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Re:Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan by HarHarVeryFunny on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @11:21AM (#41915176)
I couldn't comment on the impact of his work, which anyways is evidentially still unfolding, but the WAY he seems to have worked is just bizarre - coming up with these deep baffling series formulae offered without proof. His mind seems to have worked in an extraordinary way.
Re:Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan by n4r9 on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @12:42PM (#41916095)
It's true that the unconscious way he came about his theorems puts him in a different category to other famous names. But I wouldn't rank him as highly as Von Neumann. That man made groundbreaking results in the foundations of mathematics, pure and applied mathematics, early computer science, quantum mechanics, economics, and more. I think Von Neumann might arguably be the most significant genius of the 20th Century, paralleled in history only perhaps by the likes of Newton and Leibniz.

Einstein made a few extremely valuable insights in theoretical physics, but I'd say the sheer breadth of comparable work that Von Neumann did across multiple fields makes him more outstanding.

Re:Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan by 400thecat on Wednesday October 23, 2024 @06:58AM (#41923747)
yes, but the contrast is striking: Von Neumann had privileged upbringing and education Just imagine what what Ramanujan could have been if he grew up in Von Neumann household
Re:Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan by mangodrunk on Wednesday October 23, 2024 @02:50PM (#41928156)
Ramanujan wasn’t poor. He went to school and had access to many math books which he studied and was recognized as a child prodigy early on.
Re:Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan by mangodrunk on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @04:07PM (#41918163)
He studied very hard and was exceptionally gifted, it wasn’t a mystery.