National Mathematics Day 2023: Why Do We Celebrate? and Its Significance

PWOnlyIAS December 19, 2023 12:56 4947 0

December 22 is celebrated as National Mathematics Day in honor of the birth anniversary of the renowned Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. This day is dedicated to celebrating his contributions and recognizing his legendary status in the field of mathematics.

National Mathematics Day 2023: Why Do We Celebrate? and Its Significance

Context: National Mathematics Day in India is celebrated every year on December 22.

About National Mathematics Day: Origin, and Significance

Origin: In 2011, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh declared that from 2012, December 22 will be celebrated as National Mathematics Day to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
The reason behind the celebration of the Day: National Mathematics Day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of legendary Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Events:
- UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and India have agreed to work together to spread mathematics learning and understanding among the younger generation.
- The National Academy of Science India conducts a workshop on applications of Mathematics and Ramanujan, to discuss Srinivasa Ramanujan’s contribution to mathematics.
- Schools, colleges, and other educational institutes conduct various competitions and mathematical quizzes on the occasion of the day.
Significance of the National Mathematics Day
- Awareness of the Importance of Mathematics: National Mathematics Day seeks to spread awareness among people about the importance of mathematics for the development of humanity.
- Promote Mathematics among the Younger Generation: National Mathematics Day is an opportunity to motivate, promote, and inculcate a positive attitude towards learning mathematics among the younger generation of the country.
- Mathematics Training: Training sessions are held for mathematics teachers and students through camps and also dissemination of teaching-learning materials (TLM) for Mathematics and research in related areas.

About Srinivasa Ramanujan and his contribution to mathematics

About: Srinivasa Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician, who made significant contributions to the field of mathematics in a brief time.
Early Life: Ramanujan was born in a Tamil Iyyengar family in Erode district of present-day Tamil Nadu in 1887.
Education: Ramanujan was a child prodigy, who passed his primary examinations with one of the highest scores in the district.
- He received a scholarship to study at Government Arts College, Kumbakonam but could not continue as he did not possess an interest in subjects other than mathematics.
- Despite enrolling in a mathematics course, he could not pass the Fellow of Arts exam and had to leave the college without the FA degree.
Exposure to Mathematics:
- After meeting the founder of the Indian Mathematical Society, V. Ramaswamy Aiyer, Ramanujan was included as a researcher at the University of Madras.
- His research impressed fellow members and he was offered a scholarship to study at Trinity College, Cambridge. It was at Cambridge that Ramanujan worked with Prof Hardy.
Ramanujan and Prof G H Hardy: Ramanujan and Prof. G H Hardy’s correspondence started through letters. Ramanujan would send him letters that contained mathematical theorems and proof.
- Recognizing Ramanujan’s talent in Mathematics, Prof. Hardy persuaded Ramanujan to come to Cambridge and conduct research under his guidance.
- Hardy and Ramanujan collaborated on the Hardy–Ramanujan asymptotic formula, which is widely applied in physics to find quantum partition functions of atomic nuclei and to derive thermodynamic functions of non-interacting Bose–Einstein systems.
Death: Ramanujan returned to India from England in 1919. He died a year later in 1920 due to tuberculosis at the age of 32.

His Mathematical Contributions

Overview: Ramanujan made significant contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, and Continued fractions. He is also known for his work on modular forms and hypergeometric series.
Hardy-Ramanujan Number:
- When Ramanujan was very ill in England, Prof. Hardy came to visit Ramanujan at the hospital in a taxi bearing the number 1729.
- Ramanujan made a keen observation stating that 1729 is the smallest number that can be written in the form of a sum of cubes of two numbers in two ways, i.e. 1729=1³+12³=9³+10³.
- Since then, the number 1729 is known as Ramanujan’s number.
Ramanujan Theory:
- Ramanujan’s Theory is characterized by its focus on the study of whole numbers and their properties. It helps in understanding the nature of numbers and their relationships to one another.
- It is a branch of mathematics that deals with the study of integers and their properties. Ramanujan was a pioneer in this field of work.
The Ramanujan conjecture:
- Ramanujan conjecture deals with the properties of the partition function, which counts the number of ways a given positive integer can be expressed as a sum of positive integers, disregarding the order of the summands.
Mock Theta Function:
- Ramanujan described the mock theta function, which is a concept in the realm of modular form in mathematics.
Game Theory:
- To solve many challenging mathematical problems, Ramanujan gave great impetus to the development of game theory. His contributions to this stream have been unmatched and unparalleled.

Honours and Awards

FRS: Ramanujan has been honoured with a Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS) for his contributions to the field of Mathematics.
National Mathematics Day: His birthday has been celebrated as National Mathematics Day in India since 2012.
Prizes: Every year, the ICTP Ramanujan Prize is awarded to a researcher from a developing country who is less than 45 years of age, and who has conducted outstanding research in a developing country.
- SASTRA Ramanujan Prize is given annually to individuals aged 32 and below, who have made outstanding contributions to the field of mathematics, influenced by Srinivasa Ramanujan in a broad sense.

Conclusion:

The National Mathematics Day seeks to spread the importance of Mathematics and also celebrate the legacy and contributions of one of India’s best mathematicians, Srinivasa Ramanujan.

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National Mathematics Day FAQs

National Mathematics Day in India is celebrated every year on December 22.

The National Mathematics Day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of legendary Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Srinivasa Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician, who made significant contributions to the field of mathematics in a brief time.

Famous works of Ramanujan include Hardy-Ramanujan number, Ramanujan Theory, Ramanujan Conjecture, Mock Theta functions, etc.

Ramanujan has been honoured with a Fellowship from the Royal Society for his contributions to the field of Mathematics.

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National Mathematics Day 2023: Why Do We Celebrate? and Its Significance

About National Mathematics Day: Origin, and Significance