National Mathematics Day 2025: How India Marks Ramanujan’s Birth Anniversary, Know The Story Of 1729

Add as a preferred source on Google

National Mathematics Day celebrated every year on 22nd December isn't limited to classrooms or exam halls. It shows up in everyday moments when you calculate a grocery bill in your head, check how much time you'll need to beat traffic, or split a restaurant bill without reaching for a calculator.

Photo Credit: Freepik

We use maths constantly, often without noticing it. Observed every year in India, the day is also a chance to look back at the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a man whose way of thinking about numbers still influences the systems and technologies we rely on today.

When Is National Mathematics Day 2025?

In 2025, National Mathematics Day falls on Monday, 22 December. The date marks the birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of India's most influential mathematicians, born on this day in 1887. He was known for his groundbreaking work in number theory and mathematical analysis and guess what? Ramanujan reshaped modern mathematics despite having little formal training.

Why India Observes National Mathematics Day

The day honours Ramanujan's contribution to mathematics - work that reshaped fields like number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions. More importantly, it recognises how mathematical thinking underpins science, technology, economics, and daily problem-solving.

National Mathematics Day was officially declared by the Government of India in 2012, coinciding with Ramanujan's 125th birth anniversary. That year was also observed as the National Mathematics Year, signalling a broader push to bring mathematics out of textbooks and into public conversation.

The Purpose Behind The Observance

At its core, National Mathematics Day tries to change how people relate to numbers. The focus is not just excellence, but accessibility.

It aims to:

• Encourage students to see mathematics as practical and relevant
• Build confidence in problem-solving and logical thinking
• Highlight India's long mathematical tradition and its global influence

The idea is simple: Mathematics isn't only for specialists. It's a way of thinking that benefits everyone.

How National Mathematics Day Is Marked Across India

Educational institutions across the country take the lead. Schools, colleges, universities, and research centres organise:

• Mathematics quizzes and competitions
• Workshops, lectures, and seminars
• Exhibitions that link mathematics to real-world applications

Some regions host unique initiatives. In Bihar, for instance, students are recognised through the Srinivasa Ramanujan Talent Search Test, with awards that include laptops, certificates, medals, and cash prizes. These efforts focus on encouragement, not pressure.

Who Was Srinivasa Ramanujan?

Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar was born on 22 December 1887 in Erode, Tamil Nadu, and lived only 32 years, passing away on 26 April 1920. Despite his short life and despite having almost no formal training in higher mathematics his work changed the course of modern mathematics.

Ramanujan's ideas were original, intuitive, and often far ahead of their time. Many of his results were so unconventional that they took decades to be fully understood and formally proven.

Early Life And Self-Taught Brilliance

Ramanujan grew up in a modest household and showed an intense fascination with numbers from a young age. As a teenager, he taught himself advanced mathematics using George Shoobridge Carr's Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics - a book that listed thousands of formulas with little explanation.

Instead of discouraging him, this lack of explanation shaped his thinking. Ramanujan developed a habit of arriving at results through intuition, pattern recognition, and deep numerical insight - methods that would later both impress and puzzle professional mathematicians.

What Ramanujan Contributed to Mathematics

Ramanujan's work covered a wide range of ideas, many of which still influence research today. His contributions include:

• Breakthrough results in number theory, including partition functions
• Innovative infinite series, including formulas for π that later influenced modern computing algorithms
• Foundational work on continued fractions, mock theta functions, and special number sequences

Many mathematical concepts now carry his name from Ramanujan primes to Rogers-Ramanujan identities - a reflection of how deeply his ideas are embedded in the field.

The Story Of 1729

One of the most well-known stories from Ramanujan's life involves the number 1729. When Hardy once mentioned that the taxi he arrived in had a dull number, Ramanujan instantly corrected him.

1729, he said, is the smallest number that can be expressed as the sum of two cubes in two different ways:

1³ + 12³
9³ + 10³

The number is now famously known as the Hardy-Ramanujan number, and the story captures how Ramanujan saw patterns where others saw nothing.

A Legacy That Continues to Grow

Ramanujan left behind notebooks filled with formulas and results, including the famous "lost notebook", which continues to inspire new research. His life story has also reached wider audiences through books and the film The Man Who Knew Infinity.

National Mathematics Day keeps that legacy alive not by turning Ramanujan into a distant legend, but by reminding us that curiosity, persistence, and unconventional thinking still matter.

Significance Of National Mathematics Day In 2025

Photo Credit: Freepik

At a time when numbers influence everything from technology to policy, National Mathematics Day in 2025 asks us to rethink our relationship with mathematics. It's about recognising that maths isn't just a subject you pass or fail, it's a way of understanding the world.