Monday, June 19, 2006

Ramanujam's Proof???

Today I got a mail saying "3=2! Ramanujam's Proof!.... Can U Find Any Flaws?".

The first and foremost flaw I found is that the proof was given Sri Ramanujam, the brilliant twentieth Century Indian mathematician. I couldnt find any supportive evidence for the claim itself.

Here is that mail:

Can U Prove 3=2??
This seems to be an anomaly or whatever u call in mathematics.It seems, Ramanujam found it but never disclosed it during his life time and that it has been found from his dairy.

See this illustration:
-6 = -6
9-15 = 4-10

adding 25/4 to both sides:
9-15+(25/4) = 4-10+(25/4 )

Changing the order
9+(25/4)-15 = 4+(25/4)-10
(this is just like : a square + b square - two a b = (a-b)square.) Here a = 3, b=5/2 for L.H.S and a =2, b=5/2 for R.H.S.

So it can be expressed as follows:
(3-5/2)(3-5/2) = (2-5/2)(2-5/2)

Taking positive square root on both sides:
3 - 5/2 = 2 - 5/2
3 = 2 ????????

The Flaw:
If you have x=y, then x^2 is equal to y^2.
However, if you have x^2 = y^2 ,it doesn't mean that x=y.
Eg: x^2 = y^2 = 9, x= 3 & y=-3

The rule is,
x^2 = y^2 has two solutions: x=y and x=-y. Considering only one solution will not be suffice and will not give the complete and correct solution.

Thus, the blunder is "Taking positive square root on both sides"

Now even you feel that, person of such a high rank would never have given a absurd proof like this one!!