I found this article in New Scientist and became so intrigued by it that I thought it may be of interest to other members of the forum.
“PROOFS are the currency of mathematics, but Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of the all-time great mathematicians, often managed to skip them. Now a proof has been found for a connection that he seemed to mysteriously intuit between two types of mathematical function.
The proof deepens the intrigue surrounding the workings of Ramanujan's enigmatic mind. It may also help physicists learn more about black holes - even though these objects were virtually unknown during the Indian mathematician's lifetime.
Born in 1887 in Erode, Tamil Nadu, Ramanujan was self-taught and worked in almost complete isolation from the mathematical community of his time. Described as a raw genius, he independently rediscovered many existing results, as well as making his own unique contributions, believing his inspiration came from the Hindu goddess Namagiri. But he is also known for his unusual style, often leaping from insight to insight without formally proving the logical steps in between. "His ideas as to what constituted a mathematical proof were of the most shadowy description," said G. H.Hardy (pictured, far right), Ramanujan's mentor and one of his few collaborators”.
Jacob Aron
The complete article can be found here.
http://ift.tt/1w1bQHb
What is intuition anyway, and how did it help Ramanujan?
To elaborate, some years ago I was trying to repair a so called “vintage audio amplifier” where there where no circuit drawings, and the fault was that no signal was arriving at the power amplifier stage.
After circuit checking for a day or more without result, I looked again to a small white label which had been place there by the manufacturer with some instructions, and was placed over several of the copper circuit tracks, almost in desperation I pulled off the label and to my surprise some the track had been etched away over the years by the chemicals in the label adhesive. Repair of the track fixed the fault!
Unlike Ramanujan, I don't believe in help from the supernatural, but where did the informtion come from?
“PROOFS are the currency of mathematics, but Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of the all-time great mathematicians, often managed to skip them. Now a proof has been found for a connection that he seemed to mysteriously intuit between two types of mathematical function.
The proof deepens the intrigue surrounding the workings of Ramanujan's enigmatic mind. It may also help physicists learn more about black holes - even though these objects were virtually unknown during the Indian mathematician's lifetime.
Born in 1887 in Erode, Tamil Nadu, Ramanujan was self-taught and worked in almost complete isolation from the mathematical community of his time. Described as a raw genius, he independently rediscovered many existing results, as well as making his own unique contributions, believing his inspiration came from the Hindu goddess Namagiri. But he is also known for his unusual style, often leaping from insight to insight without formally proving the logical steps in between. "His ideas as to what constituted a mathematical proof were of the most shadowy description," said G. H.Hardy (pictured, far right), Ramanujan's mentor and one of his few collaborators”.
Jacob Aron
The complete article can be found here.
http://ift.tt/1w1bQHb
What is intuition anyway, and how did it help Ramanujan?
To elaborate, some years ago I was trying to repair a so called “vintage audio amplifier” where there where no circuit drawings, and the fault was that no signal was arriving at the power amplifier stage.
After circuit checking for a day or more without result, I looked again to a small white label which had been place there by the manufacturer with some instructions, and was placed over several of the copper circuit tracks, almost in desperation I pulled off the label and to my surprise some the track had been etched away over the years by the chemicals in the label adhesive. Repair of the track fixed the fault!
Unlike Ramanujan, I don't believe in help from the supernatural, but where did the informtion come from?
via JREF Forum http://ift.tt/1w1ei0z
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