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Often called the language of the universe, mathematics is fundamental to our understanding of the world and, as such, is vitally

important in a modern society such as ours. Everywhere you look it is likely mathematics has made an impact, from the faucet in your kitchen to the satellite that beams your television programs to your home. As such, great mathematicians are undoubtedly going to rise above the rest and have their name embedded within history. This list documents some such people. I have rated them based on contributions and how they effected mathematics at the time, as well as their lasting effect. I also suggest one looks deeper into the lives of these men, as they are truly fascinating people and their discoveries are astonishing too much to include here. As always, such lists are highly subjective, and as such please include your own additions in the comments! 10 Pythagoras of Samos

Greek Mathematician Pythagoras is considered by some to be one of the first great mathematicians. Living around 570 to 495 BC, in modern day Greece, he is known to have founded the Pythagorean cult, who were noted by Aristotle to be one of the first groups to actively study and advance mathematics. He is also commonly credited with the Pythagorean Theorem within trigonometry. However, some sources doubt that is was him who constructed the proof (Some attribute it to his students, or Baudhayana, who lived some 300 years earlier in India). Nonetheless, the effect of such, as with large portions of fundamental mathematics, is commonly felt today, with the theorem playing a large part in modern measurements and technological equipment, as well as being the base of a large portion of other areas and theorems in mathematics. But, unlike most ancient theories, it played a bearing on the development of geometry, as well as opening the door to the study of mathematics as a worthwhile endeavor. Thus, he could be called the founding father of modern mathematics.

9 Andrew Wiles

The only currently living mathematician on this list, Andrew Wiles is most well known for his proof of Fermats Last Theorem: That no positive integers, a, b and c can satisfy the equation a^n+b^n=c^n For n greater then 2. (If n=2 it is the Pythagoras Formula). Although the contributions to math are not, perhaps, as grand as other on this list, he did invent large portions of new mathematics for his proof of the theorem. Besides, his dedication is often admired by most, as he quite literally shut himself away for 7 years to formulate a solution. When it was found that the solution contained an error, he returned to solitude for a further year before the solution was accepted. To put in perspective how ground breaking and new the math was, it had been said that you could count the number of mathematicians in the world on one hand who, at the time, could understand and validate his proof. Nonetheless, the effects of such are likely to only increase as time passes (and more and more people can understand it). 8 Isaac Newton and Wilhelm Leibniz

I have placed these two together as they are both often given the honor of being the inventor of modern infinitesimal calculus, and as such have both made monolithic contributions to the field. To start, Leibniz is often given the credit for introducing modern standard notation, notably the integral sign. He made large contributions to the field of Topology. Whereas all round genius Isaac Newton has, because of the grand scientific epic Principia, generally become the primary man hailed by most to be the actual inventor of calculus. Nonetheless, what can be said is that both men made considerable vast contributions in their own manner. 7 Leonardo Pisano Blgollo

Blgollo, also known as Leonardo Fibonacci, is perhaps one of the middle ages greatest mathematicians. Living from 1170 to 1250, he is best known for introducing the infamous Fibonacci Series to the western world. Although known to Indian mathematicians since approximately 200 BC, it was, nonetheless, a truly insightful sequence, appearing in biological systems frequently. In addition, from this Fibonacci also contributed greatly to the introduction of the Arabic numbering system. Something he is often forgotten for. Haven spent a large portion of his childhood within North Africa he learned the Arabic numbering system, and upon realizing it was far simpler and more efficient then the bulky Roman numerals, decided to travel the Arab world learning from the leading mathematicians of the day. Upon returning to Italy in 1202, he published his Liber Abaci, whereupon the Arabic numbers were introduced and applied to many world situations to further advocate their use. As a result of his work the system was gradually adopted and today he is considered a major player in the development of modern mathematics. 6 Alan Turing

Computer Scientist and Cryptanalyst Alan Turing is regarded my many, if not most, to be one of the greatest minds of the 20th Century. Having worked in the Government Code and Cypher School in Britain during the second world war, he made significant discoveries and created ground breaking methods of code breaking that would eventually aid in cracking the German Enigma Encryptions. Undoubtedly affecting the outcome of the war, or at least the time-scale. After the end of the war he invested his time in computing. Having come up with idea of a computing style machine before the war, he is considered one of the first true computer

scientists. Furthermore, he wrote a range of brilliant papers on the subject of computing that are still relevant today, notably on Artificial Intelligence, on which he developed the Turing test which is still used to evaluate a computers intelligence. Remarkably, he began in 1948 working with D. G. Champernowne, an undergraduate acquaintance on a computer chess program for a machine not yet in existence. He would play the part of the machine in testing such programs.

5 Ren Descartes

French Philosopher, Physicist and Mathematician Rene Descartes is best known for his Cogito Ergo Sum philosophy. Despite this, the Frenchman, who lived 1596 to 1650, made ground breaking contributions to mathematics. Alongside Newton and Leibniz, Descartes helped provide the foundations of modern calculus (which Newton and Leibniz later built upon), which in itself had great bearing on the modern day field. Alongside this, and perhaps more familiar to the reader, is his development of Cartesian Geometry, known to most as the standard graph (Square grid lines, x and y axis, etc.) and its use of algebra to describe the various locations on such. Before this most geometers used plain paper (or another material or surface) to preform their art. Previously, such distances had to be measured literally, or scaled. With the introduction of Cartesian Geometry this changed dramatically, points could now be expressed as points on a graph, and as such, graphs could be drawn to any scale, also these points did not necessarily have to be numbers. The final contribution to the field was his introduction of superscripts within algebra to express powers. And thus, like many others in this list, contributed to the development of modern mathematical notation.

4 Euclid

Living around 300BC, he is considered the Father of Geometry and his magnum opus: Elements, is one the greatest mathematical works in history, with its being in use in education up until the 20th century. Unfortunately, very little is known about his life, and what exists was written long after his presumed death. Nonetheless, Euclid is credited with the instruction of the rigorous, logical proof for theorems and conjectures. Such a framework is still used to this day, and thus, arguably, he has had the greatest influence of all mathematicians on this list. Alongside his Elements were five other surviving works, thought to have been written by him, all generally on the topic of Geometry or Number theory. There are also another five works that have, sadly, been lost throughout history. 3 G. F. Bernhard Riemann

Bernhard Riemann, born to a poor family in 1826, would rise to become one of the worlds prominent mathematicians in the 19th Century. The list of contributions to geometry are large, and he has a wide range of theorems bearing his name. To name just a few: Riemannian Geometry, Riemannian Surfaces and the Riemann Integral. However, he is perhaps most famous (or infamous) for his legendarily difficult Riemann Hypothesis; an extremely complex problem on the matter of the distributions of prime numbers. Largely ignored for the first 50 years following its appearance, due to few other mathematicians actually understanding his work at the time, it has quickly risen to become one of the greatest open questions in modern science, baffling and confounding even the greatest mathematicians. Although progress has been made, its has been incredibly slow. However, a prize of $1 million has been offered from the Clay Maths Institute for a proof, and one would almost undoubtedly receive a Fields medal if under 40 (The Nobel prize of mathematics). The fallout from such a proof is hypothesized to be large: Major encryption systems are thought to be breakable with such a proof, and all that rely on them would collapse. As well as this, a proof of the hypothesis is expected to use new mathematics. It would seem that, even in death, Riemanns work may still pave the way for new contributions to the field, just as he did in life. 2 Carl Friedrich Gauss

Child prodigy Gauss, the Prince of Mathematics, made his first major discovery whilst still a teenager, and wrote the incredible Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, his magnum opus, by the time he was 21. Many know Gauss for his outstanding mental ability quoted to have added the numbers 1 to 100 within seconds whilst attending primary school (with the aid of a clever trick). The local Duke, recognizing his talent, sent him to Collegium Carolinum before he left for Gottingen (at the time it was the most prestigious mathematical university in the world, with many of the best attending). After graduating in 1798 (at the age of 22), he began to make several important contributions in major areas of mathematics, most notably number theory (especially on Prime numbers). He went on to prove the fundamental theorem of algebra, and introduced the Gaussian gravitational constant in physics, as well as much more all this before he was 24! Needless to say, he continued his work up until his death at the age of 77, and had made major advances in the field which have echoed down through time. 1 Leonhard Euler

If Gauss is the Prince, Euler is the King. Living from 1707 to 1783, he is regarded as the greatest mathematician to have ever walked this planet. It is said that all mathematical formulas are named after the next person after Euler to discover them. In his day he was ground breaking and on par with Einstein in genius. His primary (if thats possible) contribution to the field is with the introduction of mathematical notation including the concept of a function (and how it is written as f(x)), shorthand trigonometric functions, the e for the base of the natural logarithm (The Euler Constant), the Greek letter Sigma for summation and the letter /i for imaginary units, as well as the symbol pi for the ratio of a circles circumference to its diameter. All of which play a huge bearing on modern mathematics, from the every day to the incredibly complex. As well as this, he also solved the Seven Bridges of Koenigsberg problem in graph theory, found the Euler Characteristic for connecting the number of vertices, edges and faces of an object, and (dis)proved many well known theories, too many to list. Furthermore, he continued to develop calculus, topology, number theory, analysis and graph theory as well as much, much more and ultimately he paved the way for modern mathematics and all its revelations. It is probably no coincidence that industry and technological developments rapidly increased around this time.

Famous Indian Mathematicians Biography


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The most fundamental contribution of ancient India in mathematics is the invention of


decimal system of enumeration, including the invention of zero. The decimal system uses nine digits (1 to 9) and the symbol zero (for nothing) to denote all natural numbers by assigning a place value to the digits. The Arabs carried this system to Africa and Europe. The Vedas and Valmiki Ramayana used this system, though the exact dates of these works are not known. MohanjoDaro and Harappa excavations (which may be around 3000 B.C. old) also give specimens of writing in India. Aryans came 1000 years later, around 2000 B.C. Being very religious people, they were deeply interested in planetary positions to calculate auspicious times, and they developed astronomy and mathematics towards this end. They identified various nakshatras (constellations) and named the months after them. They could count up to 1012, while the Greeks could count up to 104 and Romans up to 108. Values of irrational numbers such as and were also known to them to a high degree of approximation. Pythagoras Theorem can be also traced to the Aryan's Sulbasutras. These Sutras, estimated to be between 800 B.C. and 500 B.C., cover a large number of geometric principles. Jaina religious works (dating from 500 B.C. to 100 B.C.) show they knew how to solve quadratic equations (though ancient Chinese and Babylonians also knew this prior to 2000 B.C.). Jainas used as the value of (circumference = x Diameter). They were very fond of large numbers, and they classified numbers as enumerable, unenumerable and infinite. The Jainas also worked out formulae for permutations and combinations though this knowledge may have existed in Vedic times. Sushruta Samhita (famous medicinal work, around 6th century B.C.) mentions that 63 combinations can be made out of 6 different rasas (tastes -bitter, sour, sweet, salty, astringent and hot). In the year 1881 A.D., at a village named Bakhshali near Peshawar, a farmer found a manuscript during excavation. About 70 leaves were found, and are now famous as the Bakhshali Manuscript. Western scholars estimate its date as about third or fourth century A.D. It is devoted mostly to arithmetic and algebra, with a few problems on geometry and mensuration. With this historical background, we come to the famous Indian mathematicians.

Aryabhata (475 A.D. -550 A.D.) is the first well known Indian mathematician. Born in Kerala, he completed his studies at the university of Nalanda. In the section Ganita (calculations) of his astronomical treatise Aryabhatiya (499 A.D.), he made the fundamental advance in finding the lengths of chords of circles, by using the half chord rather than the full chord method used by Greeks. He gave the value of as 3.1416, claiming, for the first time, that it was an approximation. (He gave it in the form that the approximate circumference of a circle of diameter 20000 is 62832.) He also gave methods for extracting square roots, summing arithmetic series, solving indeterminate equations of the type ax -by = c, and also gave what later came to be known as the table of Sines. He also wrote a text book for astronomical calculations, Aryabhatasiddhanta. Even today, this data is used in preparing Hindu calendars (Panchangs). In recognition to his contributions to astronomy and mathematics, India's first satellite was named Aryabhata. Brahmagupta (598 A.D. -665 A.D.) is renowned for introduction of negative numbers and operations on zero into arithmetic. His main work was Brahmasphutasiddhanta, which was a corrected version of old astronomical treatise Brahmasiddhanta. This work was later translated into Arabic as Sind Hind. He formulated the rule of three and proposed rules for the solution of quadratic and simultaneous equations. He gave the formula for the area of a cyclic quadrilateral as where s is the semi perimeter. He was the first mathematician to treat algebra and arithmetic as two different branches of mathematics. He gave the solution of the indeterminate equation Nx+1 = y. He is also the founder of the branch of higher mathematics known as "Numerical Analysis". After Brahmagupta, the mathematician of some consequence was Sridhara, who wrote Patiganita Sara, a book on algebra, in 750 A.D. Even Bhaskara refers to his works. After Sridhara, the most celebrated mathematician was Mahaviracharaya or Mahavira. He wrote Ganita Sara Sangraha in 850 A.D., which is the first text book on arithmetic in present day form. He is the only Indian mathematician who has briefly referred to the ellipse (which he called Ayatvrit). The Greeks, by contrast, had studied conic sections in great detail. Bhaskara (1114 A.D. -1185 A.D.) or Bhaskaracharaya is the most well known ancient Indian mathematician. He was born in 1114 A.D. at Bijjada Bida (Bijapur, Karnataka) in the Sahyadari Hills. He was the first to declare that any number divided by zero is infinity and that the sum of any number and infinity is also infinity. He is famous for his book Siddhanta Siromani (1150 A.D.). It is divided into four sections -Leelavati (a book on arithmetic), Bijaganita (algebra), Goladhayaya (chapter on sphere -celestial globe), and Grahaganita (mathematics of the planets). Leelavati contains many interesting problems and was a very popular text book. Bhaskara introduced chakrawal, or the cyclic method, to solve algebraic equations. Six centuries later, European mathematicians like Galois, Euler and Lagrange rediscovered this method and called it "inverse cyclic". Bhaskara can also be called the founder of differential calculus. He gave an example of what is now called "differential coefficient" and the basic idea of what is now called "Rolle's theorem". Unfortunately, later Indian mathematicians did not take any notice of this. Five centuries later, Newton and Leibniz developed this subject. As an astronomer, Bhaskara is renowned for his concept of Tatkalikagati (instantaneous motion). After this period, India was repeatedly raided by muslims and other rulers and there was a lull in scientific research. Industrial revolution and Renaissance passed India by. Before Ramanujan, the only noteworthy mathematician was Sawai Jai Singh II, who founded the

present city of Jaipur in 1727 A.D. This Hindu king was a great patron of mathematicians and astronomers. He is known for building observatories (Jantar Mantar) at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Varanasi and Mathura. Among the instruments he designed himself are Samrat Yantra, Ram Yantra and Jai Parkash. Well known Indian mathematicians of 20th century are: Srinivasa Aaiyangar Ramanujan is undoubtedly the most celebrated Indian Mathematical genius. He was born in a poor family at Erode in Tamil Nadu on December 22, 1887. Largely self taught, he feasted on Loney's Trigonometry at the age of 13, and at the age of 15, his senior friends gave him Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics by George Carr. He used to write his ideas and results on loose sheets. His three filled notebooks are now famous as Ramanujan's Frayed Notebooks. Though he had no qualifying degree, the University of Madras granted him a monthly scholarship of Rs. 75 in 1913. A few months earlier, he had sent a letter to great mathematician G.H. Hardy, in which he mentioned 120 theorems and formulae. Hardy and his colleague at Cambridge University, J.E. Littlewood immediately recognised his genius. Ramanujan sailed for Britain on March 17, 1914. Between 1914 and 1917, Ramanujan published 21 papers, some in collaboration with Hardy. His achievements include Hardy-Ramanujan-Littlewood circle method in number theory, Roger-Ramanujan's identities in partition of numbers, work on algebra of inequalities, elliptic functions, continued fractions, partial sums and products of hypergeometric series, etc. He was the second Indian to be elected Fellow of the Royal Society in February, 1918. Later that year, he became the first Indian to be elected Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Ramanujan had an intimate familiarity with numbers. During an illness in England, Hardy visited Ramanujan in the hospital. When Hardy remarked that he had taken taxi number 1729, a singularly unexceptional number, Ramanujan immediately responded that this number was actually quite remarkable: it is the smallest integer that can be represented in two ways by the sum of two cubes: 1729=1+12=9+10. Unfortunately, Ramanujan's health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, and he returnted to India in 1919. He died in Madras on April 26, 1920. P.C. Mahalanobis : He founded the Indian Statistical Research Institute in Calcutta. In 1958, he started the National Sample Surveys which gained international fame. He died in 1972 at the age of 79. C.R. Rao : A well known statistician, famous for his "theory of estimation"(1945). His formulae and theory include "Cramer -Rao inequality", "Fischer -Rao theorem" and "Rao Blackwellisation". D.R. Kaprekar (1905-1988) : Fond of numbers. Well known for "Kaprekar Constant" 6174. Take any four digit number in which all digits are not alike. Arrange its digits in descending order and subtract from it the number formed by arranging the digits in ascending order. If this process is repeated with reminders, ultimately number 6174 is obtained, which then generates itself. Harish Chandra (1923-1983) : Greatly developed the branch of higher mathematics known as the infinite dimensional group representation theory. Narendra Karmarkar : India born Narendra Karmarkar, working at Bell Labs USA, stunned the world in 1984 with his new algorithm to solve linear programming problems.

This made the complex calculations much faster, and had immediate applications in airports, warehouses, communication networks etc.

Famous Indian Mathematicians.. - not talking about ancient Indian math stalwarts from centuries ago like Brahamagupta, Bhaskara or Aryabhatta nor THE famous Indian math wizard of the last couple centuries - Srinivasa Ramanujan .. But want to bring to your attention two mathematicians making the headlines/news in the last 5-6 years.. 1. Chandrakant Khare - Read my blog post about 'Chandrakant Khare and Fermat's Last Theorem' for further details.. 2. Also another mathematician making the news recently.. - Divakar Viswanath of Univ. of Michigan-Ann Arbor (PhD at Cornell). In 1999, he wrote a paper about "Divakar's constant" which is the 'limit of the ratio of consecutive random fibonacci numbers'. Lot of discussion around this since with some people calling this new constant almost as important as the "golden ratio" (I need to find a reference/citation for this bold statement - for someone calling the constant as important as the much vaunted golden ratio - it was quoted to me by a friend). SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan was a great Mathematician, who became world famous at the age of twenty six. He was born at Erode in Tamil Nadu on 22 December 1887. Ramanujan could not complete his college education because of illness. He was so interested in mathematics that he learned on his own. He found out new formulas for solving mathematical problems and wrote articles about them. Professor Hardy a scientist in the Cambridge University saw one his article and impressed by his knowledge, took Ramanujan to England. Ramanujan was considered as the master of theory of numbers. The most outstanding of his contributions was his formula for p (n), the number of 'partitions' of 'n'. It was in 1914, while he was working in Trinity College he developed the 'Number Theory' and for his valuable contribution, was elected fellow of Trinity College on 18th October 1917. He returned to India in 1919 and began Research. He passed away on 26 April 1920. Government of India issued a commemorative stamp in his honour. Indian National Science academy and many other scientific institutions in India are giving various awards in memory of this brilliant mathematician.

Bhaskara II

Born: 1114 in Vijayapura, India Died: 1185 in Ujjain, India 1) Lilavati was the name of Bhaskaracharya's daughter. From casting her horoscope, he discovered that the auspicious time for her wedding would be a particular hour on a certain day. He placed a cup with a small hole at the bottom of the vessel filled with water, arranged so that the cup would sink at the beginning of the propitious hour. When everything was ready and the cup was placed in the vessel, Lilavati suddenly out of curiosity bent over the vessel and a pearl from her dress fell into the cup and blocked the hole in it. The lucky hour passed without the cup sinking. Bhaskaracharya believed that the way to console his dejected daughter, who now would never get married, was to write her a manual of mathematics! 2) Triumphant is the illustrious Bhaskaracharya whose feats are revered by both the wise and the learned. A poet endowed with fame and religious merit, he is like the crest on a peacock. 3)
Given that he was building on the knowledge and understanding of Brahmagupta it is not surprising that Bhaskaracharya understood about zero and negative numbers. However his understanding went further even than that of Brahmagupta. To give some examples before we

examine his work in a little more detail we note that he knew that x2 = 9 had two solutions. He also gave the formula

Aryabhata II

Born: about 920 in India Died: about 1000 in India

1) The most famous work by Aryabhata II is the Mahasiddhanta which consists of eighteen chapters. The treatise is written in Sanskrit verse and the first twelve chapters form a treatise on mathematical astronomy covering the usual topics that Indian mathematicians worked on during this period. The topics included in these twelve chapters are: the longitudes of the planets, eclipses of the sun and moon, the projection of eclipses, the lunar crescent, the rising and setting of the planets, conjunctions of the planets with each other and with the stars. 2) In Mahasiddhanta Aryabhata II gives in about twenty verses detailed rules to solve the indeterminate equation: by = ax + c. The rules apply in a number of different cases such as when c is positive, when c is negative, when the number of the quotients of the mutual divisions is even, when this number of quotients is odd, etc. 3) Aryabhata II constructed a sine table correct up to five decimal places when measured in decimal parts of the radius. Indian mathematicians were very interested in giving accurate sine tables since they were used to calculate the planetary positions as accurately as possible.

Satyendranath Bose

Born: 1 Jan 1894 in Calcutta, (now Kolkata) India Died: 4 Feb 1974 in Calcutta, (now Kolkata) India 1)
Satyendranath began his education at an elementary school in Calcutta before entering the Hindu School in 1907. It was here that his interest in mathematics and science began, and as

is so often the case, it was due to an outstanding mathematics teacher coupled with encouragement from the headmaster. He began his studies at Presidency College, Calcutta, in 1909 where he had a brilliant academic record. He was awarded a B.Sc. in 1913 and an M.Sc. in 1915 proving himself to be by far the best student of mathematics. In the year he was awarded his Master's degree, Bose married Ushabala Ghosh. They had five children, three daughters and two sons. 2)

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