The Math - Averse

Genius is an understatement when we refer to Srinivasan Ramanujam. Numbers were malleable to him; whole, integer or rigid. This was a man who had mastered trigonometry at the age of 13, but failed his Fellow of Arts exam in college because the only subject that appealed to him was mathematics; English, Physiology, and Sanskrit papers remained insipid to this complex mind. His independent research in mathematics stemmed purely out of his passion. Ramanujam saw the universe in digits, as he claimed to have received his formulas in his dream from a Goddess. He followed the league of legends like Plato, Kepler and Galileo who believed that the grand book of nature was written by numbers. 

Us mere mortals too mostly saw one component of the universe in our math classes; stars. Numbers twinkled in front of our eyes, and we blinked back at them because we were caught like a deer in headlights. The agony of the likes of us was well represented by R. K. Laxman’s Swaminathan in Malagudi days. When Rama wanted to earn 15 annas out of 10 Mangoes, and Krishna wanted only 4, little Swami gazed at these two characters in the arithmetic problem and wondered if the fruits were ripe or not. He had dived deep into human psychology wondering if Rama was greedy to expect 15 annas for unripe mangoes. Math quietly left the room that afternoon because Swami’s agony had just begun.

But, why blame the poor fictitious boy for his interest (or the lack of it) when famous scientists before his time struggled with the subject as well.

Michael Faraday

Without Faraday, this article would have been a scroll, or a piece of paper in flight, tied to the foot of a pigeon. The father of electricity, Michael Faraday, discovered key principles of electromagnetic induction, but being a self-taught person with little formal education, he could not prove it to the satisfaction of other scientists. Yet, he provided a platform on which, backed by mathematical calculations, James Clerk Maxwell, propounded electromagnetic radiation. 

But who was it who once said, “I can always hire a mathematician”?

Thomas Alva Edison

“I can always hire a mathematician but they can’t hire me”, said Edison. Here was a scientist who established the first industrial research laboratory with pathbreaking technology and methodical developments. Yet, his achilles heel was math. It is remarked that Edison’s distaste was brought about by Isaac Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, from which he never recovered. Edison knew where his strengths lay: in inventions, team management and commercial ideas, and left complex mathematical calculations to mathematicians. 

Ever wished you could hire one who could have written your math exam in school?

Charles Darwin

The Theory of Evolution states that species change over a period of time through a process called natural selection. In simple words, those who are better suited to their environment will survive and reproduce compared to those with weak traits; survival of the fittest. Math seems to have survived. Darwin studied medicine initially and moved to theology, yet his passion led him towards geology and biology making him a groundbreaking naturalist in history. It was in his later years that he regretted not pursuing mathematics, but his younger years were spent being repugnant towards algebra. 

Genius Takes Many Shapes

If we come a round circle here, let’s observe that even a prodigy like Ramanujam did not adhere to the conventional structures of a subject or the education system itself. These luminaries who struggled with rigid constructs may have been intimidated by numbers but it did not limit their genius. They found their formulas in their own way, laying a path for us to discover our number game. 

Swami feared them, Faraday bypassed them, Edison outsourced and Darwin regretted avoiding them. But, they proved that brilliance doesn’t look the same in every mind. Shouldn’t we extend this courtesy to our children, viewing each mind as a unique force in itself?