National Mathematics Day 2020: Why do we celebrate Mathematics Day on 22 December? Know history and importance of this day

National Mathematics Day 2020: Many scholars made significant contributions to mathematics, including Aryabhata, Mahavir, Brahmagupta, Bhaskar. However, apart from all this there was only one Srinivasa Ramanujan, who showed signs of an obvious talent at a very young age. Ramanujan was born in 1887 in Erode, Tamil Nadu and at the age of 12, despite a lack of formal education, he excelled in trigonometry and also developed several theorems. His contributions about infinite series, fractions, mathematical analysis, number theory set an example in mathematics. For this reason, in his honor, we celebrate Mathematics Day every year on 22 December on the birth anniversary of the mathematician.

Contribution to mathematics

Ramanujan was recognized for his mastery of continued fractions and worked on the functional equations of the hypermetric series, the Reimann series, the zeta function, and the elliptic integral.

History of math day

In 2012, former PM Manmohan Singh declared 22 December as National Mathematics Day in a ceremony organized on the occasion of Jayanti in Chennai.

Importance of math day  

The main purpose of celebrating this day is to raise awareness among people about the importance of mathematics. This day is celebrated to increase positive attitude towards learning among the generation of the country. On this day, mathematicians, teachers and students are imparted training through camps and the development and dissemination of teaching material (TLM) for mathematics and research in related fields is highlighted.

A biopic on the great mathematician was also made, starring Dev Patel in The Man Who Knew Infinity, which was released in 2015.