What is friendship?

He was a genius who belonged to a very humble background. He made groundbreaking contributions to his field without any formal education. He once said, "An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God." He was often considered a lunatic by his peers at school because of his hardheaded intelligence. He was often a loner. He had very few friends and hardly held any close assistance with anyone.

When once asked, "You don't seem to have friends. Why do you hesitate in building a close friendship with anyone? "
He calmly said, "I wish I could have close friends but I haven't found anyone yet who fits in my definition of a true friend."

The person was very curios to know what a genius like him looks for in a friend. 

What are the qualities you look for in a person to befriend him?
I look for a relationship like the numbers 220 and 284 share with each other.
Errr...What? I think either you got my question wrong or I'm unable to decipher your answer. 
You heard it right, these two numbers are the epitome of a true friendship. 
How? Can you please explain?
Okay, just write down the divisors of both these numbers.

After a little difficulty, the person listed the divisors as instructed.

220 - 1,2,4,5,10,11,20,22,44,55,110,220

284 - 1,2,4,71,142,284

Great, now can you please sum the divisors of each number excluding the number itself. The result was astonishing. The person got his answer as he calculated the sum.

220:  1+2+4+5+10+11+20+22+44+55+110 = 284

284:  1+2+4+71+142 = 220

He looked up in awe at the greatest mathematician of the century, Srinivasa Ramanujan. He was confounded at Ramanujan's expertise and understanding of subtle human relations.

The number 220 represented the number 284 in its absence and vice versa. Both the numbers contained within themselves the other one.  An ideal friendship should be like these two numbers, to complement each other, even when one is absent, the other should represent the friend. These two numbers, though different from each other, represented a mutual connection at a deeper level which is required the most in a close-knit friendship.

Even after decades, Ramanujan’s theory for a close friendship holds true. If two people can have ingrained in them the same set of core values and qualities and if one can mirror the qualities of the other even in the other’s absence, then such two people can symbolize and represent a true friendship. 

In this journey of life, we meet many people, some pass-by, some leave behind an impression and some stay by our side. We carry a glimpse of everybody we meet. We often don't realize but we mirror the basic traits of people who are closely associated with us. We can't be sure of the time we would live that bond but one thing we can be sure of is embody the best of the other in ourselves and exude the goodness even when the other is not around. Be the 220 and 284 and leave the rest to the principles of Mathematics. This world will become a more better and happier place than before.

JJJ

Gracias!