National Mathematics Day

• 24 Dec 2025

Source: IE 

National Mathematics Day is observed on 22nd December to commemorate the birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of India’s greatest mathematicians, often described as the man who seemingly knew infinity. 

• The Day was instituted in 2011, with 2012 declared as the National Mathematics Year, to promote India’s mathematical heritage. 
• Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) was born in Erode, Tamil Nadu, and displayed an extraordinary intuitive grasp of mathematics from a very young age. 
  • Began producing original mathematical results as a teenager, recording them in what later became known as Ramanujan’s Frayed Notebooks. 
  • He became one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society (UK) and, in 1918, the second Indian to be elected to the Royal Society, as well as the first Indian Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 

Contributions of Srinivasa Ramanujan 

• Ramanujan Number (1729): The collaboration between Ramanujan and G. H. Hardy led to the famous Hardy–Ramanujan number (1729), the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. 
  • 1³ + 12³ = 9³ + 10³ = 1729. The number reflects Ramanujan’s interest in “near misses” to Fermat’s Last Theorem (1637), which states that no two cubes can add up to another cube. 
• Infinite Series for π: Developed remarkable infinite series for π (pi), which form the basis of modern high-precision π computation algorithms. 
• Circle Method: Co-developed the Circle Method with G. H. Hardy, a major breakthrough later used in solving problems like Waring’s conjecture. 
• Mock Theta Functions: Introduced mock theta functions in modular forms, whose significance was understood decades later and is now crucial in modern physics, including black hole microstate counting, where they help count quantum states of certain black holes. 
• Ramanujan Theta Function: Formulated the Ramanujan theta function, extending Jacobi theta functions, now used in string theory and theoretical physics. 
• Other Contributions: He contributed to hypergeometric series, elliptic integrals, divergent series, and functional equations of the Riemann zeta function. 
  • Made seminal contributions to number theory, mathematical analysis, infinite series, and continued fractions. 
• Legacy:  The SASTRA Ramanujan Prize, established in 2005, is awarded to mathematicians aged 32 or younger, commemorating Srinivasa Ramanujan’s age at his passing. 
  • Dr. Alexander Smith of US won the 2025 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize for his work on congruent number problems, inspired by Srinivasa Ramanujan. 

Read more: Srinivasa Ramanujan