De Morgan's Ramanujan: An incident in recovering our endangered cultural memory of mathematics (Q1267792)

The author presents the work of the largely forgotten Indian mathematician Ramachundra (1821--?). Ramachundra published a treatise about solving a wealth of problems about maxima and minima without ever employing the calculus. The book appeared in Calcutta 1850 and was republished at the instigation of Augustus de Morgan in London 1859. Two characteristic examples from the book are included in the article. In a more general sense, the author deplores the overinformation of our age and expresses his hopes that journals like the Mathematical Intelligencer will help us out of these calamities.