Author: Aarav Dagur, Grade – IX, Vista international School , Hyderabad.
Srinivasa Ramanujan of India’s great posthumous mathematical geniuses. He made major contributions to the analytical theory of numbers and worked on elliptic functions,continued fractions and infinite series. In this article we will learn some important lesson which are apt even in today’s world.
A true autodiadact;Ramanujan was 11 when he imbibed all the mathematical knowledge of two college students that were lodging in his home.
He mastered a book on advance trigonometry by the age of 13 while discovering sophisticated theorems on his own, mastered a book containing 5000 theorems. He made the most of his resources since he lived in a time where there was no internet, he did not even have the money to buy books. Resilience,focus,and passion:Although he did exceptionally well in school, Ramanujan’s scholarship program at the Government Arts college was a shipwreck. He failed his Fellow of Arts exams two years in a row as his indulgence was only in mathematics. So he had to drop out and pursue independent research in mathematics.Even when he was at the verge of starvation he never left his research and found ways to sustain himself.
Originality:Ramanujan was turned down by many British mathematicians for his lack of formal education and because he did not follow the crude and orthodox method the of ‘formal mathematicians‘. But this is what made him the greatest, for his originality not only proved his genius but also inspired generations to come.
Faith and intuition:“An equation for me has no meaning unless it represents a thought of God.”
-Ramanujan
