It was in the year of 1897. Krishnaswami Ayer, Head Master of Town High School was taking classes of the students of junior section. Ramanujan was a student of this class. Krishnaswami was a grave-natured man. Students used to fear him very much. The HM looked around the class and asked the students, ‘ Do you know if you divide a number by the same number, the quotient will be”1″?
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He noticed that the students couldn’t understand his question. So again he asked the same question with an instance.
” Suppose you have five mangoes and you have to distribute it to your five friends equally. So they will get 1 mango each. If you divide 5 mangoes by 5 ( friends ), then the result will be 1? Isn’t it?
Again The HM follow the faces of the students. Mr. Krishnaswami now felt relax and delight thinking that the students now understood the mathematics.
Meanwhile, a student from the back bench lift his hands up to ask something. The HM became astonished. Generally students don’t ask him about any questions.
” What do you want to say, boy “? The HM Krishnaswami asked the boy.
The boy hesitatingly replied: ” Sir, can I ask a question?
” Yes,” The HM told.
“Sir, if zero is divided by zero, the quotient will be 1 or not?
Having heard this question the HM became stunned. He couldn’t believe that a question might come from a student. Thought – what a difficult question it’s!
For that moment, HM told him to sit down. But marked the face of the student. He had no answer that very moment. He became defeated by a little boy.
From then Mr. Krishnaswami tried to search for his whereabouts. Gradually he came to know all about him ( the boy ) and his family.
His father was a Brahmin by caste and he was very poor. His son’s name is Ramanujan. This poor Brahmin was an accountant in a clothing shop. His mother ‘s name is Kamalatammal who earned very little by singing at the temple.
Ramanujan was a born- talented. Though he couldn’t complete his institutional education. He had failed to secure FA degree of the college due to his only interest in Mathematics. He was not interested in other subjects and that’s why he failed to secure pass marks in other subjects. His only interest was in mathematics.
He admitted to two different colleges. After passing articulation he got admission in Government Kumbhukonam college. He got stipend from this college.
Achievement Of Ramanujan :
Ramanujan compiled around 3,900 results consisting of equations and identities. One of his most treasured findings was his infinite series for pi. So this series forms the basis of many algorithms we use today. Moreover, he gave several fascinating formulas to calculate the digits of pi in many unconventional ways.
In addition, he discovered a long list of new ideas to solve many challenging mathematical problems, which gave a significant impetus to the development of game theory. His contribution to game theory is purely based on intuition and natural talent and remains unrivalled to this day.
However, he elaborately described the mock theta function. It is a concept in the realm of modular form in mathematics. Considered an enigma till sometime back, it is now recognized as holomorphic parts of mass forms.
One of Ramanujan’s notebooks was discovered by George Andrews in 1976 in the library at Trinity College. Later the contents of this notebook were published as a book.
1729 is known as the Ramanujan number. It is the sum of the cubes of two numbers 10 and 9. For instance, 1729 results from adding 1000 (the cube of 10) and 729 (the cube of 9). Therefore, this is the smallest number that can be expressed in two different ways as it is the sum of these two cubes. Interestingly, 1729 is a natural number following 1728 and preceding 1730.
Therefore, Ramanujan’s contributions stretch across mathematics fields, including complex analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions.
Besides, Ramanujan’s other notable contributions include hypergeometric series, the Riemann series, the elliptic integrals, the theory of divergent series, and the functional equations of the zeta function.