St Aloysius College, Edathua, Kerala, India December 29, 2020.

Webinar Series by Department of Mathematics, SAC.

Srinivasa Ramanujan
His life and his work
Michel Waldschmidt
Sorbonne University
Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu
http://www.imj-prg.fr/~michel.waldschmidt/
Abstract

This lecture includes a few biographical informations about

Srinivasan Ramanujan. Among the topics which we discuss are
Euler constant, nested roots, divergent series, Ramanujan –
Nagell equation, partitions, Ramanujan tau function, Hardy
Littlewood and the circle method, highly composite numbers
and transcendence theory, the number π, and the lost
notebook.
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Erode December 22, 1887 —
Chetput, (Madras), April 26, 1920
P.K. Srinivasan
(November 4, 1924-June 20, 2005)

PKS was the first biographer

of Srinivas Ramanujan.

The Hindu, November 1, 2009

Passion for numbers by
Soudhamini

http://beta.thehindu.com/education/article41732.ece
Biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan

(December 22, 1887 — April 26, 1920)

1887: born in Erode (near Tanjore)

1894-1903: school in Kumbakonam

In 1900 he began to work on his own on mathematics

summing geometric and arithmetic series.
Gopuram Sarangapani Kumbakonam
Sarangapani Sannidhi Street Kumbakonam
Ramanujan House Kumbakonam
Ramanujan House in Kumbakonam
Ramanujan House Kumbakonam
Town High School Kumbakonam
Town High School Kumbakonam

1903: G.S.Carr - A synopsis of elementary results — a book

on pure mathematics (1886) 5 000 formulae

√ √
x + y = 7, x+ y = 11

x = 9, y = 4.
Biography (continued)

1903 (December): exam at Madras University

1904 (January): enters Government Arts College,

Kumbakonam

Sri K. Ranganatha Rao Prize

Subrahmanyam scholarship
MacTutor History of Mathematics

http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/

By 1904 Ramanujan had begun to undertake deep research.

He investigated the series
X1

n
n

and calculated Euler’s constant to 15 decimal places.

He began to study the Bernoulli numbers, although this was

entirely his own independent discovery.
Euler constant

N
X 1 1 1 1 1
SN = = 1 + + + + ··· +
n=1
n 2 3 4 N

Z N Z N
dx dx
< SN < 1 +
1 x+1 1 x

γ = lim (S N − log N ).
N →∞
Reference

Jeffrey C. Lagarias
Euler’s constant: Euler’s work
and modern developments
Bulletin Amer. Math. Soc.
50 (2013), No. 4, 527–628.

arXiv:1303.1856 [math.NT]
Bibliography: 314 references.

M.W. Is the Euler constant a rational number, an algebraic

irrational number or else a transcendental number?
http://www.imj-prg.fr/~michel.waldschmidt/articles/pdf/EulerConstantVI.pdf
Euler archives and Eneström index

http://eulerarchive.maa.org/

Gustaf Eneström (1852–1923)

Die Schriften Euler’s
chronologisch nach den Jahren
geordnet, in denen sie verfasst
worden sind
Jahresbericht der Deutschen
Mathematiker–Vereinigung,
1913.

http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/~euler/index/enestrom.html
http://www.eulerarchive.org/

(Reference [86] of the text by Lagarias)

http://www.eulerarchive.org/

(Reference [86] of the text by Lagarias)

Harmonic numbers

1 3 1 1 11
H 1 = 1, H2 = 1 + = , H3 = 1 + + = ,
2 2 2 3 6

n
1 1 1 X1
Hn = 1 + + + · · · + = ·
2 3 n j=1
j

Sequence:
3 11 25 137 49 363 761 7129
1, , , , , , , , ,...
2 6 12 60 20 140 280 2520
The online encyclopaedia of integer sequences

https://oeis.org/

Neil J. A. Sloane
Numerators and denominators
Numerators: https://oeis.org/A001008
1, 3, 11, 25, 137, 49, 363, 761, 7129, 7381, 83711, 86021, 1145993,

1171733, 1195757, 2436559, 42142223, 14274301, 275295799,

55835135, 18858053, 19093197, 444316699, 1347822955, . . .

Denominators: https://oeis.org/A002805
1, 2, 6, 12, 60, 20, 140, 280, 2520, 2520, 27720, 27720, 360360,

360360, 360360, 720720, 12252240, 4084080, 77597520,

15519504, 5173168, 5173168, 118982864, 356948592, . . .

Euler (1731)
De progressionibus harmonicis observationes

The sequence Leonhard Euler

(1707–1783)
H n − log n

has a limit γ = 0, 577 218 . . .

when n tends to infinity.

Moreover,
∞
X ζ(m)
γ= (−1)m ·
m=2
m
Riemann zeta function

X 1
ζ(s)=
n≥1
ns
Y 1
=
p
1 − p−s

Euler: s ∈ R. Riemann: s ∈ C.
Numerical value of Euler’s constant

The online encyclopaedia of integer sequences

https://oeis.org/A001620
Decimal expansion of Euler’s constant
(or Euler–Mascheroni constant) gamma.

Yee (2010) computed 29 844 489 545 decimal digits of gamma.

γ = 0, 577 215 664 901 532 860 606 512 090 082 402 431 042 . . .
Euler constant
Euler–Mascheroni constant
 
1 1 1
γ = lim 1 + + + · · · + − log n = 0.577 215 664 9 . . .
n→∞ 2 3 n

Neil J. A. Sloane’s encyclopaedia

http://www.research.att.com/∼njas/sequences/A001620
Bernoulli numbers
n−1  
X n
B 0 = 1, Bk = 0 for n > 1.
k=0
k
Jacob Bernoulli (1654 – 1705)
1
B 0 + 2B 1 = 0 B1 = −
2
1
B 0 + 3B 1 + 3B 2 = 0 B2 =
6

B 0 + 4B 1 + 6B 2 + 4B 3 = 0 B3 =0

1
B 0 + 5B 1 + 10B 2 + 10B 3 + 5B 4 = 0 B4 = −
30
..
.

Sloane A027642 and A000367

Kumbakonam

1905: Fails final exam

1906: Enters Pachaiyappa’s College, Madras
Ill, goes back to Kumbakonam
1907 (December): Fails final exam.
1908: continued fractions and divergent series
1909 (April): underwent an operation
1909 (July 14): marriage with S Janaki Ammal (1900—1994)
S Janaki Ammal
Madras

1910: meets Ramaswami Aiyar

1911: first mathematical paper

1912: clerk office, Madras Port Trust — Sir Francis Spring

and Sir Gilbert Walker get a scholarship for him from the
University of Madras starting May 1913 for 2 years.
Nested roots

Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society (1912) – problems

solved by Ramanujan
s r
√
q
1 + 2 1 + 3 1 + 4 1 + · · · =?

s r
√
q
6+2 7 + 3 8 + 4 9 + · · · =?
Answers from Ramanujan

s r
√
q
1+2 1 + 3 1 + 4 1 + ··· = 3

s r
√
q
6+2 7 + 3 8 + 4 9 + ··· = 4
“Proofs” n(n + 2)
(n + 2)2 = 1 + (n + 1)(n + 3)

p
n(n + 2) = n 1 + (n + 1)(n + 3)

f (n) = n(n + 2)

p
f (n) = n 1 + f (n + 1)

q p
f (n) = n 1 + (n + 1) 1 + f (n + 2)
“Proofs” n(n + 3)
(n + 3)2 = n + 5 + (n + 1)(n + 4)

p
n(n + 3) = n n + 5 + (n + 1)(n + 4)

g(n) = n(n + 3)

p
g(n) = n n + 5 + g(n + 1)

q p
g(n) = n n + 5 + (n + 1) n + 6 + g(n + 2)
Letter of S. Ramanujan to M.J.M. Hill in 1912

1
1 + 2 + 3 + ··· + ∞ = −
12

12 + 22 + 32 + · · · + ∞2 = 0

1
13 + 23 + 33 + · · · + ∞3 =
120
Answer of M.J.M. Hill in 1912

1
1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + n = n(n + 1)
2

n(2n + 1)(n + 1)
12 + 22 + 32 + · · · + n2 =
6

 2
3 3 3 3 n(n + 1)
1 + 2 + 3 + ··· + n =
2
Renormalisation of divergent series

Leonhard Euler

(1707 – 1783)

Introductio in analysin infinitorum

(1748)
Euler
Values of Riemann zeta function at negative integers :
B k+1
ζ(−k) = − (n ≥ 1)
k+1

ζ(−2n) = 12n + 22n + 32n + 42n + · · · = 0 (n ≥ 1)

1
ζ(−1) = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + · · · = −
12
1
ζ(−3) = 13 + 23 + 33 + 43 + · · · =
120
1
ζ(−5) = 15 + 25 + 35 + 45 + · · · = −
252
G.H. Hardy: Divergent Series (1949)

Divergent series are

the invention of the
devil, and it is
shameful to base on
them any
demonstration
whatsoever.
Niels Henrik Abel
(1802 – 1829)
Letters to H.F. Baker and E.W. Hobson in 1912

No answer to his letters to H.F. Baker and E.W. Hobson in

1912. . .
Letter of Ramanujan to Hardy
(January 16, 1913)

I have had no university education but I have undergone the

ordinary school course. After leaving school I have been
employing the spare time at my disposal to work at
mathematics. I have not trodden through the conventional
regular course which is followed in a university course, but I
am striking out a new path for myself. I have made a special
investigation of divergent series in general and the results I get
are termed by the local mathematicians as “startling”.
Godfrey Harold Hardy (1877 – 1947)
John Edensor Littlewood (1885 – 1977)
Hardy and Littlewood
Letter from Ramanujan to Hardy
(January 16, 1913)

1
1 − 2 + 3 − 4 + ··· =
4

1 − 1! + 2! − 3! + · · · = .596 · · ·
Answer from Hardy
(February 8, 1913)
I was exceedingly interested by your letter and by the theorems
which you state. You will however understand that, before I
can judge properly of the value of what you have done, it is
essential that I should see proofs of some of your assertions.
Your results seem to me to fall into roughly three classes:

(1) there are a number of results that are already known, or

easily deducible from known theorems;

(2) there are results which, so far as I know, are new and
interesting, but interesting rather from their curiosity and
apparent difficulty than their importance;

(3) there are results which appear to be new and important. . .

1913–1920

1913, February 27: New letter from Ramanujan to Hardy

1913: Visit of Neville to India

1914, March 17 to April 14: travel to Cambridge.

1918: (May) Fellow of the Royal Society

(November) Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

1919, February 27 to March 13: travel back to India.

An interesting street number
The puzzle itself was about a street in the town of Louvain in
Belgium, where houses are numbered consecutively. One of the
house numbers had the peculiar property that the total of the
numbers lower than it was exactly equal to the total of the
numbers above it. Furthermore, the mysterious house number was
greater than 50 but less than 500.

Srinivasa Ramanujan
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis 1887 – 1920
1893 – 1972

http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Mahalanobis.html
https://www.math.auckland.ac.nz/~butcher/miniature/miniature2.pdf
Balancing numbers
Answer: house number 204 in a street with 288 houses.
Sequence of balancing numbers (number of the house)
https://oeis.org/A001109

0, 1, 6, 35, 204, 1189, 6930, 40391, 235416, 1372105, 7997214 . . .

This is a linear recurrence sequence
un+1 = 6un − un−1
with the initial conditions u0 = 0, u1 = 1.
The number of houses is https://oeis.org/A001108
0, 1, 8, 49, 288, 1681, 9800, 57121, 332928, 1940449, . . .

M.W. The square root of 2, the Golden ratio and the

Fibonacci sequence. http://www.imj-prg.fr/~michel.waldschmidt/articles/pdf/sqrt2.pdf
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIQ0w3SRetE&t=247s
Ramanujan – Taxi Cab Number 1729

Hardy’s obituary of Ramanujan:

I had ridden in taxi-cab No 1729, and remarked that
the number (7 · 13 · 19) seemed to me a rather dull
one. . .

1729 = 13 + 123 = 93 + 103

123 = 1728, 93 = 729

Narendra Jadhav — Taxi Cab Number 1729
Narendra Jadhav (born 1953), Member of Rajya Sabha, the upper
house of Indian Parliament.

Former Vice-Chancellor (from

24 August 2006 to 15 June
2009) of Savitribai Phule
Pune University.
Author of Outcaste – A
Memoir, Life and Triumphs of
an Untouchable Family In
India (2003).

http://www.drnarendrajadhav.info
Ramanujan – Taxi Cab Number 1729

123 = 1728, 93 = 729

50 = 72 + 12 = 52 + 52

4 104 = 23 + 163 = 93 + 153

13 832 = 23 + 243 = 183 + 203
40 033 = 93 + 343 = 163 + 333
..
.
Leonhard Euler (1707 – 1783)

594 + 1584 = 1334 + 1344 = 635 318 657

Diophantine equations

x3 + y 3 + z 3 = w 3

(x, y, z, w) = (3, 4, 5, 6)

33 + 43 + 53 = 27 + 64 + 125 = 216 = 63

Parametric solution:
x = 3a2 + 5ab − 5b2 y = 4a2 − 4ab + 6b2
z = 5a2 − 5ab − 3b2 w = 6a2 − 4ab + 4b2
Ramanujan – Nagell Equation
Trygve Nagell (1895 – 1988)

x2 + 7 = 2n

12 + 7 = 23 = 8
32 + 7 = 24 = 16
52 + 7 = 25 = 32
112 + 7 = 27 = 128
1812 + 7 = 215 = 32 768
x2 + D = 2n

Nagell (1948): for D = 7, no further solution

R. Apéry (1960): for D > 0, D 6= 7, the equation

x2 + D = 2n has at most 2 solutions.

Examples with 2 solutions:

D = 23 : 32 + 23 = 32, 452 + 23 = 211 = 2 048

D = 2`+1 − 1, ` ≥ 3: (2` − 1)2 + 2`+1 − 1 = 22`

x2 + D = 2n

F. Beukers (1980): at most one solution otherwise.

M. Bennett (1995): considers the case D < 0.

Partitions

1 p(1) = 1
2 = 1+1 p(2) = 2
3 = 2+1=1+1+1 p(3) = 3
4 = 3+1=2+2=2+1+1
= 1+1+1+1 p(4) = 5

p(5) = 7, p(6) = 11, p(7) = 15, . . .

MacMahon: table of the first 200 values

Neil J. A. Sloane’s encyclopaedia

http://www.research.att.com/∼njas/sequences/A000041
Ramanujan

p(5n + 4) is a multiple of 5

p(7n + 5) is a multiple of 7

p(11n + 6) is a multiple of 11

p(25n + 24) is a multiple of 25

p(49n + 47) is a multiple of 49

p(121n + 116) is a multiple of 121

Ramanujan conjecture
If m = 5a 7b 11c and 24` − 1 is a multiple of m, then
p(nm + `) is a multiple of m for all n.

Hansraj Gupta : p(243) = 133 978 259 344 888 is not a

multiple of 73 .
S. Chowla : As 24 · 243 − 1 is divisible by 73 , the above
conjecture is false.

S. Chowla, . ”Congruence
Properties of Partitions.” J.
London Math. Soc. 9, 247, 1934.
https://doi.org/10.1112/jlms/s1-9.4.247a

Sarvadaman Chowla
(1907–1995)
Partitions - Ken Ono

Notices of the AMS, 53 N◦ 6 (July 2006),

640–651
http://www.ams.org/notices/200606/
fea-ono.pdf
Leonhard Euler (1707 – 1783)

1 + p(1)x + p(2)x2 + · · · + p(n)xn + · · ·

1
=
(1 − x)(1 − x2 )(1 − x3 ) · · · (1 − xn ) · · ·

∞
X ∞
Y
1+ n
p(n)x = (1 − xn )−1
n=1 n=1
Eulerian products
Riemann zeta function
For s > 1,
∞
X 1 Y
−s −1


ζ(s) = = 1 − p
n=1
ns p

Georg Friedrich Bernhard

Riemann (1826 - 1866)
Circle method

Srinivasa Ramanujan G.H. Hardy J.E. Littlewood

(1887 – 1920) (1877 – 1947) (1885 – 1977)

Hardy, ICM Stockholm, 1916

Hardy and Ramanujan (1918): partitions
Hardy and Littlewood (1920 – 1928):
Some problems in Partitio Numerorum
Circle method

This method was further developed by Hardy, Littlewood,

Rademacher, Vinogradov, Davenport,. . .
This gave rise to:
• Large Sieve
• Ternary Goldbach Conjecture
• Progress on binary Goldbach Conjecture
• Waring’s problem
All these problems looked beyond reach before the birth of
Circle method.
Ramanujan tau function
∞
X
x(1 − x)−1 = xn
n=1

∞
Y ∞
X
n 24
x (1 − x ) = τ (n)xn .
n=1 n=1

∞
X τ (n) Y
−1
= 1 − τ (p)p−s + p11−2s
n=1
ns p
Ramanujan’s Congruences

τ (pn) is divisible by p for p = 2, 3, 5, 7, 23.

also: congruences modulo 691

(numerator of Bernoulli number B 12 )
Pierre Deligne

Ramanujan’s Conjecture,
proved by Deligne in 1974

|τ (p)| < 2p11/2

Hardy–Ramanujan
For almost all integers n, the number of prime factors of n is
log log n.


A (x) = n ≤ x ; (1 − ) log log n < ω(n) < (1 + ) log log n .

1
A (x) → 1 when x → ∞.
x
Highly composite numbers
(Proc. London Math. Soc. 1915)

n = 2 4 6 12 24 36 48 60 120 . . .
d(n) = 2 3 4 6 8 9 10 12 16 . . .

Question: For t ∈ R, do the conditions 2t ∈ Z and 3t ∈ Z

imply t ∈ Z?

log 1729
Example: For t = , we have 2t = 1729 ∈ Z, but
log 2

3t = exp((log 3)(log 1729)/ log 2) = 135451.447153 . . .

is not an integer.
Pàl Erdős Carl Ludwig Siegel

Alaoglu and Erdős: On highly composite and similar numbers,

1944.

C.L. Siegel: For t ∈ R, the conditions 2t ∈ Z , 3t ∈ Z and

5t ∈ Z imply t ∈ Z.

Serge Lang, K. Ramachandra: six exponentials theorem, four

exponentials conjecture.
Five exponentials Theorem and generalizations

1985: Five exponentials

Theorem.

1993, Damien Roy, Matrices

whose coefficients are linear
forms in logarithms.
J. Number Theory 41 (1992),
no. 1, 22–47.
Approximation for π due to Ramanujan

√ !
63 17 + 15 5
√ = 3.141592653 80568820189839000630 . . .
25 7 + 15 5

π = 3.141592653 58979323846264338328 . . .
Another formula due to Ramanujan for π

∞
!−1
9 801 X (4n)!(1 103 + 26 390n)
π= √
8 n=0
(n!)4 3964n

n = 0: 6 exact digits for 3.141592 . . .

n → n + 1: 8 more digits

Ramanujan’s formula for 1/π

∞  
1 X 2m 42m + 5
= ·
π m=0 m 212m+4
Decimals of π

Ramanujan’s formulae were used in 1985: 1.7 · 107 digits for π

(1.7 crores)

In 1999: 2 · 1010 digits (2 000 crores)

18 Aug 2009: Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion

Decimals (2.5 · 1012 ).

2, 576, 980, 377, 524 decimal places in 73 hours 36 minutes

Massive parallel computer called : T2K Tsukuba System.

Team leader professor Daisuke Takahashi.

Ramanujan Notebooks

Written from 1903 to 1914

First: 16 chapters, 134 pages

Second: 21 chapters, 252 pages
Third: 33 pages
B.M. Wilson, G.N. Watson
Edited in 1957 in Bombay
The lost notebook
George Andrews, 1976

Bruce Berndt, 1985–87 (5 volumes)

Last work of Ramanujan

Mock theta functions

S. Zwegers – “Mock ϑ-functions and real analytic
modular forms.”, in Berndt, Bruce C. (ed.) et al., q-series
with applications to combinatorics, number theory, and
physics. Proceedings of a conference, University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA, October 26-28, 2000.
Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS).
Contemp. Math. 291, 269-277, 2001.
SASTRA Ramanujan Prize

The SASTRA Ramanujan Prize, founded by Shanmugha Arts,

Science, Technology & Research Academy (SASTRA) located
near Kumbakonam, India, Srinivasa Ramanujan’s hometown, is
awarded every year to a young mathematician judged to have
done outstanding work in Ramanujan’s fields of interest. The
age limit for the prize has been set at 32 (the age at which
Ramanujan died), and the current award is $10,000.

https://sas.sastra.edu/ramanujan/Ramanujan-Awards.php
SASTRA Ramanujan Prize

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SASTRA_Ramanujan_Prize
ICTP Ramanujan Prize

https://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/prizes-awards/the-ramanujan-prize/the-ramanujan-prize-winners.aspx
ICTP Ramanujan Prize
References (continued)
Don Zagier (March 16, 2005, BNF/SMF) :

”Ramanujan to Hardy, from the first to the last letter...”

http://smf.emath.fr/VieSociete/Rencontres/BNF/2005/

MacTutor History of Mathematics

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/∼history/

Eric Weisstein worlds of mathematics, Wolfram Research

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramanujan
Ramanujan according to Wikipedia
Erode December 22, 1887 —
Chetput, (Madras), April 26,
1920

Landau–Ramanujan constant
Mock theta functions
Ramanujan prime
Ramanujan–Soldner constant
Ramanujan theta function
Ramanujan’s sum
Rogers–Ramanujan identities

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan
Landau–Ramanujan constant
In mathematics, the Landau–Ramanujan constant occurs in a
number theory result stating that the number of positive
integers less than x which are the sum of two square numbers,
for large x, varies as p
x/ ln(x).
The constant of proportionality is the Landau–Ramanujan
constant, which was discovered independently by Edmund
Landau and Srinivasa Ramanujan.
More formally, if N (x) is the number of positive integers less
than x which are the sum of two squares, then
p
N (x) ln(x)
lim ≈ 0.76422365358922066299069873125.
x→∞ x
Landau–Ramanujan constant
M.W. Representation of integers by cyclotomic binary forms.
Number Theory Web Seminar, Tuesday, May 12, 2020.
Link to recording and slides
https://sites.google.com/view/ntwebseminar/previous-talks

Étienne Fouvry Claude Levesque

EF+CL+MW, Representation of integers by cyclotomic binary
forms. Acta Arithmetica, 184.1 (2018), 67 – 86.
EF+MW, Sur la représentation des entiers par des formes
cyclotomiques de grand degré. Bull. Soc. Math. France, 148
(2020), 253–282.
International Conference on Number theory and
Discrete Mathematics. Cochin

Web conference using Google Meet December 11–14, 2020.

Organized by the Ramanujan Mathematical Society (RMS)
and hosted by the Rajagiri School of Engineering &
Technology (RSET), Kakkanad.
https://www.rajagiritech.ac.in/icntdm/index.asp
M.W. Lecture on On some families of binary forms and the
integers they represent.
Monday, December 14, 12:00 IST = 7:30 am CST.
http://www.imj-prg.fr/~michel.waldschmidt/
articles/pdf/FamiliesBinaryForms.pdf
Ramanujan primes

In mathematics, a Ramanujan prime is a prime number that

satisfies a result proven by Srinivasa Ramanujan relating to the
prime-counting function.

π(x) − π(x/2) ≥ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . . for all x ≥ 2, 11, 17, 29, 41, . . .

respectively, where π(x) is the prime-counting function, that

is, the number of primes less than or equal to x.
Ramanujan primes

2, 11, 17, 29, 41, 47, 59, 67, 71, 97, 101, 107, 127, 149,
151, 167, 179, 181, 227, 229, 233, 239, 241, 263, 269, . . .

a(n) is the smallest number such that if x ≥ a(n), then

π(x) − π(x/2) ≥ n, where π(x) is the number of primes ≤ x.

π(2) − π(1) = 1, a(1) = 2 (Bertrand’s Postulate).

π(10) − π(5) = 1, a single prime (namely 7) in (5, 10];
π(n) − π(n/2) ≥ 2 for n ≥ 11, hence a(2) = 11.

Neil J. A. Sloane’s encyclopaedia

http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/A104272
Ramanujan–Soldner constant
In mathematics, the
Ramanujan–Soldner constant
is a mathematical constant
defined as the unique positive
zero of the logarithmic
integral function. It is named
after Srinivasa Ramanujan
and Johann Georg von
Soldner (16 July 1776 - 13
May 1833).

Its value is approximately

1.451369234883381050283968485892027449493 . . .
Ramanujan’s sum (1918)

In number theory, a branch of mathematics, Ramanujan’s sum,

usually denoted cq (n), is a function of two positive integer
variables q and n defined by the formula
a
2πi n
X
cq (n) = e q .
1≤a≤q
(a,q)=1

Ramanujan’s sums are used in the proof of Vinogradov’s

theorem that every sufficiently-large odd number is the sum of
three primes.
Ramanujan theta function
∞
X
f (a, b) = an(n+1)/2 bn(n−1)/2
n=−∞

In mathematics, the
Ramanujan theta function
generalizes the form of the
Jacobi theta functions, while
capturing their general
properties. In particular, the
Jacobi triple product takes on
a particularly elegant form
when written in terms of the
Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi
Ramanujan theta.
(1804–1851)
Rogers–Ramanujan identities

In mathematics, the
Rogers–Ramanujan identities
are a set of identities related
to basic hypergeometric
series. They were discovered
by Leonard James Rogers
(1894) and subsequently
rediscovered by Srinivasa
Ramanujan (1913) as well as
Leonard James Rogers
by Issai Schur (1917).
1862 - 1933
G.H. Hardy: Divergent Series
In
1
= 1 + z + z2 + z3 + · · ·
1−z
set z = −1, as Euler does:
1
1 − 1 + 1 − 1 + ··· = ·
2

Similarly, from the derivative of the previous series

1
= 1 + 2z + 3z 2 + 4z 3 + · · ·
(1 − z)2

deduce
1
1 − 2 + 3 − 4 + ··· = ·
4
s = 1 − 2 + 3 − 4 + ···

There are further reasons to attribute the value 1/4 to s. For

instance
1
s = 1 − (1 − 1 + 1 − 1 + · · · ) − (1 − 2 + 3 − 4 + · · · ) = 1 − −s
2
gives 2s = 1/2, hence s = 1/4.

Also computing the square by expanding the product

(1 − 1 + 1 − 1 + · · · )2 = (1 − 1 + 1 − 1 + · · · )(1 − 1 + 1 − 1 + · · · )

yields to  2
1 1
1 − 2 + 3 − 4 + ··· = = ·
2 4
Cesaro convergence
For a series
a0 + a1 + · · · + an + · · · = s
converging (in the sense of Cauchy), the partial sums

s n = a0 + a1 + · · · + an

have a mean value

s0 + · · · + sn
n+1
which is a sequence which converges (in the sense of Cauchy)
to s.
For the diverging series

1 − 1 + 1 − 1 + ···

the limit exists and is 1/2.

Cesaro convergence

Ernesto Cesàro For the series

(1859 – 1906)
1 + 0 − 1 + 1 + 0 − 1 + ···

the Cesaro limit

s0 + · · · + sn
lim
n→∞ n+1

exists and is 2/3.

Rules for summing divergent series

a0 + a1 + a2 + · · · = s implies ka0 + ka1 + ka2 + · · · = ks.

a0 + a1 + a2 + · · · = s and b0 + b1 + b2 + · · · = t implies
a0 + b0 + a1 + b1 + a2 + b2 + · · · = s + t.

a0 + a1 + a2 + · · · = s if and only if a1 + a2 + · · · = s − a0 .
12 − 2 2 + 3 2 − 42 + · · ·

Recall
1
= 1 + 2z + 3z 2 + 4z 3 + · · ·
(1 − z)2
Take one more derivative, you find also
1
1 · 2 − 2 · 3 + 3 · 4 − 4 · 5 + ··· =
4
from which you deduce

12 − 22 + 32 − 42 + · · · = 0.
Further examples of divergent Series
1 + 1 + 1 + ··· = 0

1
1 − 2 + 4 − 8 + ··· =
3

1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + · · · = −1

12k + 22k + 32k + 42k + 52k + · · · = 0 for k ≥ 1.

Euler:
1 1
1 − 1! + 2! − 3! + 4! + · · · = −e(γ − 1 + − + ···)
2 · 2! 3 · 3!
gives the value 0.5963 . . . also found by Ramanujan.
Ramanujan’s method (following Joseph Oesterlé)
Here is Ramanujan’s method
for computing the value of
divergent series and for
accelerating the convergence
of series.

The series
a0 − a1 + a2 − a3 + · · ·
can be written
1
(a0 + (b0 − b1 + b3 − b4 + · · · ))
2
where bn = an − an+1 .
Acceleration of convergence
For instance in the case an = 1/ns we have bn ∼ s/ns+1 .
Repeating the process yields the analytic continuation of the
Riemann zeta function.

For s = −k where k is a positive integer, Ramanujan’s

method yields the Bernoulli numbers.

In the case of convergent series like

1 1 1
1− + − + · · · = log 2,
2 3 4
or for Euler constant, Ramanujan’s method gives an efficient
way of accelerating the convergence.
St Aloysius College, Edathua, Kerala, India December 29, 2020.

Webinar Series by Department of Mathematics, SAC.

Srinivasa Ramanujan
His life and his work
Michel Waldschmidt
Sorbonne University
Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu
http://www.imj-prg.fr/~michel.waldschmidt/