GENIUS MATHEMATICIANS OF OUR NATION
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“Without Mathematics there’s nothing you can do.
Everything around you is Mathematics
Everything around you is numbers”
.. Shakuntala Devi
The world around us are just of numbers and shapes. Everything in our lives are expressed by values, measured by quantity and life seems to be a calculated sort of games. Well how many times, you have worried about calculating the price of 5 kilos of rice while going to the market instantly or how we all check the bill after receiving or the percentage increment of our salary and so and so forth. Truly, mentioned by Shakuntala Devi, life is a zero without Mathematics. Numbers and Calculations predominate our existences and survivals like bread and butter.
The study of numbers, patterns, equations, counting, and measuring is where the journey of Mathematics originates. Not only that, but Mathematics also incorporates a unique way to communicate ideas whilst providing ample logical reasoning which is exquisite to human kind. It plays an essential role in the development of this society. It is omnipresent and affects people’s day to day lives. Mathematics is born from the real world and since its inception, it has in some way or the other become a necessary tool for the progress of humans and the world, at large.
During the years, the abstract subject has seen an enormous progress as a sphere of knowledge, the credit of which should entirely fall on the laps of mathematicians cum bright minds who went beyond the horizons to give us major and indivisible part of our lives.
India, the cradle of human civilization, is blessed with legends, educationists and learned men from all walks of lives…Today in National Mathematics Day, let’s look back at some of the genius brains, for whom “Numbers” was a matter of sheer passion :
ARYABHATTA
• The most famous Mathematician and Astronomer of Ancient India was undoubtedly Aryabhatta. He belonged to the 5th century AD. Aryabhatta was the first to use the concept of “decimal system”. It was he who gave a new direction to trigonometry and calculated the approximate value of Pie . He was among the mathematicians who brought new assumptions and theories in mathematics and astronomy. His contribution to the mathematics is unparalleled, as he was the one who comprehended the estimated value of pi, which was found to be 3.14. He also derived the correct formulas for calculating the areas of triangles and circles. Furthermore, Aryabhatta also played a very imperative role in the foundation of the table of Sines. Along with that, he was at the forefront in determining the place value system and discovering the zero. Likewise, he worked on the summation series of square roots and cube roots. His Surya Siddhanta, gave the rules of Geometry. Born in Kusumpura Patna, this legendary thinker of India is credited for his conception of “zero” for which he remained immortal.
BRAHMGUPTA
The famous 7th Century Mathematician and Astronomer, he gave the idea of linear equation, multiplications, zero, theorems, positive and negative numbers all in his celebrated work : Brahmasphutasiddhānta. The historian of Science George Sarton called him, “one of the greatest scientists of his race and the greatest of his times”.
BHASKARACHARYA
• Bhaskara II or Bhaskaracharya, was the most famous Mathematician of Medieval India. His celebrated work “Lilavati” revolves around basic idea of theorem , differential calculus etc. Bhaskaracharya also gave the idea of Algebra and his work ,” Siddhanta Shiromani” has several chapters on this. He is particularly known in the discovery of the principles of differential calculus and its application to astronomical problems and computations
MATHEMATICIANS OF MODERN INDIA
British India witnessed a tremendous development in the field of science and scientific developments. Mathematics was no such exception, in a way it derived it’s newer arenas and forms in the hands of some eminent legends, who made some path-breaking theories and formulas, to pave the way for the upcoming world to take interest in it.
P.C MAHALANOBIS
Any discussion in this Abstract subject would remain incomplete without mentioning the name of the legend, whose path-breaking work “Mahalanobis Distance” wowed the world. Yes, you got it right…He is none other than Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis , the father of Modern Statistics in India. He is best remembered for “Mahalanobis Distance“, a Statistical Measure. He made pioneering studies in Anthropometry in India. He founded the Indian Statistical Institute in Baranagar and Fischer has rightly mentioned that : “The ISI has taken the lead in the original development of the technique of sample surveys, the most potent fact-finding process available to the administration“. He was also one of the members of Planning Commission of free India and received Padma Bivushan, Order of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal Society etc.
SRINIVAS RAMANUJAN
Srinivasan Ramanujan was the mathematical genius who taught himself after dropping out of high school owing to his failure in the English subject. Astonishingly, he never had any formal training in mathematics, most of his discoveries in maths were built on sheer intuition, and majority of them were proved to be right much later. Ramanujan is legendarily known for his contribution in analytical theory of numbers, elliptic functions, continued fractions and infinite series. The field of number theory in mathematics was enriched with his intuitive research and his vast contribution. He was also invited to England on his set of 120 theorems that he sent to Cambridge. Ramanujan has been an igniting light of inspiration to many mathematicians, not just in India but all over the world.
The world of mathematics that we no today has not dropped as a bolt out of the blue, nor it is a product of some magical tricks. Gamut of creators and innovations gave birth to the fruits and luxuries which we enjoy today in the interesting and unpredictable ground of numbers. The mathematical knowledge and results that we boast of today, have been accomplished after centuries of efforts, pain, struggles and labors of innumerous mathematicians. From the idea of zero to the modern concept of computational number theory, it is certain that mathematics today is indebted to the outstanding efforts made by brilliant mathematicians of our motherland, over many hundreds of years. Let’s end this “Story of Numbers“, with a famous quote by Pythagoras “There is Geometry in the humming of the strings, there is Music in the spacing of the spheres”. Truly, this Universe speaks of, by, for “Numbers”.
