Published in Cantor’s Paradise·Jul 31Why Study the History of Mathematics/Science?I originally wanted to title this article as — A Historian of Mathematics’ Apology, inspired by GH Hardy’s classic work, A Mathematician’s Apology, wherein he defends his choice of a career in mathematics. But then I admitted it would be too far-fetched and superficial — Hardy was a real top…History Of Mathematics12 min read
Jul 25Learnings From My 4 years At AmazonThis month, I completed four years at Amazon. Being my first job post graduation, it was bound to teach me a lot. For quick context, I’ve been in a software development role all the while. …Amazon7 min read
Published in Cantor’s Paradise·Jun 27A Glimpse into Ancient Indian MathematicsAs any history of mathematics aficionado would know, the subject has had a deep and unique history in India. Deep, as India boasts of some of the earliest recorded material on the subject. And unique, thanks to the peculiar way mathematical knowledge was developed and passed on across generations. While…History Of Mathematics6 min read
Published in Cantor’s Paradise·Apr 4Gauss-Bolyai-Lobachevsky: The Dawn of Non-Euclidean Geometry“One of Euclid’s postulates — his postulate 5 — had the fortune to be an epoch-making statement — perhaps the most famous single utterance in the history of science.” ~ Cassius Jackson Keyser Elements — the geometry textbook compiled by Euclid in 300 BC, holds a distinguished place in the…Mathematics14 min read
Published in Cantor’s Paradise·Jan 24Maryam Mirzakhani: Humble Till the End“I like crossing the imaginary boundaries people set up between different fields — it’s very refreshing.” ~ Maryam Mirzakhani (source) Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017) was an Iranian mathematician working at Stanford University. …Mathematics7 min read
Published in Cantor’s Paradise·Nov 25, 2021Relativistic Velocity AdditionCommon sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. ~Einstein If I were to summarize the following article in one line, the above would be it. For, below we reflect on how some of our flawed mathematical thinking stems out of the “common sense” we gather over the…Mathematics18 min read
Published in Cantor’s Paradise·Aug 29, 2021Ramanujan’s Nested Radical ProblemIn 1911, the Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan posed the above problem in the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society. After waiting in vain for a few months, he himself provided a solution to the same! In this article, we go over Ramanujan’s solution (taking note of its spell-binding simplicity)…Mathematics5 min read
Published in Cantor’s Paradise·Aug 21, 2021The Square Root AlgorithmHumans have been fascinated with square roots since eternity, the early motivation being fuelled by utilitarian questions such as — “given an area, construct a square equal to the area”. That requires us to know the side length of the square, which is, of course— the area’s square root. We…Mathematics11 min read
Published in Cantor’s Paradise·May 30, 2021The Etymology of SineA very few functions are as ubiquitous in mathematics as the sine function. Synonymous with trigonometry, this elementary ratio finds applications in numerous fields of mathematics and physics, to say the least. In fact, the usage of sine has become so commonplace nowadays that hardly anyone questions the rationale behind…Math4 min read
Published in Cantor’s Paradise·May 8, 2021Neugebauer and Ancient Egyptian MathematicsUniversality is perhaps the most intrinsic characteristic of mathematics. The fact that a curious mind is all that is required to carry out mathematics has made the discipline approachable to people of different times, races, religions, etc. …Math12 min read
