Ramanujan’s Math: Still Amazing and Mysterious

In 2011, a young mathematician named Hussein Mourtada had a breakthrough. He found a hidden structure in mathematical curves that had stumped others for a century. This structure was first spotted by an Indian math whiz named Srinivasa Ramanujan over 100 years ago. Ramanujan didn’t go to college or have fancy training. He taught himself math and surprised top mathemicians with his amazing discoveries. Even today, experts like Mourtada are still trying to understand and build on Ramanujan’s genius. His ideas keep popping up in many areas of math, like a secret code waiting to be deciphered. One expert called it a message from the “mathematical god. ” Ramanujan’s life was tough. He grew up poor, ran away from home, and struggled with health issues. But he never stopped chasing math. He wrote letters to British mathematicians, showing his findings. One of them, G. H. Hardy, was so impressed that he brought Ramanujan to study in England. In England, Ramanujan discovered strange math puzzles that others hadn’t solved. It turned out another mathematician, L. J. Rogers, had solved them years before but wasn’t known for it. Ramanujan’s math puzzles are still important today. They inspire new discoveries and connect different branches of math. Mourtada, who grew up playing sports and games, found math beautiful and honest. He studied algebraic geometry, a field that deals with complicated math shapes. He used tools from another mathematician, John Nash, to understand these shapes better. Mourtada listens to the “music” in these math equations and tries to understand their hidden patterns.