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By Rama.Gurumoorthy

Every year, the day, 22nd of December, is celebrated as our‘National Mathematics Day’, which happens to be thebirthday of the great Indian mathematical genius, SriSrinivasan Ramanujan, the man who knew Infinity, in thewords of Robert Kanigel. The Mathematics day was firstcelebrated in India on this day, on 2012 and thereafter everyyear.The assumption that something exists as infinite underliesthat assumption everywhere, such as in Physics, Metaphysics,Mathematics, etc.In physics we find that the term infinite is used in thefollowing instances:The gravitational potential energy of an object is assumed tobe zero at infinity. The electric potential at infinity is assumedto be zero. In the case of electrostatic and electrodynamics, itcan be derived that force and potential energy at infinity are0. In another context, we note that the density at the centreof a black hole is infinite.In Metaphysics, while finding out the period of existence ofthe Universe, the stars, and the moon, the term infinity isused. For example, in one of our Hindu Scriptures, “IsaUpanishad”, the word,’पू’(Puurna) stands for the Almighty,who is deemed to be infinite.In Mathematics, this term is used to find out the number ofpoints on a continuous line or the size of an endless sequenceof counting numbers. One of the earliest uses of the terminfinite is with regard to a complex plane depicted as the‘Riemann sphere’, where the top point is depicted as infinite.Both Isaac Newton and Leibniz used the term, Infinite in theCalculus models developed by them.The ancient usage of the term infinity can be traced to the 6thcentury B.C. The Greek philosopher Anaximander coined theword “Apeiron”, meaning that which is boundless, unlimited,infinite, and indefinite. Later in 350 BC, Aristotle,distinguished, ‘Potential infinity’ from, ‘Actual infinity’, withwhich he was able to count, without any ending.In 1655, the wordy descriptions of infinity was substituted bya mathematical symbol ∞ by the English Mathematician JohnWallis. Ancient Greek mathematicians and philosophersoriginally called the infinity symbol as ‘lemniscates’ meaning’ribbon and also as “lazy eight”. This symbolism also mirrorsthe “Ouroboros” (red Dwarf), an ancient Egyptian symboldepicting a serpent biting its own tail. This symbol is generallybelieved to represent infinity, immortality, continuity, etc.While history cites so many such examples for theinterpretation of the word ‘infinite’, let us see what the greatIndian Mathematical Genius, Sri Srinivasan Ramanujan, theman who knew Infinity in the words of Robert Kanigel, offeredin his formulae: ‘The Ramanujan Summation’ whichstates, that if you add all the natural numbers, that is 1, 2, 3,4, and so on, all the way to infinity, you will find that it isequal to -1/12, which is quite useful in physics( String theory,Casimir efect, etc. It is relevant to mention here, what Mr.Srinivasa Ramanujan (FRS) once said, “In the ultimate, Weare merely exploring Infinity in the pursuit of absoluteperfection.”The Wonder Number:(also known as. ‘Hardy,Ramanujan Number’)There is an interesting anecdote about the number 1729.Once Prof. Hardy, a friend of him, went to see Mr.Ramanujanwho was at a hospital. Prof. Hardy, was wondering if the taxinumber he came from, was a good omen or not, as he feltbad to have met Mr.Ramanujan at the hospital. For that,Mr.Ramanujan replied, “No”, it is a very interesting number; itis the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes intwo different ways.”Sri Ramanujan, born, in the year 1887, at Erode, Tamil Nadu,India, became one of the youngest Fellow of the Royal Societyfor his investigation into elliptic functions and the Theory ofNumbers and only the second Indian member, and the firstIndian to be elected as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.The Mathematical genius had left us in the midst of a flood oftears, in 1920, due to severe and prolonged illness, at hisyoung age of 32 years.Let us all pay our tribute on this auspicious occasion of hisbirth anniversary, to the mathematical genius that Indiagifted to the world, and educate our children to learn andmake use of the invaluable contributions the young geniusmade in the field of mathematics.A Genius who brought name and fame to we Indians!Ramanujan‘s achievements were all about elegance, depth,and surprise, beautifully intertwined, who once said. “Anequation has no meaning for me unless it expresses a thoughtof God!”Let us all pay our tribute on this auspicious occasion of hisbirth anniversary, to the mathematical genius that Indiagifted to the world – A Genius who brought name and fame to we Indians!———-