Mathematics is often described as the language of the universe, a disciplined inquiry into patterns, structures, and relationships. Its earliest forms emerged from the basic human need to count, measure, and describe the world. Ancient tally marks found on bones such as the Ishango bone (around 20,000 years ago) hint that early humans were already engaging in primitive counting and numerical recording. Over time, these rudimentary practices evolved into sophisticated mathematical systems. Mathematics is developed from counting, calculation, measurement, and the systematic study of the shapes and motions of physical objects. It is one of the first sciences that human work to develop because of its great importance and benefit. There was a link between ancient civilizations and Mathematics (Mesopotamia and Egypt (circa 3000–2000 BCE)). The Sumerians developed early systems of counting and arithmetic, using a base-60 numerical system that still influences modern timekeeping (60 seconds, 60 minutes). Egyptian mathematics focused on geometry for land measurement and architectural planning. Archaeological evidence (Indus Valley and Indian Subcontinent) suggests geometric understanding in the mature Harappan Civilization (circa 2500–1900 BCE). Ancient Indian texts such as the Sulbasutras (first millennium BCE) present formalized rules for constructing altars and geometric figures, demonstrating early mathematical sophistication. Greek mathematicians (Babylonian and Greek Mathematics) like Euclid, Archimedes, and Pythagoras laid foundational work in geometry, number theory, and mathematical logic. Euclid’s Elements became one of the most influential works in mathematical history.Scholars (Islamic Golden Age (8th–14th centuries)such as Al-Khwarizmi further developed algebra and introduced techniques that deeply influenced European mathematics.India (Indian Mathematical Tradition) contributed major concepts such as the decimal place-value system, zero as a number, and early trigonometric functions, affecting the global mathematical canon. By the time of the Scientific Revolution in Europe (16th–17th centuries), mathematics had become an indispensable part of scientific inquiry, with calculus independently developed by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, opening new horizons in physics and engineering. The origin of the word “mathematics” in Greek, which means tendencies to learn, and there are many branches of mathematics in science, that are related to the numbers, including the geometric forms, algebra, and others. Practical mathematics has been a human activity from as far back as written records exist.
Applied mathematics has led to entirely new mathematical disciplines, such as statistics and game theory. Mathematics plays a vital role in all aspects of life, whether in everyday matters such as time tracking, driving, cooking, or jobs such as accounting, finance, banking, engineering, and software.Mathematics helps in analytical thinking. While solving mathematical problems, data are collected, disassembled and then interconnected to solve them. It is of central importance to modern society which provides the vital underpinning of the knowledge of economy.It is the pillar of organized life for the present day. Without numbers and mathematical evidence, we cannot resolve many issues in our daily lives. There are times, measurements, rates, wages, tenders, discounts, claims, supplies, jobs, stocks, contracts, taxes, money exchange, consumption, etc., and in the absence of these sports data, we have to face confusion and chaos.Thus, mathematics has become the companion of man and his helper since the beginning of human existence on earth.When man first wanted to answer questions such as “How many?” he invented math. Then algebra was invented to facilitate calculations, measurements, analysis, and engineering. The science of trigonometry emerged when humans wanted to locate high mountains and stars. Mathematics is deeply related to the natural phenomenon, the way to solve many secrets of nature.Mathematics is necessary to understand the other branches of knowledge. All depend on mathematics in one way or another. There is no science, art, or specialty except mathematics was the key to it. The discipline and mastery of any other science or art are very much related to the size of mathematics. We think it is impossible to limit the uses of mathematics in everyday life so we will suffice with some of them: Can we use any entertainment game without using numbers? Can we practice any sport without using numbers to learn if you are a winner or a loser? Can we do our work without using the numbers? If you are a teacher, collect your students’ marks or a doctor, estimate the amount of medicine for the patient or an engineer, estimate the amount of raw material to be added to complete the work or even a leader in a battle. Can we enter the store without using the numbers? Can prayers be organized without the use of numbers, and what is left of the time for the next prayer? And much more, whatever we try, we cannot get rid of the use of this important science. The importance of mathematics is that it is a method based on research and analysis, to reach the desired results, and is used for calculation and presentation of data; not only the use of this science in a particular field but the use of all areas of life and different sciences.
Mathematics is one of the most important sciences that cannot be dispensed with, and the individual’s need for mathematics is no less than the need of society. When studying an individual or a person of mathematics, this will develop his thinking and scientific tendencies.Mathematics is a basic subject taught at all stages. Some of the important roles of mathematics in society are (a) The importance of mathematics in scientific studies: The conduct of studies and scientific research requires many skills in sports, which help in the development of studies and progress, for example, the study of physics or chemistry depends heavily on mathematics, including mathematical skills and mathematical matters, and lies the role of mathematics in the accuracy of conducting social research through the statistics branch (b) The importance of mathematics in the development of social values: It helps mathematics in the development and refinement of personality, through the organization and accuracy, research and investigation and study, and helps to detect (c) The importance of mathematics in cultural development: Like other sciences, mathematics influences civilization’s development. Cultural development depends on the achievements of scientists and innovators, especially athletes. No one neglects the role of Arab and Muslim scientists in the development of civilizations. A great mathematician, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi who created the theory of algebra and laws of arithmetic that helped develop modern science and technology.
In India National Mathematics Day is celebrated on 22nd December every year to spread awareness about the importance of mathematics and the contributions made by the scholar of mathematics Srinivasa Ramanujan. On 22 December 2012, the former Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, paid tribute to Srinivasa Ramanujan at a function organised on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the great mathematician Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan in Chennai. 22 December was declared as National Mathematics Day. Thus, on 22 December 2012, National Mathematics Day was celebrated across the country for the first time. The main objective behind the celebration is to raise awareness among people about the importance of Mathematics for the development of humanity. In India National Mathematics Day is celebrated in various schools, colleges, universities, and educational institutions. Even the International Society UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) and India had agreed to work together to spread mathematics learning and understanding. All the states of India celebrate National Mathematics Day in different ways. Various competitions and mathematical quizzes are conducted at schools, colleges, and universities.
“Mathematics Day 2025 honors the evolution of math from ancient history and Ramanujan’s genius to its role in future scientific breakthroughs. It celebrates mathematics not just as an academic subject, but as a powerful mindset for problem-solving and innovation that helps us understand and imagine the universe.”
India has produced some great mathematicians known worldwide for their contribution. The Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Mahavira, Bhaskara II, Madhava of Sangamagrama, Nilakantha Somayaji etc. are classical Indian mathematician and their contribution in mathematics made them immortal. For example- decimal number system, concept of zero as a number, negative numbers, arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry etc. From ancient to the Medieval India, the mathematical works were composed in Sanskrit especially consists of sutras in which a set of rules or problems were stated. Srinivasa Ramanujan well known for Landau–Ramanujan constant; Mock theta functions; Ramanujan conjecture; Ramanujan prime; Ramanujan–Soldner constant; Ramanujan theta function; Ramanujan’s sum; Rogers–Ramanujan identities; Ramanujan’s master theorem was born on 22 December, 1887, Erode, India, and died on 26 April, 1920 at Kumbakonam. His family was of the Brahmin caste and lived in poverty. At the age of 12, he had gained knowledge in Trigonometry and without anyone’s help, he had developed his own theorems and ideas. Do you know that at the age of 15 only he obtained a copy of George Shoobridge Carr’s Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics? He had spent his childhood days in great difficulty in poverty. He used to borrow books and read books from friends in school. When he was young, he took up the job of a clerk to meet the economic needs of the house, and when he gets time he used to solve mathematics questions and worked on various types of theorems. Once, an Englishman saw those pages, he was impressed and took a personal interest. He sends Srinivasa Ramanujan to Hardy, the Professor of Oxford University. He then recognized the talent hidden in him and thereafter he got fame worldwide. His papers were published in the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society in 1911. He had compiled about 3900 results mainly identities and equations that too on his own without anyone’s assistance. Several results out of them are original and novel like the Ramanujan prime, The Ramanujan theta function, partition formulae, and mock theta functions.
These results further inspired several other research and opened new fields of work. He discovered his theory of divergent series, worked out the Riemann series, the elliptic integrals, hyper geometric series, and the functional equations of the zeta function. The number 1729 is known as the Hardy-Ramanujan number. 1729, the Hardy-Ramanujan Number, is the smallest number which can be expressed as the sum of two different cubes in two different ways. 1729 is the sum of the cubes of 10 and 9 – cube of 10 is 1000 and cube of 9 is 729; adding the two numbers results in 1729. Mathematics is central to the efficient organization of societies for the benefit of all citizens. It optimizes transportation and communication networks and enables smart planning and management of health, economic, and social systems. Science and mathematics have a crucial role in steering decisions to promote peace and social justice. As a common language to the planet, mathematics is an essential part of humankind’s cultural heritage. It is present in arts, music, and games, for human enjoyment and well-being. The world’s biggest companies are coming to India for data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) skills. But renowned mathematicians believe the country needs to significantly improve its mathematics capabilities to be able to use these technologies to create really innovative and robust solutions — both for itself and the world. Manjul Bhargava, mathematics professor at Princeton University and winner of the Fields Medal, one of the highest honours in math, says India can’t hope to lead the fourth industrial revolution, “if we don’t have strong mathematical talent coming up very soon”. A very important application of math and ML in Indian cities can be to programme traffic lights and public transport systems to reduce traffic and improve traffic flows, says Bhargava. Varadhan says how well weather is predicted depends on how good the mathematical modelling of the atmosphere is. India invented the zero, but math is seen to have suffered a decline here for several reasons.
The first is a global phenomenon. In the 1970s, there was a big separation between pure and applied mathematics. Bhargava describes it as a “very artificial separation”, because all pure science and math eventually get applied. A second reason for math’s decline is seen to be India’s big focus on engineering from the time of Independence. The moment parents see their children doing well in math, they say you are going to become an engineer?” says Bhargava. Yet another mistake that happened after Independence, Bhargava says, was the separation of teaching and research in India’s higher education system. India has some fantastic research institutions like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). But they are little islands of excellence. And then there’s the whole teaching sector, state universities, where no research happens. “How can you have excellent higher education in an environment where no knowledge creation takes place! The best education happens in places that combine these, like in the Ivy Leagues, or earlier in India in Takshashila and Nalanda,”. It is encouraging that a number of Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs), dedicated to science have been established, and many have excellent faculty. Mathematics research is the long-term, open-ended exploration of a set of related mathematics questions whose answers connect to and build upon each other. Problems are open-ended because students continually come up with new questions to ask based on their observations. The current current research topics in mathematics are Analysis, Topology, Differential Geometry, Algebra, Discrete Mathematics, Theoretical Computer Science, Numerical Analysis & Scientific Computing, ODE, PDE, Fluid Mechanics, Probability, Statistics. Mathematics is one of the main subjects of our life. Kashmir University’s Mathematics department, established in 1958, has significantly contributed in development of mathematics and has produced some great mathematicians/statistician like Prof. G.M.Qazi, Prof. A.Aziz, Prof. M.A.Sofi, Prof. Nisar A. Rather, Prof. W.M.Shah, Prof. Pirzada Shariefuddin, Ptof. B.A.Zargar, Prof. T.A.Chisti, Prof. Tanweer Jalal, Prof. Niyaz Ahmad, Prof. M.A.Khanday, Prof. M.S.Pukhta, Prof. Bilal Ahmad, Prof. A.Liman, Prof. Mushtaq Ali Mir and many more. In brief, Mathematics Day 2025 is a celebration of numbers, logic, creativity, and the human spirit’s quest to understand the universe. It honors past achievements, from ancient civilizations to Ramanujan’s extraordinary genius and projects forward into a future where mathematical insight guides scientific breakthroughs and everyday innovation.In celebrating this day, we acknowledge that mathematics is more than a subject; it is a mindset, that empowers individuals to solve problems, unlock new knowledge, and imagine what is possible.
(The author is Professor & Head (Agri. Econ & Statistics, FOA at S K University Of Agriculture Sciences & Technology Kashmir SKUAST-K, Srinagar, J&K. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
