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It's National Mathematics Day
In school, mathematics was a favourite subject to some students and an enemy to some students. For me, mathematics was my favourite subject. I loved that period, and also the mathematics teacher was my favourite teacher. Whenever he saw my name on an exam paper without seeing my answers, he corrected it because he believed me that much. I think in school everyone has one teacher who believes in you like that, right?
Today is National Mathematics Day, it's celebrated on the birthday of Srinivasa Ramanujan. In a small town in India lived a boy who saw magic where others saw numbers. His name was Srinivasa Ramanujan. To the world, he became a mathematical genius. To those who worked with him, he was a puzzle they couldn’t solve.
Ramanujan’s discoveries were revolutionary. One of his most famous contributions was the Hardy-Ramanujan number (1729). When Hardy visited Ramanujan in the hospital, he remarked that 1729 was an uninteresting number. Ramanujan immediately replied:
“No, Hardy! It’s a very interesting number. It is the smallest number that can be expressed as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.”
1) 1729 = 1^3 + 12^3. 2) 1729 = 9^3 + 10^3.
This seemingly simple observation revealed the depth of Ramanujan’s intuition.
Srinivasa Ramanujan passed away at just 32, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire generations. Ramanujan’s story is not just about numbers; it’s about faith, perseverance, and the power of the human mind. He showed us that even in the most challenging circumstances, greatness can be achieved with passion and determination.
