If You Want to Win in Data Science & AI, You Need This One Skill: Mathematics says Kausik Mandal

Renowned contemporary mathematician Nassim Nicholas Taleb once said, “Mathematics is not just a numbers game, it is a way of thinking.” And if you pause for a moment, you’ll realize this idea is exactly what you need today—especially as you celebrate Indian Mathematics Day and pay tribute to Srinivasan Ramanujan, a name that reminds you what human curiosity and deep thinking can truly achieve.

When you think of mathematics, you may first picture numbers, formulas, and exams. But in reality, you’re living inside mathematics every day. It is the foundation behind subjects you already respect—like economics, statistics, and finance—but it also powers many modern applications you interact with constantly: AI, speech recognition, bioinformatics, weather forecasting, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and even medical research such as neurogenerative disorders. The difference is simple: AI feels visible and exciting, while mathematics works silently in the background. Yet that “background” is exactly what makes the “foreground” possible.

This is why you can’t afford to see mathematics only as “pure math” in a textbook. You need mathematics as a practical thinking tool. If your education system teaches you only to solve problems on paper, but not to apply math to real-world challenges, you lose a major advantage. And if you’re preparing for careers that sound modern—like data science—you’ll quickly learn that tools alone won’t save you. You’ll need a strong foundation in mathematics, statistics, and algebra to truly understand data, build logic, and create reliable outcomes.

You’re also living in a world where uncertainty has become the new constant—markets change, technologies shift, and predictions break faster than ever. In such times, your ability to think mathematically helps you handle uncertainty with structure. When you learn to innovate using scalable mathematical models and simulate scenarios through digital models, you don’t just react to change—you start anticipating it.

So when Taleb says mathematics is a way of thinking, he’s pointing you toward a bigger truth: mathematics must evolve from a numbers game into a mindset. And as you honor Ramanujan, you’re not just remembering a legendary mathematician—you’re reminding yourself that the future belongs to those who can think deeply, model reality intelligently, and solve modern challenges with clarity.