Posted on 04/30/2016 8:09:39 AM PDT by MtnClimber
(Inside Science) In 1914, an unknown Indian man boarded a ship and traveled across the world to Cambridge University in England, where he could finally follow his passion for mathematics. In the few short years between his arrival and untimely death, he filled notebooks with formulas and discovered theorems, some of which still influence the work of mathematicians and scientists today.
The new biopic, "The Man Who Knew Infinity," which opens in U.S. theaters beginning Friday, April 29, chronicles the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan. A self-taught Indian mathematician from the city then called Madras (now Chennai), Ramanujan struggled to overcome racism, poverty, and outsider status in imperial Britain during the tumultuous time of World War I. But he eventually won over the mathematical community and was the second Indian to become a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Written and directed by Matthew Brown, the film gives an authentic portrayal of how mathematicians actually work. At Cambridge, Ramanujan, began an unlikely partnership with G. H. Hardy, who quickly recognized his impressive, if untrained, mathematical abilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at insidescience.org ...
Usually don’t pay attention to movies. May have to see this one.
I am amazed at people who are wired that way.
I have a friend who can look at complex equations and see a mistake instantly.
Me? I can’t count to 21 unless I am naked.
I have the book. This movie sounds interesting to me
I see what you did there...
Reminds me of the old saw about the Arab who invented the zero: when he was praised on the accomplishment, he said it was really nothing.
This guy was mentioned in the movie, Good Will Hunting
Don't gain any weight or your math skills will degrade.
Maybe he just...evolved.
The Arabs did not invent zero, the Indians did. The Arabs learned of zero while killing millions of Indians during the many Islamic invasions of India.
Wiki
The concept of zero as a digit in the decimal place value notation was developed in India, presumably as early as during the Gupta period (c. 5th century), with the oldest unambiguous evidence dating to the 7th century
I might have been interested, too. But the remark by Hardy about being “romantic” with the Indian, is a turnoff. All we need is another movie pushing perversion.
The Arabs never had an orginial idea!
My bad; thanks for the FYI.
FWIW, a little parental crowing...my son started failing math in the 4th grade, and after a few teacher conferences we finally realized it was because he was bored to death. Since it was a Lutheran school and the teachers and we went to the same church, I was able to set up a compromise: son promised to do the assignments, and in return I would teach him pre-algebra. Long story short, he finished high school with calculus III, and took the advanced math summer camp for entering freshpersons at Rose-Hulman, by which point he had long left his father behind (my limit, no pun intended, was practical calculus for the MBA). He's in his 30s and a transportation planner in AZ now.
From the article: “Their rare and at times fraught collaboration makes for an entertaining film. This is in spite its sprinkling in bits of math throughout, which some viewers might find daunting. For example, upon hearing about a taxi’s number 1729, Ramanujan pointed out that that it’s the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways (1 cubed plus 12 cubed and 6 cubed plus 10 cubed).”
Did anyone else read this and immediately know it’s wrong?
Guess I know what gender you are LOL.
Calculus III is one of the more difficult calculus classes. I passed Differential Equations (Calculus 4) put I knew I reached my limit at least in that field of mathematics. Now linear Algebra was fun and very useful too. Sadly it's been so long ago I've mostly forgotten all I learned. Good job on your son.
Infinity is being stuck with the wrong woman...
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