Shakuntala Devi is often described as "India's most famous woman mathematician". Her biopic led discussion like what does a mathematician do? Is mathematics all about performing massive computations? Or is there more to it?
A 🧵on Indian women mathematicians by @kaneenikasinha

Recall one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century: Srinivasa Ramanujan. The image that he evokes is that of someone sitting quietly, writing complicated but beautiful equations involving many symbols in his notebooks.

But, this thread attempts to explore the different things that a mathematician does. Along the way, we highlight some exceptional Indian women mathematicians as examples. #GWOM #womeninmath @GWOMaths @AWMmath

In an abstract sense, a mathematician observes beautiful and meaningful patterns in the universe. Their attempt is to also develop a precise and transparent language in which to explain these patterns.

Discovering and explaining these patterns often amounts to what most of us perceive as mathematics: solving challenging problems. Some problems take several decades and even centuries to solve: in the quest to solve them, mathematicians develop a new language/ techniques. #GWOM