Srinivasa Ramanujan

Srinivasa Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician. He was born in Erode, India, in 1887. He taught himself advanced mathematics. He made discoveries that still amaze mathematicians today, despite having almost no formal training.

Early Life

Ramanujan was fascinated by numbers from childhood. He found an old math textbook and taught himself from it. He was so focused on math that he failed his other school subjects. He worked as a clerk while doing math in his spare time.

Big Discoveries

Ramanujan sent his math work to a famous professor in England named G.H. Hardy. Hardy was amazed and invited Ramanujan to Cambridge University. Together, they published many important mathematical papers. Ramanujan discovered thousands of mathematical formulas.

Fun Facts

• Ramanujan discovered about 3,900 mathematical results, mostly by himself.
• He said his mathematical ideas came to him in dreams.
• He could not afford paper, so he did math with chalk on a slate and erased it.

Did You Know?

Ramanujan died at just 32 years old, but his work is still being studied today. Mathematicians are still finding new uses for his formulas over 100 years later. Some of his formulas are used in modern computer science and physics.