The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

and Her Health

M.S. Raghunathan

Bangalore, December 3, 2009

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and Her December
Health 3, 2009 1 / 29
 Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss

(1777–1850)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and Her December
Health 3, 2009 2 / 29
 Principia

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and Her December
Health 3, 2009 3 / 29
 Queen

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and Her December
Health 3, 2009 4 / 29
 Queen in Alice in Wonderland

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and Her December
Health 3, 2009 5 / 29
M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence
Bangalore,
and Her December
Health 3, 2009 6 / 29
 René Descartes

(1596–1650)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and Her December
Health 3, 2009 7 / 29
 Euclid

(325 BC – 265 BC)

A whole number n is a p[rime if the only whole numbers that divide it

(exactly) are itself and 1.
The first few primes are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23 . . .
QUESTION: Is the collection of all prime numbers a finite collection?
Euclid answered the question in the negative.

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and Her December
Health 3, 2009 8 / 29
Euclid’s proof of infinitude of primes

Suppose that the collection P of all primes is finite. Let

p1 , p2 , p3 , . . . , pn−1 , pn be an ennumeration of all the primes (in P ). Let
N be the integer p1 · p2 · p3 · · · pn−1 · pn + 1.

Then N cannot be a prime since N is greater than all the primes. This
means that N is (exactly) divisible by some integer r with 1 < r < N.
Let d be the smallest of such integers r .

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and Her December
Health 3, 2009 9 / 29
Euclid’s proof of infinitude of primes (contd).

Now if d 0 is a divisor of d, d 0 will also divide N (exactly).Since d is the

smallest of all the integers, not equal to 1, dividing N, d 0 = d or 1. In
other words d is a prime.
It must therefore be one of the pi in P. But (unlike d), none of the pi
divide N exactly. In fact all of them leave a remainder 1 when dividing
N.
Thus our assumption that P is finite thus leads us to a contradiction.
So P cannot be a finite collection.

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 10 / 29
 Pierre de Fermat

(1601 – 1665)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 11 / 29
 Frontispiece of book by Diophantus

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 12 / 29
Pythagorean triplets

A triplet of integers (a, b, c) is a Pythagorean Triplet if a2 + b2 = c 2

Such triplets abound: if p, q are any two whole numbers

(p2 + q 2 )2 , (p2 − q 2 )2 , 2p2 .q 2

is a Pythagorean Triplet.

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 13 / 29
Fermat’s note on the margin

On the contrary, it is impossible to seperate a cube into two cubes, a

fourth power into two fourt powers, or, generally any power above the
second into two powers of the same degree. I have a truly marvellous
demonstration (of this) which this margin is too narrow to contain.
In other words Fermat claimed that if an + bn = c n with a, b, c
non-negative integers and n an integer greater than 2 then a or b is
zero.

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 14 / 29
 Andrew Wiles

(1953 – )

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 15 / 29
Quadratic equation

The two solutions of the quadratic equation

ax 2 + bx + c = 0

are: √
−b ± b2 − 4ac
2a

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 16 / 29
 Niels Henrik Abel Evariste Galois

(1802 – 1829 ) (1811 – 1832)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 17 / 29
 Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi

(1768–1830) (1804–1851)

A savant like Fourier ought to know that the sole end of science is the
glory of the human mind and under that title, a question about numbers
is worth as much as a question about the system of the world.

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 18 / 29
 Eugene Paul Wigner

(1902 – 1995)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 19 / 29
Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann Albert Einstein

(1826 – 1866) (1879 – 1955)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence
Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 20 / 29
John Keats

................Do not all charms fly

At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
....................................
Philosophy will clip an angel’s wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line
...............................

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 21 / 29
 Omar Khayyam

(1048 – 1131)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 22 / 29
 Sonia Kovalevskaya Henri Poincare

(1850 – 1891) (1854 – 1912)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 23 / 29
 David Hilbert Emmie Noether

(1862 – 1943) (1882 – 1935)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 24 / 29
 Hermann Weyl

(1885 – 1955)
M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence
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and HerDecember
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 C.L. Siegel Andre Weil

(1896 – 1981) (1906 – 1998)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 26 / 29
 R. Thom A. Grothendieck

(1923 – 2002) (1928 – )

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 27 / 29
M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence
Bangalore,
and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 28 / 29
 Srinivasa Ramanujan

(1887 – 1920)

M.S. Raghunathan () The Queen of Sciences: Her Realm, Her Influence

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and HerDecember
Health 3, 2009 29 / 29