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Physics

Computer attempts to replicate the dream-like maths of Ramanujan

By Donna Lu

9 July 2019

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Srinivasa Ramanujan was an influential mathematician

THE legendary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan was known for coming up with unconventional mathematical ideas. He has now inspired a computer program that does the same.

Called the Ramanujan Machine, the software poses conjectures for generating equations whose output is fundamental mathematical constants such as π and e. A conjecture is an unproven mathematical statement.

Born in 1887 in what is now Tamil Nadu in India, Ramanujan was a self-taught mathematician. He often claimed that his results came to him in a dream, and disliked the formal proofs favoured by most mathematicians. Ramanujan moved to the UK in 1914…

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