICIANS
 Met V. Ramaswamy Aiyer, founder of
Indian Mathematical Society
 I was struck by the extraordinary
mathematical results contained in it
[the notebooks]. I had no mind to
smother his genius by an
appointment in the lowest rungs of
the revenue department
 Introduced to R. Ramachandra
Rao, secretary of the Indian
Mathematical Society
 Impressed by Ramanujan but doubted
his integrity.
 Continued Mathematical Research
with
Rao’s financial help
R.Ramachandra
Rao

7.  Published his work in Journal of Indian Mathematical Society
 First problem which he posed
 He then formulated an equation to solve the infinitely nested
radicals problem.
Wrote his 1st formal paper for the journal on the properties
of Bernoulli Numbers

8.  In early 1912 he got a job in the Madras
Accountant Generals office with a salary of Rs
20 per month.
 Later he applied for a position under the
Chief Accountant of the Madras Port Trust
 Accepted as a Class III, Grade IV
accounting clerk making 30 rupees per
month
 Spent spare time doing Mathematical Research

9. CONTACTING ENGLISH
MATHEMATICIANS
 M. J. M. Hill of University College London
argued that though Ramanujan had taste for
Mathematics he lacked the proper
educational background and foundation
 He refused to take Ramanujan as student
 But gave him professional advice on his work

10. INTRODUCTION WITH
G.H.HARDY
 G.H. Hardy was an academician at Cambridge
University
 He was a prominent English mathematician, known for
his achievements in number theory and mathematical
analysis.
 Later on Ramanujan wrote to G.H.Hardy
 Hardy recognised some of his formulae but other
“seemed scarcely possible to believe”. Some of them
were –
Relating to infinite series -

11. 
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12. LIFE IN ENGLAND
 Ramanujan boarded the S.S.Nevasa on 17 March
1914
and arrived in London on 14th April
 Ramanujan began working with Hardy and
Littlewood
 Hardy received 120 theorems from him in 1st 2
letters
but there were many more results in his notebook
 After working with Ramanujan Littlewood
commented, "I can believe that he's at least a
Jacobi”
 Hardy said he "can compare him only with

13.  Awarded BA degree by
research (later called PhD)
in March 1916
 6.12.1917 – Elected to
London Mathematical
Society
 Became a ‘Fellow of The
Royal Society’ in 1918
 Became the first Indian to be
elected a Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge
RAMANUJAN’S HONOURS

14. ILLNESS & RETURN TO INDIA
 Ramanujan's health worsened in England
 Diagnosed with Tuberculosis and Vitamin
deficiency
 Returned to Kumbakonam in 1919 and died
soon thereafter at the age of 32
 In 1994 Dr. D.A.B. Young analysed his
records and
concluded he had hepatic amoebiasis

15. PERSONALITY AND SPIRITUAL LIFE
 A person with a somewhat shy and quiet
disposition
 A dignified man with pleasant manners
 Ramanujan credited his success to his family
Goddess, Namagiri of Namakkal
 He claimed to receive visions of scrolls of
complex
mathematical content unfolding before his eyes
 "Anequation for me has no meaning, unless it
represents a thought ofGod.”

16. RAMANUJAN’S NOTEBOOKS
 Recorded his work in 4 notebooks of
loose
leaf paper
 Results were written without derivation
 Mathematician Bruce C. Berndt says
that Ramanujan was able to make
the proofs but chose not to.
 Might have worked on slate
 Or may be influenced by G.S Carr’s
book
which stated results without proofs
 Mathematicians such as Hardy,
G.N. Watson, B.M. Wilson and

17. RAMANUJAN - HARDY NUMBER
1729
 Hardy arrived in a cab numbered 1729
 He commented that the number was
uninteresting
 Instantly Ramanujan claimed that it was the
smallest natural number which can be
written as sum of cubes in 2 ways

18. OTHER MATHEMATICIANS’ VIEWS
OF RAMANUJAN
 J.H. Hardy was highly impressed by
Ramanujan
 Hardy said that the solutions were "arrived at
by a process of mingled argument, intuition,
and induction, of which he was entirely
unable to give any coherent account”
 On the basis of pure talent Hardy rated
himself a score of 25 out of 100, J.E.
Littlewood 30, David Hilbert 80 and
Ramanujan 100 !
 Physicist Jayant Narlikar
appreciated Ramanujan’s

19. RECOGNITION
 Tamil Nadu celebrates 22 December as ‘State IT
Day’
 Stamp released by the Govt. in 1962
 22nd December celebrated as Ramanujan Day in
Govt Arts College, Kumbakonam
 National Symposium On Mathematical Methods
and
Applications (NSMMA)
 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize

20. IN POPULAR CULTURE
 A play ‘First Class Man’ is centered aroundRamanujan
 Book by Robert Kanigel titled ‘The Man Who Knew
Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan’ is his
biography
 In the famous film ‘Good Will Hunting’ themain
character is compared to Ramanujan
 ‘A Disappearing Number’, a show by British Stage
Production is about Ramanujan and Hardy
 Character Amita Ramanujan in the show Numb3rsis
named after him
 Roger Spottiswoode is working on a movie on
mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan starring Rang

21. RAMANUJAN – RARE
MATHEMATICAL GENIUS

22. THANK YOU