Mathematics is a subject which many students are afraid of. Clearing a maths exam is a daunting task for many students, and before a maths exam, they often come in the grip of exam phobia or anxiety due to this. While this may be true, many students also have an excellent aptitude for solving maths based questions. In recent years, many schools have taken steps to educate kids on the importance of having a clear understanding of maths. Math Labs and exhibitions have enabled students to understand the subject better. Still, such initiatives have to widen to reach students all across the country, and also the schools must maintain these as consistent efforts.
National Mathematics Day
The date 22 December has been observed as the National Mathematics Day in India. The former prime minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, made this declaration during the 125th birth anniversary of noted mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan on 26 February 2012. Afterwards, Dr Singh announced that the year 2012 would be commended as the National Mathematics Year. Srinivasa Ramanujan, an Indian mathematician, had made a significant contribution in several segments of mathematics. The Indian mathematical genius was born on 22 December 1887 at Erode and breathed his last on 26 April 1920.
Ramanujan – a god gifted talent
It is needless to add Ramanujan was a god gifted mathematician. He was a genius in maths since childhood; he first encountered formal mathematics at the age of 10. During his school days, he bagged many academic awards. In spite of not getting any formal training in mathematics, creativity was in his blood, so he developed many theories through his research.
Moves to England in 1914
Fortunately, Ramanujan got an exposure in 1913, when he came in contact with some European mathematicians. He started to correspond with G. H. Hardy and after some time moved to England in 1914 to unveil his mathematical talent. Ramanujan showed his immense ability in his five-year-stay in Cambridge and published several valuable papers and got a red-carpet welcome in several mathematical societies. The young mathematics genius contributed immensely in several segments of mathematics-infinite series, number theory, and numerical analysis, and so on.
Fails to get exposure
Undoubtedly, many renowned mathematicians cropped up in India, but the man who had given a new concept of mathematic was none other than Vashishtha Narayan Singh. He was born on 2 April 1946, in a humble family in Bihar. A childhood prodigy, he studied at the prestigious Patna Science College then he went to the University of California in 1965 and did his PhD on cycle vector space theory in 1969 under the guidance of John Kelley (the US mathematician).
Schizophrenia halts Narayan’s progress
Narayan later joined the University of Washington at Seattle as an assistant professor. Apart from this, he showed his immense talent in NASA too. Then he returned to India. He was diagnosed with Schizophrenia in the 1970s. With the passing away of this genius on 14 November 2019 in Patna, the golden era of mathematics also came to an end.
Brahmagupta invents zero (o)
The fact is that mathematics in the Indian subcontinent has been flourishing since the ancient age. In the classical period, some of the mathematicians had made formidable contributions like Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara 11, and Varahamihira. The decimal number, which is used across the world was the brainchild of the ancient Indian mathematicians. Apart from this Zero (0) and its operation was first defined by Indian mathematician Brahmagupta. The ancient legacy has been continuing by the modern-day mathematicians of the country.
Moreover, the purpose behind the celebration of National Mathematics Day is to create awareness, especially among the students to accept maths as a fruitful challenge and not give up on this subject with anxiety or phobia. Mathematics is a subject which is applied in science, humanities, commerce and other areas as well. It is undeniable that without mathematics, life is incomplete for people of all walks of life.
