About the mystical mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, fellow mathematician John Littlewood is reputed to have said, “every positive integer is one of Ramanujan’s personal friends.” Inspired by this characterization, I like to claim that I have made the brain areas and neurotransmitters and receptors my friends. I recently found the following Ramanujan anecdote at https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/a-man-of-few-friends …
Mathematician Ramanujam was a man of very few friends and was not known to have a close friendship with anyone. A friend pointed out this to him and asked him the reason for his hesitation in developing a close friendship with anyone.
Ramanujam replied “I do wish to have someone with whom I can share a close friendship. But the problem is I am yet to find a person who possesses the qualities I expect from a close friend”.
The friend was eager to know what were the special qualities expected by Ramanujam.
Ramanujar replied “The numbers 220 and 284 are symbolic of an exemplary friendship and my wish is to have that kind of friendship with someone”
The friend was confused “What is the connection between my question and these two numbers?”
Ramanujam proceeded to clarify …..he asked the friend to first find the Divisors of these two numbers.
After a little difficulty, the person listed the divisors:-
220–>
1,2,4,5,10,11- ,20,22,44,55,110,220
284–>
1,2- ,4,71,142,284
Ramanujar asked him to remove the integers, 220 and 284 from both the lists and calculate the total of the remaining divisors for each number.
The friend did that and was surprised at what he got :-
220–>
1 2 4 5 10 11 20 22 44 55 110 = 284
284–>
1 2 4 71 142 = 220
When the divisors of these two numbers are totalled leaving out the integer, one gives out the other as the total. In other words, the number 220 represented the number 284 in its absence and vice versa….both the numbers contained within themselves the other one.
Ramanujar explained in his own inimitable style how just as these two numbers represented a mutual connection at a deeper level, he too expected to have such a connection and rapport with someone whom he could call a close friend. The friend looked in awe at the man, the greatest mathematician of the century.
Ramanujam’s theory for a close friendship:- If two people can have ingrained in them the same set of qualities and if one can mirror the qualities of the other even in the other’s absence, then such two people can symbolize and represent a true friendship.
