National Mathematics Day 2020: The significance and history of this day

National Mathematics Day is celebrated every year on December 22 to honour the birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan. He died at the age of 32 due to tuberculosis. Ramanujan gave almost 3500 Math formulas to the world that scientists have still not been able to prove completely.

The aim of this celebration is to raise awareness about the importance of Maths amongst people for development. So, here’s what you should know about the day.

This day was first declared on February 26, 2012, by the former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. He later visited Madras University to pay tribute to Ramanujan’s achievements for his 125th birth anniversary. So, from that time, it has been celebrated on December 22 annually.

Srinivasa Ramanujan was a self-taught mathematician. The celebration of this day pays tribute to the legend and his contribution towards Maths.

Ramanujan is recognised for his mastery on continued fractions, hypergeometric series, Riemann series, functional equation of the zeta function and elliptic integrals.

The aim of the celebration is to raise awareness about Mathematics amongst people and to increase a positive attitude towards learning maths. On this day, mathematicians, teachers, students are provided training for Maths and research different areas of maths.

Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on December 22, 1887, in a Tamil Iyengar Brahmin family in Erode, Madras Presidency. He was a mathematician who is often called as the “man who knew infinity”. He had no formal training in Maths but was able to solve Trigonometry problems just at the age of 12. He went to Trinity College in England where he was given a lot of credit for his Maths contributions. On April 29, 1920, he took his last breath.