SHAKUNTALA DEVI

Geni us
MATHAWUTY
Awa k e n th e M a th G e n iu s in Yo u r C h ild
SHAKUNTALA DEVI
ORIENT PAPERBACKS
A D ivison of Visio n B o o k s P vt. Ltd.
N ew D elhi Mum bai H yd e ra b a d
The Author
Born in a well-known family of Brahmin priests in
Bangalore, Shakuntala Devi received her early lessons in
mathematics from her grandfather. By the age of five, she
was recognised as a child prodigy and an expert in
complex mental arithmetic. A year later she demonstrated
talents to a large assembly of students and professors at
the University of Mysore.
Hailed as an authentic heroine of our times her feats are
recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records. She has
made international headlines for out-performing and out-
computing the most sophisticated computers in the world.
She maintains that a child's curiosity and receptivity
during infancy and childhood can never be matched,
and we must, as parents, nurture the young minds by
offering the right learning process and motivation to
develop the innate strengths possessed by every child.
These days she spends most of her time giving shape to
her dreams of setting up a gigantic mathematical institute
for teaching and research in maths.
Mathabi l i ty (math + abi l i ty )
"They can, because they think they can."
Virgil
Nothing is more important. In today's increasingly
complex and technological world the most important
thing you can do for your child is to nurture
mathability. It is an attitude. Those who say 'that
their child is poor at maths' are doing themselves an
injustice. They are undermining the child's future.
Mathability is a skill that teaches a child how to
think. Mathability is a skill that develops the
inherent intelligence potential. It enhances problem
solving abilities and analytical focus. The methods
and the techniques are just as suitable for adults as
for children. Indeed many of the methods have
altered the mindset even of senior executives and
housewives.
To something that is often subjected to complexity,
confusion and prejudices, Shakuntala Devi brings
clarity, simplicity and practicality. She corrects many
of the generally held misconceptions and effectively
demostrates how mathability is an acquired skill.
Nurture Mathability. Nurture Success.
w w w .or i en tp ap er back s.com
I SBN 81-222-0316-7
1st Pu bl i shed i n Or i ent Pap er back s 2002
Mathability: Awaken The Math Genius in Your Child
Shaku ntal a Dev i
Cov er d esi gn by Vi si on Stud i o
Pu bl i shed by
Orient Paperbacks
(A Di v i si on of Vi si on Books Pv t. Ltd .)
Mad ar sa Road , Kash mer e Gate, Del hi -110 006
Pr i nted i n I ndi a at
Rak esh Pr ess, N ew Del hi -110 028
Cov er Pri nted at
Rav i nd r a Pr i nti ng Pr ess, Del h i
:
110 006
Contents
1. Of Maths and Mathematicians ... 9
Maths: Mi xed reacti ons...
Mathemati ci ans: Tal ented, gi fted, but...
Fi rst i mpressi ons
2. Maths in Everyday Life ... 15
The maths al i en
As natural as breathi ng
Your competi ti v e edge
You are the master
3. Origin of Maths: The Dynamic Numerals ... 22
The I ndi an Numeral Sy stem
The Arabi c Numeral Sy stem
Evol uti on of Roman Numbers
The I mperi al Sy stem
The Metri c Sy stem
Musi c of Maths
4. Maths is Essential For Success! ... 34
Maths: A success mul ti pl i er
5. Awakening the Maths Genius ... 42
Left si de-Brai n: Seat of
your numeri cal power
Devel opi ng spati al ski l l s
Maths i n sports
The Maths Al phabet
Symbol anal ogy
Symbol cl assi fi cati on
Symbol seri al i sati on
6. Nurturing Mathability ... 53
The unbreakabl e thread
Enumerati ng thoughts
Equati ons of atti tude
Maths wi thi n
7. Language of Maths ... 61
The Maths Al phabet
Eratosthenes' Si ev e
The fourth di mensi on
8. Mastering Mathability ... 70
Mental Dri p I rri gati on: The four Cs
9. Mathability: Problem Solving ... 80
Mathemati cal mi nd games
Usi ng your i magi nati on
Conceptual i si ng probl ems
Ov ercomi ng mental bl ocks
The hungry dogs!
10. Logic of Mathability ... 90
Masteri ng the methods
The scaffol di ng el ement
Ei nstei n and the l i ttl e gi rl
Av oi d rei nv enti ng the wheel
11. Mathability: Making it Easier
The 'tri cks' of the trade
Di v i di ng by factors
Di v i di ng by fracti ons
Check l i st
12. Shorthand of Maths
The ol dest l anguage
Symbol s and Si gns
Conqueri ng the x-f actor
Gi ve your i ntui ti on a chance
13. Mathability: Human Face of Mathematics... 125
Di rector of maths
Cal cul us and the 'real worl d'
Fi ndi ng rel ati onshi ps
14. Eccentricities of Maths ... 133
Sel f-anal ysi s can be ful fi l l i ng
Demand the best from y oursel f
Soari ng hi gh
15. Mathability: That Extra Step ... 139
Be an achi ev er
The benefi ts of maths
... 102
... 114
16. Myths About Maths
Bel i eve i n Yoursel f
143
8
Of Maths and
Mathematicians
Prejudice is the child of ignorance.
WI LLI AM H AZLI TT
T
he merry -go-round whi rl ed i n a kal ei doscope
of col ours. The gi ant wheel turned majesti -
cal l y on i ts axi s. Li ghts bl azed ai>d the l oud-
speaker bl ared musi c and announcements al ter-
natel y. Al l around me v oi ces buzzed and squeal ed.
The crowd pushed, hustl ed and bustl ed. If I were
to count and note down the number of ti mes I
was nudged sharpl y by i mpati ent el bows I 'm
sure i t woul d be a stati sti ci an's del i ght! The funfai r
was i n ful l swi ng and I al l owed my sel f to be
carri ed from stal l to stal l by the sheer surge and
swel l of the crowd.
'Come and see the fattest w oman i n the
worl d!' a v oi ce chanted, and coaxed us towards
a huge whi te tent. I stood and stared at the
monstrous woman cl ad i n a strange, sequi nned,
gari sh outfi t. Rol l s of fat bul ged from her body,
9
maki ng her l ook l i ke an i nhuman mass. There
were nudges and sni ggers as the group v i ewed
thi s 'freak'. Saddened, I turned away and was
on my Way out of the tent, when two cl ear v oi ces
in conv ersati on made me fal ter i n my stri de.
'Poor woman! She's real l y a freak of nature,
i sn't she?' sai d a mi ddl e-aged woman.
'She's just a fat l ady / repl i ed the man wi th
her. 'Nothi ng freaki sh about that. I thi nk sci enti sts,
mathemati ci ans, and arti sts are the ori gi nal freaks.
Mental freaks!'
There was somethi ng del i berate about hi s tone
that made me real i se that he had recogni sed me!
Maths: Mixed reactions, strong emotions
I hav e, by now, become used to the v ar i ed
reacti ons that greet me. Someti mes i t's unnerv i ng.
Even wi th my consi derabl e mental abi l i ty wi th
numbers, I 'm sti l l not cl ear on one poi nt: whether
bei ng a mathemati ci an has mor e p l u ses or
mi nuses! Perhaps every professi on has i ts share
of strange reacti ons. I know a doctor who, when
on v acati on, refrai ns from prefi xi ng hi s name wi th
'Dr '. 'The moment an acquai ntance comes to
know I 'm doctor, I hav e to l i sten to a l i st of al l
hi s aches and pai ns!' he says wi th a comi cal l i ft
of hi s eyebrow. 'And there goes my hol i day !'
A wri ter fri end has qui te another tal e to tel l .
A bri gadi er mov ed next door to hi m. My fri end
bei ng of a fri endl y di sposi ti on, i nv i ted hi m to hi s
house for a nei ghbourl y dri nk.
'What do y ou do?' asked the bri gadi er, as
they toasted thei r buddi ng fri endshi p.
10
'I wri te,' repl i ed my fri end. 'I 'm a wri ter.'
'I see,' sai d the good bri gadi er, puzzl ed. 'But
what do you do? Don't you hav e a professi on?'
You'd thi nk that i n thi s wor l d where the
sci ences are respected, a mathemati ci an woul d
be consi dered the creme de la creme of soci ety. Not
that I hav e nev er experi enced thi s feel i ng. I have.
When peopl e real i se I 'm a mathemati ci an, I do
see a sp ar k of r espect. But not al w ay s. A
mathemati ci an's i mage, I 'm afrai d, i s fogged by
a hotchpotch of numeral s, symbol s, and fracti ons.
A computer i nstead of a person ... dry, dusty,
unattracti v e ... col dl y cl i ni cal , who peers at the
worl d through grey-ti nted gl asses... dressed l i ke
a tramp.
Mathematicians: Talented, gifted, but . . .
A l i ttl e gi rl once, remarked, 'Why ! You are ni ce!'
'Thank y ou,' I sai d amused.
'My mom tol d me I shoul d behav e mysel f and
not act si l l y and gi ggl y wi th y ou,' she went on
wi th chi l dl i ke candour. 'But she was wrong! You
l aughed at all my jokes!'
How refreshi ng i t was to hear that! The l i ttl e
gi rl was right. Mathemati ci ans can l augh. How
I wi sh that adul ts were as open-mi nded as that
chi l d. Most peopl e sl ot mathemati ci ans i nto a
pi geonhol e of preconcei v ed i deas. They assume
that I want to be al ways addressed as 'madam',
that I don't know a thi ng about l i fe outsi de the
pages of my numerol ogi cal epi stl es! I 'v e met peopl e
who, when i ntroduced to me, say 'Hel l o' and
11
then fi dget uneasi l y. I can see what is goi ng on
i n thei r mi nd s: 'What do I say to a
mathemati ci an?' It i s as i f I am a bei ng from
another pl anet who doesn't ev en tal k the same
l anguage!
I 'v e had such remarks thrown at me:
'I 'm a "d u mmy " at maths!'
'Coul d you teach my son some tri cks to make
hi m pass hi s maths exam?'
'God, y ou're l ucky! You must al way s know
exactl y how much change you hav e to get when
you buy somethi ng!'
'Beyond knowi ng two pl us two makes four,
I 'm zero!'
'Do you hav e any ti me for hobbi es?'
'Don't you ev er get bored?'
When they get to know me, p eop l e ar e
surpri sed that I 'm human too! That I hav e a sense
of humour. And that I can tal k about food, fami l y,
musi c, fi l ms ...
A mathemati ci an i s usual l y known by two
i ni ti al s BB: Bri l l i ant and Bori ng! The 'bori ng'
is part of a sel f-defence mechani sm that stems
from the other person's own feel i ngs of i nferi ori ty.
I t i s a str ange soci al phenomenon. For some
i nexpl i cabl e reason, mathemati cs i s seen as an
exal ted cl oud on whi ch onl y a chosen few resi de.
What i t l acks is gl amour.
For thi s r eason, the mathemati ci an fi nds
hi msel f or hersel f i n a no-wi n si tuati on. Tal ented,
gi fted, great for a maths qui z show perhaps, but
not i nteresti ng enough to hav e a cup of tea wi th!
12
I suppose i t has somethi ng to do wi th the
aura surroundi ng the persona. A fi l m personal i ty
has an aura of gl amour and gl i tter. A sai nt has
an aura of spi ri tual i ty and humani ty. Both hav e
an 'otherworl dl y ' hal o attached to them. But the
mathemati ci an's aura i s unfortunatel y seen more
as a combi nati on of musty fi gures and bori ng
cal cul ati ons! How often hav e you heard of a
mathemati ci an bei ng i nterv i ewed for a magazi ne
arti cl e? I thi nk the weakness l i es i n the fact that
ther e has been al most no attemp t to make
mathemati cs 'peopl e-ori ented'. It i s v i ewed exactl y
as i t is defi ned i n the di cti onary: an abstract science
of space and numbers. Where are the emoti ons, the
cul ture, the human angl es, the hi ghs and l ows,
the confl i cts, and the drama that draw peopl e
to a subject? Where are the anecdotes that gi ve
fl esh and bl ood to the most abstract of theori es
or thoughts?
First impressions:
Mmm ... mathematics, ugh ... mathematics
I asked a fri end about her earl i est recol l ecti ons
of mathemati cs. I 'm quoti ng her v erbati m because
I thi nk her words provi de a pi erci ng i nsi ght i nto
the mi sconcep ti ons about maths i mbi bed i n
chi l dhood:
'I ni ti al l y, maths was an easy affai r. My mother
woul d pl ace fi rst one appl e i n front of me and
then another. So I knew that one pl us one equal l ed
two, and so on. I graduated to fracti ons. She'd
cut the appl e, and I l earnt about "hal f " and
"quar ter ". But my probl ems wi th maths began
i n school . My father now entered the pi cture. He
13
i nsi sted that I get full marks i n maths. Thi s jol ted
me. Suddenl y, the subject I had enjoyed became
a burden. My maths teacher was a stern ol d man,
al ways dressed i n an i l l -fi tti ng, rumpl ed, grey-
checked jacket and brown trousers. He'd cal l each
of us to the front of the cl ass to work out a sum
on the bl ackboard. If we di d i t ri ght, he'd say,
"I knew you were a cl ever gi rl ." But i f we got
i t wrong, he'd say, "Bad gi rl !" and bani sh us to
the back of the cl ass. I 'd approach the bl ackboard
ev ery day wi th the terri bl e fear of bei ng publ i cl y
l abel l ed "bad ". It was a humi l i ati ng experi ence.'
The negati v e approach of a parent or teacher
wi th hi gh expectati ons, wi thout the el ement of
fun, dri v es the chi l d away from what i s real l y
an i nteresti ng subject.
The fi rst i mpressi on remai ns wi th the chi l d
even as he or she matures i nto adul thood. When
the chi l d i s fed a new ti tbi t, her fi rst reacti on
i s to spi t i t out because of the forei gn taste.
Someti mes, the 'bad taste' remai ns. So i t i s wi th
mathemati cs. I t has l eft a bad taste i n the mouths
of a majori ty of peopl e. The al most paranoi c
di staste of maths i s transferred to the mathema-
ti ci an. But I hope I can change that i mage.
Mathemati cs i s a fasci nati ng subject. I n the
next chapter, I 'v e attempted to l i ft the i ron curtai n,
metaphori cal l y speaki ng, to gi ve you a gl i mpse
i nto the more human aspect of i t. Wi th a better
understandi ng and a more human approach, I
am sure you can i nfl uence yoursel f and your chi l d
to change that 'si ckeni ng, mu shy ' stuff i nto
somethi ng that is enjoyabl e, del i ci ous and crunchy.
By the end of thi s book, I hope you wi l l be sayi ng:
'Mmm ... mathemati cs!'
14
1
Maths in Everyday Life
Nothing has changed but my attitude.
Everything has changed.
AN TH ON Y DEMELLO
J
'v e met more peopl e who profess a hatred for
maths than those who are i ndi fferent to i t. For
some reason, the subject i s l i ke a red rag i n front
of them. Soci al graces are dropped, as such maths
haters tel l me wi th a shi v er of di staste, 'Maths
i s bori ng.' I ni ti al l y, I found i t strange. I coul dn't
i magi ne wal ki ng up to a hi story professor, for
i nstance, and tel l i ng hi m: 'Hi story i s bori ng.' Not
that I fi nd any subject tedi ous, but the poi nt I
am tryi ng to make i s that soci al eti quette demands
a certai n di pl omacy. Maths seems to stri p away
that v eneer to show the snarl beneath. It puzzl ed
me, unti l I attended an adv erti si ng workshop.
Smartl y cl ad, arti cul ate executi v es spoke about
'upmarket adv erti si ng', 'brand l oy al ty ', 'market-
l eadershi p', and so on. They projected sl i des to
demonstrate or prove a certai n poi nt, or ev en to
15
create an i nterest. One gentl eman spoke at l ength
about mar keti ng a soap to a speci fi ed target
audi ence. Communi cati on was touched upon.
There was a di scussi on on products endorsed by
cel ebri ti es. I went home wi th al l the adv erti si ng
buzzwords runni ng through my brai n.
The i dea hi t me at around mi dni ght. Now
I knew why maths was so unpopul ar. Of course!
It was so si mpl e! Why hadn't I real i zed i t earl i er?
Obvi ousl y, the subject had nev er been marketed!
It was treated as a 'product'; i t was of a hi gh
standard but i t had no gl ossy packagi ng, nothi ng
to recommend i t. It had excel l ent sal i ent features
bui l t i nto i t, but mi l l i ons of peopl e al l over the
worl d were unaware of i t. Mathemati ci ans and
teachers had made no attempt to communi cate
these exci ti ng qual i ti es. Li terature, on the other
hand, i s a 'sel f-marketer'. I ts essence l i es i n i ts
commu ni cati v e abi l i ti es. Maths need s to be
marketed. Si nce i t i s taught usi ng numeral s and
symbol s, i t i s not so much a forei gn l anguage,
as an al i en one.
The l anguage of symbol s i s al i en to us si nce
we don't use i t i n our ev eryday speech. We don't
use it i n our dai l y communi cati on, except perhaps
i n a speci fi c context.
The maths alien
Thi s 'al i en' feel i ng comes through cl earl y when
a person meets a mathemati ci an. The 'numbers
person' i s v i ewed as a di fferent speci es. And si nce
maths has the l abel of 'hi gh i ntel l i gence' attached
to i t, the other person feel s i nferi or. Predi ctabl y,
16
he or she turns away, or i s hosti l e. He cannot
comp r ehend that 'thi s-p er son-w ho-d eal s-and -
p r obabl y -thi nk s-i n-sy mbol s', i s al so a l i v i ng,
breathi ng, emoti onal human bei ng wi th normal
desi res and aspi rati ons. That the mathemati ci an
tal ks the same l anguage, eats the same food, pl ays
tenni s, and l i stens to musi c, is i gnored.
For many, 'maths-al i enness' begi ns at home.
A buddi ng actor tol d me, 'I remember I had to
si t at thi s hu ge d i ni ng tabl e at home. My
grandfather, who was a wi zard at maths, woul d
check my homework. If I made a mi stake, he'd
thunder at me. He consi dered me a fai l ure because
both he and my father had been whi z-ki ds. I was
not seen as a chi p of the two ol d bl ocks!' The
hu man mi nd i s a fu nny thi ng. Negati v e
i mpressi ons made i n chi l dhood seem to remai n
i mpri nted on our mi nds forever. Parents wi th
hi gh expectati ons come down heav i l y on thei r
chi l dren, dri v i ng them i nto a corner. Someti mes
si bl i ng ri v al ri es are tri ggered off by obv i ous and
unfai r compari sons.
If you hav e had si mi l ar experi ences, take them
out and exami ne them. More often than not, you
wi l l fi nd that y our own maths-al i enness ari ses
not out of your 'natural ' hatred for the subject,
but from y our di sgust or rebel l i on agai nst an
authori tari an adul t. I f you can recogni se that,
you wi l l al ready be on a new, exci ti ng road strewn
wi th fresh possi bi l i ti es and opportuni ti es. You may
shrug and say, 'I 'v e done wi thout maths so far,
I can do wi thout i t forever, thank y ou!' But l ook
at i t thi s way: why woul d you want to shut your
mi nd to anything?
17
As natural as breathing
What I want you to do i s to ov ercome your feel i ng
of maths-al i enness, i f you hav e i t. I want you to
enjoy ev ery moment of your l i fe wi th maths. Maths
may or may not pl ay a l arge part i n your l i fe,
but i t i s essenti al i n ev ery fi el d. Whether you
real i se i t consci ousl y or not, y ou are breathi ng,
l i v i ng, ev en eati ng maths.
After al l , you hav e to programme your day:
wake up to an al arm, fi x br eakfast, catch the
ni ne o'cl ock bus. When you exerci se, you count
the sets, check y our pul se r ate. You may be
measuri ng your dai l y cal ori e i ntake. When you
eat out, you gl ance at the ri ght-hand si de of the
menu card to av oi d orderi ng bey ond your budget.
You scan bi l l s for accuracy before pay i ng them.
You bal ance your chequebook ev ery week. When
y ou l i sten to mu si c, y our mi nd absor bs the
rhythmi c (read: mathemati cal ) beat. You ti me your
oven, the pressure cooker. Stati sti cs reported i n
newspapers i nterest you l i ke the number of
r uns scor ed by Sachi n Tend u l kar or I mel d a
Marcos' shoe col l ecti on! Or that i n 1990, Evander
Hol yfi el d, the boxer, was the hi ghest pai d athl ete
i n the worl d hi s i ncome total l i ng $ 60.5 mi l l i on.
Then, you may hear on the news that a 105-year-
ol d man sti l l l i v es on, hal e and hearty. You may
l i sten to the weather report to know at what
temperature y ou are swel teri ng i n!
By doi ng al l thi s you are al ready tuned i n
to a fasci nati ng mathemati cal wor l d. I t i s as
natural as breathi ng. You are al ready enjoy i ng
a major porti on of i t; why not enjoy all of i t?
18
Your competitive edge
I 'v e tal ked about ev eryday maths i n y our l i fe. But
even professi onal l y, you may fi nd that taki ng up
a maths-ori ented course gi ves you an edge over
your col l eague for a promoti on. Or you may fi nd
that readi ng and anal ysi ng graphs gi v es you a
better i nsi ght i nto your area of work. Ev en i f
maths doesn't come di rectl y i nto y our professi on,
you coul d l and a job because of y our i nterest i n i t!
Vi jay was a chemi st at a p har maceu ti cal
factory for sev eral years. Sl owl y, he began to feel
he was i n a rut. He scanned the wanted ads i n
the papers everyday. A company speci al i si ng i n
hol di ng chemi cal exhi bi ti ons, cal l ed hi m for an
i ntervi ew. Duri ng the course of the i ntervi ew, the
propri etor asked Vi jay about hi s hobbi es. I t so
happened that Vi jay was an amateur astronomer.
Casual l y, he menti oned i t as one of, hi s hobbi es.
19
The propri etor was el ectri fi ed. He happened to
be one hi msel f too! The same day, Vi jay wal ked
out wi th-hi s l etter of appoi ntment as a manager
i n the company.
So, you see, you never know what opportu-
ni ti es awai t you i n thi s great, wi de worl d! Why
not make the best of them? You shoul d not stop
y our sel f from taki ng an excel l ent job si mpl y
because one of your duti es may i nv ol v e a l i ttl e
maths. The job may be perfect i n ev ery way. I t
coul d be the maki ng of you. It coul d be 'The
Dream Job' that woul d ful fi l your i nterest, your
aspi rati ons, your ambi ti ons. I t may hav e a fab-
ul ous sal ary and uni magi nabl e perks attached to
i t. Ev erythi ng about i t may be what y ou'v e hoped
for, except for that one l i ttl e cl ause.
There are two scenari os: one, you chi cken
out, i n whi ch case y ou'v e l ost a great opportuni ty;
two, you take i t, but dread the maths part of
i t. Ei ther way y ou are mi ser abl e. You cur se
yoursel f, your job, your boss, your col l eagues.
But l et me pai nt a thi rd scenari o for you. You
deci de to take the job. You are determi ned to
tackl e ev ery duty wi th v erv e. You tel l yoursel f,
'I 'm goi ng to enjoy totti ng up those fi gures!' or
words to that effect. As you get deeper i nto i t,
your opti mi sti c approach pays di v i dends. You fi nd
you are enjoy i ng i t. You real i se that you never
knew you had thi s tal ented si de to you. You are
more confi dent, more sel f-assured. You know now
that you can tackl e anythi ng. You'v e joi ned the
l eague of when-the-goi ng-gets-tough-the-tough-
get-goi ng!
20
You are the master
It i s extremel y i mportant not to al l ow a feel i ng
of man-made maths-al i enness shut off channel s
to wi der vi stas. For starters, change your outl ook
about maths. See i t for what i t i s. Don't l et a
negati v e parental atti tude i nfl uence your l i fe today.
Forget phrases l i ke:
'I 'v e got no head for fi gures.'
'I hate maths.'
'I can't stand the thought of bal anci ng my
chequebook!'
Just as you bundl e up ol d refuse and throw
i t i n the trash bi n, so shoul d you wi th your ol d,
outdated fears. You are goi ng to start afresh. No,
you are nev er too ol d to l earn a new thought
process. Ol d Man Maths
i s not an ogre. He i s a
fri end. Li ke a tri ed and
tested horse, he i s al ways
at y our beck and cal l ,
ready to be harnessed. I t
i s up to you to take up
the rei ns and gui de hi m
to w her ev er y ou w ant
hi m to go. Remember, he i s not your master. You
are the one i n the saddl e. You cal l the shots.
21
1
Origin of Maths: The
Dynamic Numerals
All acts performed in the world
begin in the imagination.
BARBARA GRI ZZUTI HARRI SON
ho i s the gr eatest, most br i l l i ant
mathemati ci an i n the wor l d? You w on't
fi nd hi m i n the person-of-the-year l i st. You won't
see hi s or her name i n the hal l owed hal l s of fame.
The person I am referri ng to i s: Mother Nature.
Are you surpri sed? And wel l may y ou be. After
al l , you hav e normal l y v i ewed nature as the great
cosmi c force whi ch fi l l s your worl d wi th beauty,
and, someti mes, di sasters. But I am not tal ki ng
about fl ora and fauna. The breathtaki ng v i si ons
that you see al l around you, the arti sti c twi rl s,
the gl owi ng col ours, are al l mani festati ons of a
natural l aw or pl an l ai d out by natur e wi th
mathemati cal preci si on!
It i s nature's bl uepri nt that charts the paths
of the stars and pl anets. Such i s her preci si on,
that astronomers can know i n adv ance the exact
22
l ocati on of these heav enl y bodi es at a gi v en ti me.
You can see the sun ri si ng i n the east and setti ng
i n the west as though i t has been programmed.
Si mi l arl y, seasons fol l ow one another i n perfect
cycl es.
And y ou, nature's chi l d, ri de on thi s great
mathmagi cal cu r r ent ebbi ng, ad v anci ng,
fl owi ng wi th i t. So, y ou see, mathemati cs surges
through our v ery system. It i s si l ent, nev er seen
at work, and cannot be percei v ed through our
fi v e senses. That i s the reason we hav e been
unabl e to r ecogni se i t. I t i s too abstr act, too
i ntangi bl e. When y ou watch a sunri se or a sunset,
y ou are onl y seei ng the r esul t of thi s great
i ntangi bl e power.
The I ndian Numeral System
I thi nk thi s magi c of numbers permeated i nto our
ancestors. Somewhere i n thei r mi nds, a seed was
sown and began to fl ouri sh. Sl owl y, the anci ent
sages of I ndi a worked on and ev ol v ed a numeral
sy stem. Today, w e hav e a name for i t the
Deci mal System. But for our great forefathers, i t
was a creati v e endeav our, a l abour of l ov e. Thei r
thought process ev ol v ed on the basi s that wi th
onl y ten sy mbol s the ten fi ngers on thei r hands
they shoul d be abl e to represent any number.
I t sounds so si mpl e. I t i s, but onl y a bri l l i ant brai n
coul d hav e dev el oped i t thus. The ten symbol s
are our basi s for cal cul ati on ev en today. We cal l
them numbers or di gi ts. We wri te or read them
as: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0. These ten symbol s
stand for or are pronounced as: one, two, three,
23
four, fi v e, si x, sev en, ei ght, ni ne, and zer o,
respecti vel y
The sages di dn't stop there. They took on the
bi gger chal l enge of posi ti oni ng or pl aci ng these
symbol s. The far ri ght posi ti on i n any numeral
became the uni t. Mov i ng l eft, the next posi ti on
became ten. That i s how w e hav e ones, tens,
hundreds, thousands, and so on. When we wri te
these posi ti ons, they l ook l i ke thi s:
1 (uni t)
10
100
1000
The most exci ti ng part of thi s posi ti oni ng
sy stem i s that i t i s so uni v ersal . Take a more
compl ex number l i ke 5081. How do you break
i t down?
(5 x 1000) + (0 x 100) + (8 x 10) + ( l x l ) , 5081.
Today, when we say, 'The pri ce of thi s i tem
is fi ve thousand and ei ghty -one rupees,' i t rol l s
off our tongues so easi l y. But i t was our ancestors
who made i t possi bl e for us to express oursel ves
i n thi s way. We are abl e to put a v al ue to the
i tem and do not need to rel y on the ol d, pri mi ti v e
barter sy stem.
You can see thi s system at work graphi cal l y
too. For examp l e, take the fi gur e of 37 and
transl ate i t i nto dots:
(10 x 1) dots
= (10 x 1) dots
= (10 x 1) dots
= ( 7 x l ) dots
24
You wi l l noti ce that each l i ne or gr oup
represents ten dots, except for the l ast one whi ch
has sev en si ngl e dots. If you wri te i t down, i t
woul d be:
(3 x 10) + (7 x 1) = 37
You wi l l al so fi nd that there i s an emphasi s
on tens. How di d our forefathers come up wi th
thi s magi c fi gure of ten? As menti oned earl i er,
i t i s most l i kel y that they rel i ed on, or found a
measure fr om the most fl exi bl e parts of thei r
bodi es the ten fi ngers!
I t i s certai nl y food for thought, i sn't i t? I magi ne
the sheer i ngenui ty of man that made hi m work
out an enti re mathemati cal system from a part
of hi s anatomy ! Ev en today , y ou see peopl e
counti ng on thei r fi ngers.
I t i s i mportant to understand the ful l i mpact
of thi s thought process because onl y then wi l l
you begi n to understand 'Ol d Man Mathemati cs'.
He was bor n out of you, and y ou hav e hi m at
your fi ngerti ps!
Subl i mi ty and si mpl i ci ty are the essence of
our I ndi an ci v i l i zati on, of the wi sdom and sagaci ty
of our ancestors. Perhaps that i s why i t i s so
symbol i c and fi tti ng that the seeds of a si ngul arl y
phenomenal sci ence of mathemati cs shoul d hav e
sprung from I ndi a a si l ent but dy nami c sci ence
that stormed the worl d wi th i ts great possi bi l i ti es.
The Arabic Numeral System
How fortunate for the human race that i n those
days there were no travel restri cti ons. Traders,
25
merchants, and expl orers crossed countri es and
sai l ed the v ast oceans freel y, beari ng not onl y
goods but al so knowl edge across borders. And
so i t came to pass that the Arabs l earnt about
the I ndi an Numeral System and adopted i t as
thei r own. The great chai n of communi cati on
conti nued and reached the borders of Europe.
The Story of Zero
It is believed that the Hindu-Arabic symbols for
numbers have been used as early as five or six
centuries before the birth of Christ. In the earliest
stages, however, the Hindu-Arabic system of
number notation did not contain a symbol for zero.
Without the zero the system was not of much use.
The earliest known use of the Hindu-Arabic zero
occurs in an Indian inscription dated 876. B.C.
And the indisputable superiority of the Hindu-
Arabic system over all others is a consequence of
introducing the zero concept and symbol.
The word 'Cipher' means zero. 'Cipher', comes
from the Arabic 'Sifr' and our word zero is derived
from this word.
1. Any number plus zero equals the number.
2. Any number minus zero equals the number.
3. Zero minus any number equals the negative
of the number.
4. Any number times zero equals zero.
5. Zero divided by any number except zero equals
zero.
6. The operation of dividing by zero is not
defined and is not permitted.
26
The ear l i est know n 'maths mer chants',
i nstrumental i n transmi tti ng the I ndi an Numeral
System from Arab sources, were Robert of Chester
and Abel ard of France i n the twel fth century. The
exci ti ng new i nv enti on w as w el l r ecei v ed i n
Eur ope, and was dul y chr i stened the Ar abi c
Numeral System. Later, when i t was di scov ered
that i t was of I ndi an ori gi n, i t came to be known
as the Hi ndu-Arab system.
Evolution of Roman Numbers
The wor l d of mathemati cs bubbl es ov er wi th
i nteresti ng stori es. Unfortunatel y, our present day
teachers rarel y di scuss the i nteresti ng human face
of thi s wonderful sci ence. For exampl e, the anci ent
Romans had thei r own method. They conv erted
l etters to represent numbers, gi v i ng the Roman
system i ts own i denti ty. Thus, I stood for one;
V stood for fi v e; X stood for ten. I n short:
I = 1
V = 5
X = 10
To gi v e meani ng to these al phabets, they
dev i sed a few si mpl e, general rul es:
1. Repeating a letter doubles its value:
XX = 10 + 10 = 20
2. A letter placed after one of greater value adds to
its value: VI = 5 + 1 = 6.
3. A letter placed before one of greater value subtracts
from its value: IV = 5 - 1 = 4.
4. A dash over a numeral multiplies its value by a
thousand: X = 10 x 1000 = 10,000.
27
How pai nstaki ngl y , but l ogi cal l y , must the
anci ent Roman i ntel l ectual s hav e worked out thi s
system! And how they must hav e rejoi ced when
they charted i t to the end!
Thanks to the bri l l i ance of I ndi an and Roman
mathemati ci ans, we hav e i nheri ted two numeral
systems. Howev er, i t i s the I ndi an method that
has prev ai l ed. I nteresti ngl y, the Roman numeral s
are l i ke a shorthand transl ati on of the I ndo-Arab
numeral s as thei r v al ue i ncreases, as you can see
for yoursel f.
Many peopl e hav e tol d me that they are
nonpl ussed by hi gh v al ue Arabi c numeral . A hi gh-
fl yi ng busi ness tycoon once tol d me humorousl y,
'I hav e to be careful when I say "bi l l i on".' I n the
USA and Fr ance, a bi l l i on equ al s a thousand
million, whereas i n Engl and, a bi l l i on i s a million-
millionl Up to a p oi nt, I nd i a has her own
I ndo-Arab (I /A) and Roman (R) Numeral s
I /A R I /A R I /A R I /A R
1 I l i XI 30 XXX 5000 V
2 n 12 XII 40 XL 10,000 X
3 m 13 XIII 50 L 50,000 L
4 IV 14 XIV 90 XC 100,000 C
5 V 15 XV 100 C 500,000 D
6 VI 16 XVI 200 CC 1,000,000 M
7 VII 17 XVII 400 CD
8 vni 18 XVIII 500 D
9 IX 19 XIX 900 CM
10 X 20 XX 1,000 M
28
nomencl atures. For your entertai nment, I 'v e gi v en,
a tabl e of hi gher I ndi an-Arabi c numeral s wi th
thei r Amer i can and European counterparts:
Numeral Values Across the Worl d
Number USA/France UK/Europe India
(except France)
1&5 zeros one hundred one hundred one lakh
thousand thousand
1&6 zeros million million ten lakh
1&7 zeros ten million ten million one crore
1&8 zeros hundred hundred ten crore
million million
1&9 zeros billion milliard hundred
(thousand million) crore
1&12 zeros trillion billion
(million million)
1&15 zeros quadrillion thousand billion
1&18 zeros quintillion trillion
1&21 zeros sextillion thousand trillion
1&24 zeros septillion quadrillion
1&27 zeros octillion thousand quadrillion
1&30 zeros nonillion quintillion
1&33 zeros decillion thousand quintillion
So, the next ti me you want to l et off steam,
try, 'I 'v e tol d you a quadrillion ti mes not to do
thi s!' I t i s sure to get a reacti on noni l l i on ti mes
ov er!
29
The I mperial System
The ev ol uti on and branchi ng out of mathemati cs
coul d be a'cartooni st's del i ght. Yes, i ndeed, i t has
its own i di osyncraci es! The pri mi ti v e Angl o-Saxons
had a rough and ready reference for measuri ng
thei r hands! But for obv i ous r easons, thi s
method was undependabl e. And i t woul dn't be
wrong to say that one man's inch mi ght be another
man's footl But they managed somehow, unti l
they deri v ed the I mperi al Sy stem.
Though the new I mperi al System was based
on the ol d Angl o-Saxon one, an attempt was
made to make i t more uni form and exact i n the
Bri ti sh Empi re. After much bone-cr acki ng, the
royal mathemati ci ans deci ded that the inch was
the l ength of the knuckl e of the thumb!
Ki ng Edgar must hav e grumbl ed, 'Gi v e them
an i nch and they take a y ard!' The next thi ng
he knew was that the yard was the di stance from
the ti p of hi s royal nose to the ti p of hi s majesti c
mi ddl e fi nger as he hel d hi s ar m and hand
outstretched!
Perhaps the mi l e prov ed to be a 'mi l estone'
around thei r necks! Here, they deci ded to borrow
from the Roman l egi onari es. The Roman milli was
one thousand paces w hi ch, w hen measu r ed ,
proved to be about 1618 yards. But paces v ari ed,
so the mile was ev entual l y standardi sed at 1760
yards a ni ce round fi gure.
Sati sfi ed that they had taken the fi rst step
i n the ri ght di recti on, the math-men turned thei r
mi nds to a l arger area. I can qui te i magi ne the
Engl i shman standi ng wi th hi s l i ps pursed, gazi ng
30
at the oxen beari ng the yoke on thei r muscul ar
shoul ders, as they pl oughed the l and. As the sun
began to set, he mi ght hav e excl ai med, 'By Jov e,
I 'v e got i t!' And the acre was furrowed out by
measuri ng the amount of l and pl oughed by the
oxen i n a day !
You hav e to ad mi r e the mathemati ci an's
i mmense observ ati onal powers and creati v i ty i n
br i ngi ng some order to the I mper i al Sy stem.
Engl i sh-speaki ng countri es, i ncl udi ng the USA,
natural l y adopted i t.
The Metric System: Systematic & deliberate
France, howev er, ev ol v ed the Metri c System i n
a more systemati c, or del i berate manner. The metre
was equal l ed to one-ten mi l l i onth of a quadrant
of the earth's meri di an. Napol eon gav e i t hi s stamp
of approv al and i t was adopted by France and
i ntroduced to other European countri es.
Of course, ev entual l y, a more sophi sti cated
approach was adopted and standardi sed. To gi ve
you an exampl e, the metre i s now defi ned as 'the
l ength of the path trav el l ed by l i ght i n v acuum
duri ng a ti me i nterv al of 1/299, 792, 458 of a
second.' Try that one out i n your next fami l y qui z
contest!
Music of Maths
I 'v e l eft the choi cest bi t to be sav oured l ast.
Mathemati cs, to use contemporary termi nol ogy,
prov ed to be a user-fri endl y sci ence. It l ed to the
dev el opment of astronomy, phy si cs, and other
sci ences. But i f you thi nk that i t has been used
31
onl y i n the worl d of sci ence, you wi l l be surpri sed.
Maths has di pped i ts tal ented fi ngers i nto the arts
too. Western and Eastern musi c hav e thei r roots
in mathemati cs.
On hi s w ay home one day, the gr eat
mathemati ci an Pythagoras suddenl y stopped and
swi v el l ed ar ound. Hi s keen ear had caught a
del i ghtful ri ng comi ng from a shop a ri ng that
seemed to hav e a certai n rhy thm and harmony
to i t. Eager to fi nd the source, he peered i nsi de,
and what do you thi nk he saw? Musi ci ans? No.
He saw fi ve bl acksmi ths wi el di ng thei r hammers
on the anv i l ! As he w atched and l i stened
entranced, he observ ed that each hammer was
of a di fferent wei ght, and made a di fferent sound
as i t thumped agai nst the anv i l . He soon real i zed
that the heav y hammer produced a l ower note
than the l i ghter one. He f r ow ned , feel i ng
i nsti ncti v el y that there was somethi ng wrong: one
hammer was not qui te i n sync wi th the others.
I t was sl i ghtl y off-key, he fel t. Tentati v el y he
expl ai ned thi s to the bl acksmi ths and asked i f he
coul d borrow thei r hammers for an experi ment.
The humbl e men were surpri sed but agreed readi l y.
Back home, he wei ghed the tool s i ndi vi dual l y.
Each hammer y i el ded a di fferent wei ght i n a
certai n proporti on to the next one, except for the
'off-key ' hammer. When he corrected i t to sui t
hi s cal cul ati ons, he found that the ri ngs were
now i n sy nchr oni z ati on! By constant
experi mentati on, he soon dev i sed a musi cal scal e!
An I ndi an cl assi ci st once tol d me, 'Talas are
si mpl e ari thmeti c!' Talas are rhythmi c cycl es of
32
a group of beats. For exampl e, the teentaal has
16 beats di v i ded i nto four groups each. It goes:
na-dhin-dhin-na/na-dhin-dhin-tia/na-dhin-
dhin-na/na-dhin-dhin-na.
1-2-3-4/5-6-7-8/9-10-11-12/13-14-15-16.
Mathemati cal l y, one coul d wri te i t as:
4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 16 or 4 x 4 = 16
One school of I ndi an musi c cal l ed Carnatic
ev en har nesses fracti ons! Ev entual l y , what we
hear i s a measured mi x of sounds, whi ch, when
emphasi sed, sl owed down, or accel erated produce
pl easi ng rhythmi c musi c! I t woul d be too sweepi ng
a statement to say musi c i s maths or maths i s
musi c. But wi thout a measured di sci pl i ne, there
woul d be no musi c Western or Eastern onl y
a cacophony of sounds.
I hope I hav e succeeded i n arpusi ng y our
i nterest i n the col ourful cul ture of mathemati cs.
Bel i ev e me, i t i s a wonderful worl d. I n some way s,
i t i s l i ke l earni ng a new l anguage. I t i s chal l engi ng,
sti mul ati ng and, for that v ery reason, fasci nati ng.
Li ke musi c, i t has a wi de r ange fr om the
mi nuscul e atom to the v ast ski es and bey ond. I t
has permutati ons and combi nati ons that add to
i ts di mensi on. Maths i s a great subject. Don't
knock i t, just try i t!
33
1
Maths is Essential For
Success!
To knoiv what has to be done, then do it,
comprises the whole philosophy of life.
SI R WI LLI AM OSLER
Di ctator s are v i ewed wi th di staste, hatred,
suspi ci on ... yet parents themsel v es, more
often than not, are di ctators i n thei r own homes.
They turn thei r chi l dren's faces i n the di recti on
they feel i s ri ght for them. The strangest thi ng
about thi s sel f-d efeati ng exer ci se i s that the
d i r ecti on i s deci ded not on the basi s of the
apti tude of the chi l d, but by the i ncl i nati on of
the parents.
The di ctator uses hi s trai ned army to wi el d
hi s power. Parents use thei r i mage as rol e model s
for the chi l d, and the ti resome axi om of 'father
knows best' to wi el d thei r power. Smi l es and
gentl e w or d s make thi s atti tu d e no l ess
objecti onabl e. They onl y make i t more pal atabl e
as they brai nwash young mi nds.
34
Parents and rel ati v es obv i ousl y i nfl uence a
growi ng chi l d's mi nd. Strangel y enough, ev en
teachers whose very professi on consi sts of teachi ng
maths, can make as bi g a mess as the parents.
I fi nd thi s astoni shi ng, because teachi ng by i ts
v ery nature shoul d hav e good communi cati on
bl end ed i nto i t. The fact i s that good
mathemati ci ans are rarel y good communi cators.
I thi nk maths courses shoul d i ncl ude the fi ne art
of commu ni cati on as a su bject. Thi s i s v er y
i mportant as i t woul d hav e a posi ti v e i mpact on
our future generati ons. Thi s way, both gi rl s and
boy s w ou l d gr ow up w i th w el l -r ou n d ed
personal i ti es. At present, i t i s a one-di mensi onal
mental growth, whi chev er way y ou l ook at i t.
35
Maths shoul d be enjoyed and understood, not
shunned total l y or taken as bi tter medi ci ne.
Some 'peopl e I hav e spoken to bl amed the
personal i ty of the maths teacher for hav i ng had
a negati v e i mpact on them. For exampl e, Ri ma,
a homemaker, tol d me, 'My maths teacher was
an awkward, bony, bespectacl ed spi nster cal l ed
Mi ss Nai r. She had a funny wal k, as though she
had a herni a. I al way s had the fear that i f I
became profi ci ent i n maths, I 'd become l i ke her.'
Ri ma's outl ook was i mmature and i l l ogi cal .
In fact, I feel sympatheti c towards Mi ss Nai r. She
di dn't fi t the stereotype femi ni ne model that has
been pushed down our throats by soci ety. That
she tau ght a 'mascu l i ne' su bject l i ke maths
probabl y added to i t. Ri ma confessed that her
mother and she woul d pri v atel y poke fun at thi s
teacher. I di dn't want to hurt Ri ma's feel i ngs or
I 'd hav e tol d her that i t was her mother, not Mi ss
Nai r, who was to bl ame. I t was her mother who
was perpetuati ng thi s narrow v i si on of a woman's
rol e i n soci ety.
Another y oung woman cal l ed Li l y had a more
amusi ng anecdote to rel ate. She descri bed her
maths teacher as an ol d man whose cl othes al ways
smel t of mothbal l s. 'I rel ated maths to that musty
smel l / she concl uded, 'and coul dn't bear i t.'
I t i s strange how uni mportant, i sol ated l i ttl e
detai l s or i nci dents can make or mar a chi l d's
i nterest i n maths.
I hope through my book to i nfl uence more
and more peopl e to consi der maths to be a fri end,
36
equal l y accessi bl e to both women and men. We
are al l bl essed wi th brai ns and nobody i s l ess
i ntel l i gent than the other i n sphere, i ncl udi ng
mathemati cs.
I n some cu l tu r es w hi l e boy s ar e often
encouraged to study mathemati cs, and expected
to master i t, gi rl s are subtl y, di v erted away from
i t, under the mi staken bel i ef that i t i s not for
them. I nfact, speaki ng symbol i cal l y, I 'd say that
the fi rst mathemati ci an was a woman Ev e.
Yes, Ev e. She pl ucked one appl e from the tree of
knowl edge and deci ded to go halves wi th Adam.
The sy mbol i sm l i es not onl y i n the mathemati cal
terms I 'v e used, but i n the l arger context too. She
pl u cked i t fr om the tree of k now l ed ge. She
di spl ayed a curi osi ty that i s the v ery basi s for
i mbi bi ng any knowl edge.
37
Maths: A success multiplier
One v ery , exci ti ng aspect of mathemati cs i s i ts
ev er -ev ol v i ng natur e ev en as i ts fou nd ati on
remai ns fi rm as a rock. I t's l i ke a tree wi th strong
roots, whose branches spread wi der and wi der.
'Mathabi l i ty ', today, i s not just confi ned to
engi neer i ng, accou nti ng, geol ogy , comp u ter
pr ogr ammi ng or such techni cal fi el ds. I t has
percol ated down to v ari ous management fi el ds
as wel l . Earl i er, an executi v e i n a garment export
fi rm may hav e been chosen because of hi s pl easant
manner s, hi s abi l i ty to hand l e cl i ents, hi s
knowl ed ge of fabri cs and fashi ons. Today, i n
ad d i ti on, he i s exp ected to hand l e 'd ata',
'stati sti cs', and 'i nv esti gati v e gr ap h s' do
'quanti tati v e anal y ses', and 'target pl anni ng'.
A candi date who presents hi msel f as i deal for
a parti cul ar job has to hav e these techni cal ski l l s.
It i s not enough that he i s abl e to read export
jour nal s and magazi nes to keep up wi th the
trends. He must be comfortabl e readi ng fi gures
and 'thi nki ng mathemati cal l y ' as wel l .
Wi th i ncreasi ng competi ti on i n ev ery fi el d,
anal yti cal data i s fast becomi ng as common as
l i terature. I f that sounds ri di cul ous, I assure you
that ev en l i teracy was i ni ti al l y confi ned to a few
unti l i t gai ned uni versal i ty. Mathemati cal -l i teracy
has an i mportant rol e i n thi s hi gh-tech age, and
we must get our act together i f we do not want
to be l eft behi nd.
There is maths in everything. Maths i s both the
mother and chi l d of al l sci ence and art. It i s the
38
heartbeat of l earni ng, the al phabet of one school
of knowl edge. It i s the foundati on of al l order.
Ev en the si mpl e 'tw o pl us two equal s fou r '
formul a gi v es us an exactness and y ardsti ck.
Wi thout order, al l woul d be chaos. Whether i t
i s our hear tbeats, wor ds or chants, musi c or
mantras, maths permeates them al l , gi v i ng them
order, di r ecti on, and the space to branch out
deeper and deeper i nto knowl edge.
In a way, maths i s aki n to the Far Eastern
or Chi nese cal l i graphy . I t l i es at the heart of
percei v ed real i ty. And i t i s expressed by means
of mi ni mal sy mbol s and nu mer al s (l i ke
brushstrokes) appl i ed wi th maxi mum di sci pl i ne.
I t's either 'right' or 'wrong'. Maths teaches you
good di sci pl i ne to doubl e-check. Unl i ke other
subjects wher e there are grey areas, maths i s
str ai ghtfor war d. An answer i s ei ther ri ght or
wrong. But thi s 'stri ct' nature of maths teaches
you to be di sci pl i ned, to r e-exami ne, to l earn
i mmedi atel y from your mi stakes. And remember,
you can al way s do better the next ti me. The best
part of maths i s that, on doubl e-checki ng, you
l earn exactl y where you went wrong.
Clear thinking shows the way. Li ke most other
subjects, maths too must be l earnt by pay i ng
attenti on and by concentrati ng. You cannot al l ow
your mi nd to wander. I n a l i terature cl ass, i f you
hav e not been fol l owi ng cl osel y, at the end you
wi l l wonder why Othel l o ki l l ed hi s wi fe. Maths
too has i ts own pl ots. Onl y by understandi ng one
par t can y ou go on to the next. And by
39
understandi ng each part, you wi l l be abl e to store
i t away i n your memory.
Cl ear thi nki ng at al l ti mes i s a must. When
exams approach i f you pani c, you i mmedi atel y
press a mental stop button that shuts off memory
and concentrati on. I t's l i ke a day when ev erythi ng
seems to go wrong i f you pani c, you won't
be abl e to do a thi ng. For exampl e, i f a fi re breaks
out and you pani c, it wi l l bl aze on. But by keepi ng
a cool mi nd, you wi l l put out the fi re by throwi ng
a heav y bl ank et on. Or i f ther e i s a fi r e
exti ngui sher cl ose at hand, y ou wi l l sei ze i t and
use. Or y ou wi l l si mpl y cal l the fi re bri gade.
Si mi l arl y, whi l e swi mmi ng, i f you pani c because
a current i s carryi ng you away, you won't al l ow
your brai n to tel l you that by swi mmi ng di agonal l y
you can sav e yoursel f. Or that you can try to
attract the attenti on of a l i feguard. If he comes
to your rescue and you hi t out wi l dl y or try to
cl i ng too hard, you won't be abl e to hel p hi m
40
And l et me tel l you, ev en a geni us cannot
work i f he or she is i n a state of pani c. If a
probl em seems tough, take a deep breath and
address i t wi th a cool mi nd-step by step and try
to use your i ntui ti on. Even a hi l l i s a mountai n
unti l y ou begi n to cl i mb i t.
The bear went up the mounitain
To see what he could see;
And what do you think he saw?
The other side of the mountain...
Let us march up the mountai n of maths. Once
on i t, we'l l real i se how easy i t i s, how i t broadens
our hori zon. And we'l l be abl e to see the other
si de of the mountai n, whi ch so far was i n the
shad ows, out of our v i si on. I t wi l l enri ch us
i ndi v i dual l y and the human race as a whol e.
There's no pri ce to pay here: just a recogni ti on
of the abi l i ti es l ocked wi thi n you that maths can
open wi th i ts shi ni ng key.
41
Awakening the Maths
Genius
We carry with us the wonders
we seek without us.
SI R THOMAS BROWNE
S
i nce the anci ent I nd i ans gav e the w or l d
mathemati cs, i t i s l ogi cal to presume that there
was a great deal of mental acti v i ty i n those ti mes
too. Perhaps as a means of communi cati ng thi s
v ast knowl edge, i t was wov en i nto i nteresti ng
stori es. Ov er the y ears, such tal es came to be
k now n col l ecti v el y as I nd i an my thol ogy .
Unfor tunatel y , by ov er emp hasi si ng the stor y
aspect, much of the knowl edge was l ost as story-
tel l i ng turned i nto pure art. Yet, y ou do fi nd
traces of i t ev en today, as i n the unabri dged
v er si on of the Ramayana, w hi ch menti ons an
aeropl ane or ai rshi p cal l ed Pushpak, and ev en
goes i nto the detai l s of aerody nami cs.
42
Left side-Brain: Seat of your
numerical power
The power of anci ent I ndi an thought l i es i n i ts
recogni ti on of a l i festyl e that ev ol v ed from an
amal gam of sci ence and ar t. The br ai n w as
p er cei v ed as the seat of p ow er fr om w hi ch
emanated i deas, memory , r efl ecti on, anal y ses,
creati vi ty, abstract forms ...
After decades of r esear ch, sci enti sts hav e
fi nal l y zeroed i n on thi s my steri ous, jel l y-l i ke, grey
mass that r esi d es i n the sk u l l . Our gr eat
mathemati ci an, Nature, has bl essed al l of us wi th
two 'hemi spher es', or si des i n the brai n. I n a
ski l ful weav e, she has shaped each si de of the
brai n for speci fi c functi ons.
The ri ght si de of the brai n gui des the l eft si de
of the body, whi l e the l eft si de of the brai n gui des
the ri ght si de of the body. Why thi s i s so is not
43
The ri ght si de can be l oosel y l abel l ed as the
'creati v e si de'. It i s through thi s secti on that we
percei v e-shapes, recogni se faces, remember facts.
The l eft si de or the 'doer ', al l ows us to tal k, carry
out l i near tasks, and gu i d es our d ay -to-d ay
acti v i ti es.
The two si des, howev er, are not excl usi v e i n
thei r gui di ng process. They are i nterconnected,
as neurosurgeon Dr Joseph Bogen descri bes, 'by
a bi l l i on tel ephone l i nes.' Another researcher,
psychol ogi st Robert Ornstei n has concl uded that
the l eft si de gui des us i n our numeri cal abi l i ti es,
whi l e the ri ght si de enabl es us to recogni se desi gns.
Developing spatial skills
The eternal opti mi st i n me feel s that i t is nev er
too l ate. Mathemati cal l earni ng shoul d begi n at
home. I t's a gr eat ad v antage to be abl e to
u nd er stand and r eor gani se two or thr ee-
di mensi onal sketches v i sual l y and fol l ow the
44
space-ti me rel ati onshi p factor. I t's a ski l l that can
be acqui red by anyone.
Learni ng to read dev el ops an i mportant part
of the brai n. Al ong wi th readi ng, parents ought
to i ntroduce thei r chi l dren to shapes and si zes,
i ni ti al l y on fl at surfaces, and l ater on a two or
three-di mensi onal l evel .
For exampl e:
Step 1
Step 2 :
AHA
An anthr opol ogi st who v i si ted an anci ent
tri be i n Afri ca tri ed sketchi ng three-di mensi onal
fi gures for the tri bes. But they were unabl e to
comprehend them. The reason was that they had
nev er l ear nt to visualise an object by i tsel f,
sketched on paper, as a three-di mensi onal fi gure.
The part of the brai n that needs to be trai ned
had si mpl y not been dev el oped. I t's been cal l ed
spatial visualisation by sci enti sts; si mpl y put, i t
means bei ng abl e to 'read' and restructure three-
di mensi onal fi gures. I cal l i t the 'thi rd ey e'.
To get your chi l d started on the road to spati al
v i sual i sati on, buy toys whi ch requi re 'engi neeri ng'
ski l l s. The break-and-rebui l d ty pe are excel l ent
for thi s purpose. So are ji gsaw puzzl es. Gi rl s
shoul dn't be l i mi ted to dol l s and tea sets. If you
want your chi l d to dev el op the 'thi rd ey e', toys
of al l ki nds are a must. You must al so be prepared
45
for the compl ete di smemberment of the toy! I t's
no use naggi ng the chi l d not to 'rui n' i t. In the
v ery act of di smantl i ng and tryi ng to put i t back
together, howev er unsuccessful l y, l i e the seeds of
mathemati cs.
Whi l e taki ng apart a toy, the chi l d has the
op p or tu ni ty to stu d y i ts for m. Bu i l d i ng or
rebui l di ng a set i nvol ves the brai n i n setti ng up
a str u ctu r e. Unfor tu natel y , w hi l e boy s ar e
encouraged to pl ay wi th such i nteresti ng l i ttl e
mi nd boggl er s and br ai n bu i l d er s, gi r l s ar e
bani shed to passi v e rol e pl ayi ng wi th thei r dol l s.
Maths in sports
Sports acti v i ti es are another must for the buddi ng
mathemati ci an. Fol l owi ng scores and worki ng out
av erages hav e become an i ntegral part of the
sports scene. Whether i t i s tenni s, footbal l or
cr i cket, fi gures are constantl y fl ashed on the
tel evi si on screen and the scores or poi nts, l engths
of jumps, speeds of spri nts are al so buttressed
wi th compar i sons of past r ecor ds. Thi s i s an
excel l ent and entertai ni ng way to become fami l i ar
wi th fracti ons, percentages, and rati os. Today, the
chi l d has a vari ety of sports to choose and l earn
from wi th tenni s pl ayers serv i ng at 225 kmph,
bowl ers del i v eri ng at 150 kmph and Formul a I
dri vers hurtl i ng at over 210 kmph. Wi th gl i tzy
charts di spl ayi ng worl d records at a gl ance, there
i s no doubt that maths has come to stay i n sports.
I don't mean that the chi l d wi l l be abl e to appl y,
say, Carl Lewi s' 9.86-second spri nt of 100 m i n
46
1991, to a school maths assi gnment! But i t
cer tai nl y send s the nu mer al s w i th thei r
cal cul ati ons spi nni ng i nto the brai n, thus l ayi ng
the groundwork for i nterest and abi l i ty i n maths.
Pl ayi ng a sport i s equal l y i mportant. Setti ng
a fi el d to get the opti mum resul t from the trajectory
of the bal l i s a pl anned mathemati cal approach.
So i s al l owi ng the body to mov e, twi st (or ev en
pi rouette) to catch a passi ng bal l . Such rapi d
refl exes are not purel y physi cal though they may
appear to be. They need qui ck ey e mov ements
and i ntui ti v e cal cul ati ons that are al l di rectl y
rel ated to maths concepts. Such sports encompass
awareness, i magery, coordi nati on, i ntui ti on, al l
rol l ed i nto one fl ash of mov ement, And maths,
after al l , i s about trajectori es and v el oci ti es.
The maths alphabet
Get your chi l d started on the road to dev el opi ng
the thi rd eye wi th symbol games whi ch i nv ol v e
si mpl e, fl at or one-di mensi onal fi gures. Thi s wi l l
enabl e the chi l d to feel comfortabl e and at home
wi th sy mbol s that are the al phabet of the maths
l anguage. To gi ve a rough gui del i ne, I hav e di vi ded
the exerci se i nto three parts:
Symbol Analogy: Enabl es the chi l d to fi nd the
numeri cal rel ati onshi p between sy mbol s.
Symbol Classification: Hel ps i n cl assi fy i ng
rel ated symbol s.
Symbol Serialisation: Gu i d es the chi l d i n
anal ysi ng the di recti on of a set of symbol s.
47
Symbol analogy
1, Question symbols:
o oo
1>
a
From the answer symbol s gi ven bel ow, ask y our
chi l d to choose the sy mbol that shoul d be i n pl ace
of the questi on mark.
Answer symbols:
A O OO

A B C D E F
Visual steps: By exami ni ng the nu mer i cal
rel ati onshi p between the fi rst two symbol s, you
wi l l see that i t doubl es. One ci rcl e becomes two
ci rcl es. So, one square becomes two squares. The
answer i s C.
2. Question symbols:
A ?
a
Whi ch one shoul d come i n pl ace of the questi on
mark? Choose from the Answer sy mbol s.
Answer symbols:
o
A
O
A
A B C D E F
Visual steps: The fi rst symbol has fi ve si des,
the second has one si de subtracted and has four
si des. So the fourth box shoul d hav e one si de l ess
than the thi rd box. The answer i s E.
48
Symbol classification
1. Question symbols:
/ \
o
A B c D E
Whi ch symbol i s the odd man out?
Visual steps: The four l i nes A, B, C, D bel ong
to one cl ass. But the ci rcl e does not. So the answer
is E.
2. Question symbols:
3 J
r
r
a b o d e
Whi ch symbol i s the odd man out?
Visual steps: A, C, D, E ar e p oi nti ng
hori zontal l y up or down. But onl y one i s poi nti ng
v erti cal l y down. So the odd man yout i s B.
Symbol serialisation
1. Question symbols:
o o
<0> o
A B O D E
Where shoul d the dot be on E? Choose from the
Answer symbol s.
Answer symbols:
o
o o o o
A B O D E
Visual steps: The dot mov es i n a cl ock w i se
di recti on. So the answer i s D.
49
2. Question symbols:
o
o
t>

9

A B c D E
From the Answer symbol s, whi ch one shoul d be
i n E?
Answer symbols:

z>


<0.
A B C D E
Visual steps: Two thi ngs ar e hap p eni ng
si mul taneousl y i n the questi on symbol s: (i ) the
dots are i ncreasi ng by one, (i i ) the square i s
changi ng di recti on. The answer i s C si nce i t ful fi l s
both requi rements.
By such i ngeni ous methods, y ou and y our
chi l d wi l l dev el op the thi rd eye. Most of you hav e
a 'Fami l y Hour ' when you pl ay cards or word
games. So why not i ncl ude these 'symbol games'
too?
Later, you can mov e on to three-di mensi onal
symbol games, such as Turn the Box, whi ch goes
thi s way :
Question box: L
Whi ch box from the Answer boxes i s the same
as the one abov e?
50
Answer boxes:
M
w
M
Visual steps: Whi l e you can reason out the
answer, the ri ght way to do i t i s to fi x the i mage
of the fi rst box i n y our mi nd. Now, mental l y
rotate the i mage. When i t cl i cks i nto pl ace, you
wi l l hav e found the ri ght box, whi ch i s E.
Pl ease remember, these are onl y si mpl e mi nd
games. I f you or your chi l d fi nd them too di ffi cul t,
don't despai r. I t shoul dn't stop you from taki ng
hi gher maths. Whi l e I woul d l i ke you to dev el op
your thi rd eye to i ts ful l est potenti al , I woul dn't
want y ou to be put off the subject because you
experi enced a bi t of di ffi cul ty. Remember, ev en
i n the mathemati cal w or l d ther e ar e many
fal l aci es. I t coul d wel l be that 'spati al ' v i sual i sati on
is not an al l -i mportant factor i n the l earni ng of
maths. Look at i t thi s way ev en the best wri ter
i n the worl d needn't be a perfect spel l er to l ove
words, l i ve words, and feel a sense of ful fi l ment
as he wri tes.
That i s exactl y w hat I am d oi ng. By
i ntroduci ng the worl d of sy mbol s to you, I am
maki ng you and your chi l d as comfortabl e wi th
them as a wri ter i s wi th words.
51
A B O D E
X
L
L
Take the word Om. Hi ndus bel i ev e it i s the
essence, the breath of the soul . The 'O' i s your
l i ps shapi ng the word. The hummi ng of the 'M'
is the v i brant undercurrent of l i fe. Coi nci dental l y,
perhaps, i t i s al so the first letter of the wor d
'Maths'. Make maths a part of your l i fe. After
al l , i t i s the vi brati on that mov es the enti re worl d!
52
8
Nurturing Mathability
He who would learn to fly one day must first
learn to stand and walk and ruti and climb and
dance; one cannot fly into flying.
FRI EDRI CH NI ETZSCH E
C
al l i t l ove at fi rst si ght or what you wi l l , but
when I was onl y three years ol d I fel l i n l ove
wi th numbers. I t was as i f nothi ng el se exi sted
as I worked out sums. Ev erythi ng el se faded i nto
obl i v i on as I got the ri ght answers. I found a
compani onshi p that gav e me a deep sense of
emoti onal securi ty and ful fi l ment. Perhaps I was
too y oung to understand why thi s was so.
Now that I 'm ol der and wi ser, I can l ook
back and understand what number s meant to
me. They were the rock that gav e me strength.
They were the numerous l i ttl e sol di ers that stood
and defended me fearl essl y. They were the pi l l ars
of my l i fe. Wi th numbers I knew I was safe,
because no matter how the worl d changed, no
matter w hat I hear d or saw, I knew one
unchangi ng force i n my l i fe woul d al way s be
53
there: numbers that gav e me a beauti ful message
of hope that two pl us two alzvays made four.
Al l of us need thi s constant factor i n our
l i ves. What bl i ss i t i s to feel that, come hel l or
hi gh water, thi s factor nev er changes. I t's the
strong thread i n our l i v es. I t keeps us whol e when
other thi ngs coul d be shreddi ng or fal l i ng to pi eces
around us.
The unbreakable thread
I want to share the magi c of numbers wi th you
because I hav e experi enced what they can do.
Fri ends may come and go, but numbers remai n
wi th you eternal l y. They are not just the symbol s
wri tten i n chal k on the bl ackboard. If you al l ow
them to, they wi l l spri ng out and joi n you. They
wi l l gui de you i nto an adv enturous worl d and
thri l l you wi th thei r v ari ety and appl i cati ons. They
hav e a w i d e r ange that can nev er be
encompassed. They hav e a ri chness that y ou'd
never dreamed of. Together wi th thei r many faces
and phases, they hav e that one i mportant qual i ty
that we l ook for i n our fri ends, l overs, fami l i es
the constant factor.
Stability in an unstable ivorld that is what
maths is all about. That i s why I say maths i s the
pul se of our l i v es; the thr ead that keeps us
together; the thread that nev er breaks.
Psychol ogi sts hav e harnessed thi s factor to
bri ng sol ace to al l the troubl ed mi nds that l and
on thei r couches. When a person is unhappy, he
is tol d to make a l i st of what makes hi m sad.
54
He shoul d al so make a l i st of what he i s bl essed
wi th. On thi s mathemati cal equati on hangs the
bal ance of pessi mi sm and opti mi sm.
I know a woman who has been paral y sed
for the past 20 years. Yet, she i s al ways cheerful ,
al way s smi l i ng, al ways i nterested i n everythi ng.
When I asked her how she kept her spi ri ts up,
she repl i ed, 'Whenev er I feel l ow, I make a l i st
of al l that I hav e to be thankful for. That l i st
i ncl udes l ov i ng, cari ng chi l dren, enough money
to l i ve on comfortabl y, a l ov el y home, and the
greatest bl essi ng of al l to be al i v e to enjoy the
beauti ful worl d around me.'
Because she i s paral ysed, she i s unabl e to do
many of the thi ngs that others can. 'One day,
I asked mysel f why I exi st i f I can't do so many
thi ngs,' she conti nued. 'I thought for a l ong ti me.
I know we are al l here for a speci fi c purpose.
So what was mi ne? And the answer came to me:
I was here to make others happy ! And the onl y
way I can make others happy i s by bei ng cheerful
my sel f.'
I nd eed , she has fou nd the magi c of a
mathemati cal equati on. I t i s:
Awareness + Cheerful ness = Happi ness
or
A + C = H
Enumerating thoughts
Psychol ogi sts or psychi atri sts ask us to make l i sts.
In other words, they are aski ng us to enumerate
our thoughts. By breaki ng down emoti ons i nto
55
si mpl e ari thmeti c, we often fi nd the sol uti ons.
That i s why the woman I hav e spoken about
makes a Ji st of what she i s bl essed wi th. We make
shoppi ng l i sts so that w e remember what we
need to make our l i ves comfortabl e. We make a
l i st of the pr os and cons befor e taki ng an
i mportant deci si on. For exampl e, i f you are offered
a new job, you wri te down certai n poi nts:
Old Job
Pros Cons
1. Known, trusted 1. Lower salary
colleagues
2. Confirmed job 2. Same rut
3. Family business, so no
chance of accelerated
promotion
4. No travel
5. No provident fund
6. No perks
New Job
Pros Cons
1. Better salary 1. New faces
2. New challenge 2. Probation period
3. Chances of faster
promotion
4. Travel abroad
5. Provident fund
6. Perks
56
Such a l i st i nstantl y gi v es you the total pi cture.
It al so hel ps you to understand what is troubl i ng
you. Perhaps you can tal k i t over wi th your new
boss, poi nti ng out that wi th your wi de experi ence,
you needn't be put on probati on.
Li sts cl ean out the mi nd and make cl ear
thi nki ng possi bl e. If a probl em confronts you, the
best way to deal wi th i t is to wri te it down,
breaki ng i t i nto cl ear, demarcated segments. The
sheer phi l osophy and the i nbui l t nature of maths
come to your ai d, and offers you ei ther a sol uti on
or the path to a sol uti on.
Why ar e such l i sts mad e? They hav e
therapeuti c val ue. Deci si ons cannot be made when
your mi nd i s cl ouded by emoti ons and confused
thoughts. Maths is the ray of sunshi ne that di spel s
those cl ouds and shows you the cl ear, bl ue sky
that was al ways there beneath the -misty curtai n
i n your mi nd.
Perhaps that is why maths i s seen as a col d,
cl i ni cal , cal cul ati ng sci ence. But that's putti ng a
qual i ty to i ts face. I t's l i ke cal l i ng a surgeon cruel
because he wi el ds a scal pel on the operati ng tabl e.
Yet maths, l i ke the surgeon, has a hel pful , cari ng
persona that shows you the l i ght at the end of
a l ong, dark tunnel .
When you are angry, you count under your
breath: '1-2-3-4-5...' unti l you cal m down. When
you are unabl e to sl eep, you count sheep. When
you are depressed, you confi de i n your fri end
and feel better because, by shari ng your worri es,
you hav e halved them.
57
What does it all mean? What does it al l boi i
down to? That maths is the science of an art
the art of'living. Maths i s i nherent in your l i festyl e.
Maths is the obl i gi ng fri end who shows you the
way. It i s onl y your emotions that hav e bl ocked
you from seei ng what maths i s. It is the constant
factor that bri ngs stabi l i ty to your l i fe. It l i berates
you from probl ems. It i s a constant compani on
i n your evol uti on.
Equations of attitude
How does maths work for you? For a start, you
must accept that i t i s al way s there for you to
l ean on the constant factor, the rock. Next,
suppose you hav e a dream or a wi sh, how do
you make it come true? If you do not appl y a
positive mathematical equation to i t, i t won't come
true. Here is how you do i t i n si mpl e ari thmeti c:
Dream + Acti on = Real i ty
Maths tel l s you that the next step to a dream
is to act. The end resul t i s the dream turni ng i nto
real i ty. Maths gi ves you the channel , the v i aduct,
the i nfrastructure to real i se your dream.
You can further di v i de the fi rst equati on by
setti ng goal s to reach that real i ty.
Goal as i n:
G: Go for i t!
O: Ov er and abov e i f requi red.
A: Another way i f a dead end i s reached.
L: Li cked i nto shape!
58
In ari thmeti cal terms, i t woul d read as:
1
+ 1
+ 1
+ 1
= 4 or 1 x 4 = 4
What has maths done? It has been wi th you
at ev ery step of the way. It has hel ped you make
a l i st. It has by i ts very equati on, l i berated your
dreams. It has created a strong structure for you
to bui l d upon. It has made y our way easi er by
further subdi v i di ng. It has hel ped you reach your
dreamed-of desti nati on. It has made a real i ty of
what y ou may hav e thought was i mpossi bl e.
When you have been ri dden wi th anxi ety i n
the process of reachi ng your goal , i t has kept the
pi cture i n front of you. It has hel d on to that
goal ev en whi l e you were awash wi th emoti on.
It has gi v en you that gentl e push when you
needed i t because it refused to joi n those cl ouds
in your mi nd. Al l al ong, i t has mov ed you on
steadi l y to the next goal post. I n short, it has al ways
been there. And most i mportantl y, it has never
l et you down.
Maths within
The best part is that maths is not an outsi der.
It i s wi thi n you, in your ev ery heartbeat, in your
brai n. You hav e wi thi n you the maths-factor that
has made you go on. It i s the rock or the spi ne
59
that hel d steadfast whi l e another part of you
gav e i n.
Those who say, 'I 'm poor at maths,' are doi ng
themsel ves an i njusti ce. They are onl y undermi ni ng
themsel ves when they need not. I t's l i ke sayi ng,
'I 'm pov erty -stri cken,' when a range of ri ches
gl i tters before you.
Those who say, 'Numbers scare me,' shoul d
thi nk agai n. Numbers hav e brought them to where
they are. They are the sol di ers of the borders of
the mi nd, guardi ng i t i n ti mes of di ffi cul ti es. They
don't use guns or ammuni ti on, but somethi ng
stronger and more l ong-l asti ng fai th.
Those who say, 'I don't hav e the pati ence to
do maths,' are mi staken. They vi ew maths as an
i mposi ti on on thei r ti me. It i s not. I t br i ngs
organi sati on i nto your l i fe. And i t is because of
thi s or gani sati on that y ou can go ahead
perhaps to bi gger thi ngs.
So i f you have a goal , don't l et your emoti ons
rul e you and conv i nce you otherwi se. Mi racl es
happen because you hav e worked towards them
systemati cal l y. An arti st shows you a fi ni shed,
gl ow i ng canv as. He has w or ked on i t w i th
preci si on, wi th a structure. So shoul d you. Hol d
on to the constant factor wi thi n you and al l ow
it to l i berate your dreams. Gi v e yoursel f a chance
by l etti ng your maths-factor work for you. Make
maths the pi l l ar of your l i fe!
60
8
Language of Maths
D
o y ou real i se that ev ery ti me you say, 'I
don't hav e a mathemati cal mi nd,' you are
i nsul ti ng your own i ntel l i gence? Let me expl ai n
why.
Maths i s a way of thi nki ng. Its l anguage is
based on numbers and symbol s. Ani mal s, our four-
footed fri ends, hav e a hazy concept of maths.
Human bei ngs, wi th thei r superi or mental abi l i ti es,
hav e dev el oped thi s concept i nto practi cal sci ence.
You may wonder how I can make the bol d
assumpti on that ani mal s hav e some i dea of maths.
I wi l l i l l ustr ate thi s wi th an i nci dent I once
wi tnessed.
A fri end of mi ne has a beauti ful Labrador
bi tch cal l ed Judy. One day, Judy del i vered several
adorabl e l i ttl e pups. She l i cked each one and
appeared to be very proud of her progeny. Si nce
61
there were too many pups for my fri end to handl e,
she started gi vi ng them away. Judy was not around
when hgr fi rst pup was carri ed off by the new
owner. Later, when she went to the basket for
her dai l y l ov i ng l i ck, she paused, then she turned
to my fri end and gav e a l i ttl e whi ne. You see,
Judy knew i nsti ncti v el y that one pup was mi ssi ng!
Obv i ousl y she had nev er been to school or been
tau ght maths. But she k new the d i ffer ence
between six pups and seven pups.
Ju d y 's concept of maths was gu i d ed by
i nsti nct. Human bei ngs hav e i t too, but we hav e
gone a few steps further. Our sophi sti cated brai ns
hav e ev ol v ed i t and given concrete shape to a way
of thinking that is already within us. We hav e gi ven
it l abel s i n the form of numbers. Where Judy may
real i se a pup is mi ssi ng, we woul d say one pup
i s mi ssi ng. We woul d al so know that a pup here
and a pup there make i t two pups. Thus, we put
i t down mathemati cal l y as:
1 + 1 = 2
How easy i t is for us today to say 'pl us' or
'mi nus'! The two symbol s (+ and - ) came i nto
bei ng i n the fi fteenth century. I f a box of goods
wei ghed mor e than i t shoul d , the mer chants
marked i t as '+'. Thi s symbol was deri v ed from
the Lati n word 'et', whi ch means 'and', as i t sti l l
does i n French.
When a box wei ghed l ess than i t shoul d, the
merchant marked i t as '-'. It i s possi bl e that the
mi nus si gn deri ved from the pl us si gn. Thus, mi nus
coul d hav e been I or - , si nce a combi nati on of
the two gav e +. Si nce I coul d hav e been confused
wi th the number one, the merchant settl ed for
the hori zontal - .
That bri ngs me to the equal (=) symbol . I n
1557, mathemati ci an Robert Recorde real i sed that
two paral l el l i nes of the same l ength were 'equal '.
Thus, he wrote i t down as =.
Comi ng back to Judy, her speci es has not
been abl e to ev ol v e the maths-concept i nto a
sci ence as we hav e. But the fact remai ns that she
has a v ague i dea of maths. So, can you honestl y
say to y oursel f, 'I don't hav e a mathemati cal
mi nd'? The si mpl e truth i s that each one of us
possesses a mathemati cal mi nd. Today, ev en an
i l l i terate person can say, 'I hav e three chi l dren.'
The Maths Alphabet
Numbers and symbol s are the al phabet of maths.
The methods of addi ng, subtracti ng, mul ti pl yi ng,
di v i di ng are aki n to word-bui l di ng i n a l anguage.
And the pr obl ems are l i ke the sentences or
63
paragraphs of a l anguage. Numbers and sy mbol s
may put you off maths, but consi der thi s: a
shor thand stenogr apher uses symbols to take
di ctati on; a bl i nd person, by feel , reads Brai l l e
thr ou gh dot f or mati ons w hi ch, i nd eed , ar e
symbol s; ev en our l anguage, or rather the act of
wri ti ng i t, has sy mbol s. We hav e:
. to denote a ful l stop.
, to denote a pause.
! to denote excl amati on.
? to denote a questi on.
We read them ev er y day, and they hav e
become a part of our thi nki ng. If we di dn't hav e
these sy mbol s, we w ou l d n't be abl e to wr i te
sentences. We woul dn't be abl e to communi cate.
And maths is communi cati on.
I n l angu age, w e hav e w r i ter s w ho hav e
ev ol v ed words. Largel y, our l anguages today are
deri v ed from Lati n or Sanskri t. Then we hav e the
regi onal di al ects.
Si mi l arl y i n maths, we hav e mathemati ci ans
who hav e ev ol v ed the maths l anguage, and the
maths w e l ear n tod ay i s a d er i v ati on or a
progressi on. The onl y di fference is that i n maths
we don't have di al ects except perhaps at a
l i mi ted l ev el . For examp l e, as menti oned i n
Chapter 3, what i n I ndi a i s referred to as 'one
lakh' i s known as 'one hundred thousand' i n the
West. But these are mere l abel s. In the maths
l anguage, both a lakh and one hundred thousand
woul d be wri tten wi th the number one fol l owed
64
by fi v e zer os, wi th a sl i ght v ar i ati on i n the
pl acement of the commas:
I ndi a : 1,00,000
U K/U S: 100,000
Thi s i s why a ri ch man i n I ndi a is cal l ed a
lakhpati. In the West, he i s a 'mi l l i onai re'. These
are l abel s deri ved from a si ngl e and easy word.
After al l , i t woul d be qui te a mouthful to say:
'hundr ed thousandai re'!
In the Engl i sh l anguage, we hav e had several
great wri ters and poets, such as Charl es Di ckens,
Jane Austen, Wi l l i am Shakespeare, to name a few,
w ho cl othed thei r i d eas based on thei r
experi ences i n beauti ful words and sentences
to conv ey thei r meani ng to the reader.
Si mi l arl y, maths has i ts great l umi nari es such
as Pascal , Descar tes, Er atosthenes. They too
dressed thei r i deas, based on theft- experi ences
and experi ments, i n numeral s and probl ems to
conv ey thei r message to the reader. But, before
I go on to quoti ng a passage from the works of
one of these great masters, I 'd l i ke to gi ve you
a si mpl e, comparati v e anal y si s between l anguage
and maths.
I n a l anguage, the al phabet i s di v i ded i nto
v owel s and consonants, as:
Vowel s : a, e, i, o, u
Consonants: b, c, d, /, g, h, and
on through to z
Si mi l arl y i n maths, you hav e numbers. They
are di v i ded i nto pri me numbers and composi te
numbers, as:
65
Pri me numbers : 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13
Composi te nu mber s: 9, 15, 25, 32,
and so on
As you wi l l see, pri me numbers are an enti ty
i n themsel v es. They cannot be di v i ded. You cannot
di v i de 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 and 13 by any number.
Composi te numbers are di vi si bl e. For exampl e:
! =
3
f . 5 or f - 3
25
5
- 5
32
= 16, and so on.
In school , we are taught thi s wi th words such
as 'i nteger', 'factors', etc. I hav e del i beratel y kept
i t si mpl e to make for better understandi ng.
Eratosthenes' sieve
Now that you hav e grasped the 'v owel s' and
'consonants' of maths, you wi l l enjoy the passage
I am about to quote from one of the great masters
of mathemati cs.
About twenty -two centuri es ago, there was
a Gr eek geogr ap her and astr onomer cal l ed
Eratosthenes. He i nv ented a si ev e to si ft and fi l ter
the pri me numbers from the composi te numbers.
It was a beauti ful pi ece of art. He wrote the
composi te numbers i n si x col umns. He ci rcl ed the
66
pri mes, crossi ng out al l mul ti pl es of 2 by a cl ev er
stroke of hi s pen. Si mi l arl y, he ci rcl ed the number
3 and crossed out al l mul ti pl es of 3, and so al so
the mul ti pl es of 5 and 7. Fi nal l y, the remai ni ng
ci rcl ed numbers were the pri mes.
Just as Di ckens formul ated sentences i n the
Engl i sh l angu age, Er atosthenes for mu l ated
mathemati cal sentences. Di ckens dazzl ed us wi th
hi s ev ocati v e prose, Eratosthenes dazzl ed us wi th
hi s ev ocati v e mathemati cal prose.
I do agree that you may fi nd that readi ng
Eratosthenes' passage i s not the same as readi ng
a passage by Di ckens. Here I 'd appeal to you to
cal l upon that aestheti c sense you are bl essed wi th
and use i t the way you woul d to 'read' or v i ew
a Pi casso pai nti ng. You'd admi re the arti st's cl ean
brush strokes. So can you admi re the fi ne, cl ean
l i nes of Eratosthenes' si ev e. I am sure a maths
'l i terary cri ti c' woul d wri te about i t thi s way :
In a rev ol uti onary, trai l bl azi ng method,
the geogr ap her and astr onomer ,
Eratosthenes, has tapped the essence of
mathemati cs. He has cap tu r ed the
i nherent dynami cs of maths wi th hi s pen.
The cl ari ty wi th whi ch i t has been set
down wi l l moti v ate maths fans to v enture
i nto areas nev er before expl ored.
Wi th thi s uni que si eve, Eratosthenes l ays
down a cl ear, shi ni ng, posi ti v e approach.
Wi th one gl ance, maths afi ci onados can
now fi nd practi cal , creati v e sol uti ons to
67
pr obl ems. By i nv enti ng the w heel of
mathemati cs, Eratosthenes has abol i shed
the need to rei nv ent i t at ev ery stage for
every probl em.
Now read Eratosthenes' si ev e:
I f y ou hav e gone thr ou gh the si ev e and
di gested the ti ni est morsel from i t, i t means that
you hav e understood the spi ri t of thi s chapter.
Earl i er, you mi ght hav e l ooked at Eratosthenes'
si ev e si mpl y as a box of numeral s wi th arrows
cri sscrossi ng i t, just fl i pped the page over or ev en
68
cl osed the book. I f you had, remember, i t woul d
not hav e been becau se y ou don't p ossess a
mathemati cal brai n but because that part of your
brai n was not sti mul ated enough, not for the l ack
of abi l i ty, but for the l ack of i nterest. It i s not
that you l acked potenti al , but that you were l i v i ng
below y our potenti al .
The fourth dimension
My i dea i s to show you that you hav e wi thi n
you a greater energy, a greater creati vi ty, a greater
probl em-sol v i ng capaci ty than you gi ve yoursel f
credi t for. You hav e the thi rd eye but hav e not
used i t so far. You hav e v i ewed the worl d three-
di mensi onal l y. As you read thi s book, I want you
to feel the fourth di mensi on wi thi n you.
You may wonder how openi ng ypur thi rd eye
woul d gi v e y ou a fourth d i mensi on? Sounds
i l l ogi cal , doesn't i t? But y ou wi l l understand what
I mean when I tel l you that the two eyes you
possess show you a three-di mensi onal worl d. Thi s
poi nt was brought home when a rel ati v e had an
acci dent. He had to hav e one eye bandaged. He
coul d see cl earl y wi th hi s good ey e, but when
I unthi nki ngl y hel d out a photograph whi ch I
wanted hi m to see, i n the act of taki ng i t from
me, he mi ssed i t by a few i nches.
Si mi l arl y, I feel that by keepi ng the thi rd eye
cl osed, y ou mi ss graspi ng maths by a few i nches.
Al l you hav e to do i s open the thi rd eye!
69
1 1
Mastering Mathability
They can because they think they can.
VI RGI L
/
hav e sai d ov er and ov er agai n, i n di fferent
way s, that each oue possesses a mathemati cal
brai n. We hav e the seeds of maths, the i ngrai ned
power of understandi ng the subject, deep wi thi n
us. Now another questi on ari ses. How do we
draw out that power so that we can dri v e away
that feel i ng of al i enness, and use i t to i ts ful l est
potenti al ? How do we turn oursel ves from maths
al i ens i nto maths l ov ers?
I al ways had the answers i n my mi nd but
di d not hav e the ri ght words to express them.
One day, however, whi l e readi ng the newspaper,
my eye fel l on a beauti ful l i ne i n an adv erti sement.
It read: 'Magi c of dri p i rri gati on turni ng deserts
i nto gol dmi nes'. In a fl ash, I had found the words!
I knew now how I shoul d conv ey those answers!
Paragraphs formed i n my mi nd, words jostl ed
and col l i ded wi th thoughts.
70
Mental Drip I rrigation: The four Cs
I f I l i ken that part of the brai n that l i es unused
due to maths al i enness to a desert, then the cure
l i es i n mental dri p i rri gati on! I want your brai n
to soak and absorb the water of knowl edge. I
wi l l gi ve i t to you, drop by drop.
To i rri gate the desert and turn it i nto a maths
gol dmi ne, you need onl y four drops of water. Let
each one dri p i nto you, and your thi rsty brai n
wi l l open i ts fol ds to dri nk i t. What are those
four drops of water?
They are the four Cs:
Common sense
Confi dence
Concentrati on
Control
Surpri sed? But that i s al l you need to turn
y oursel f i nto a mathemati ci an! I wi l l take each
d r op on my fi nger so that y ou can see i t
shi mmeri ng and i l l umi nati ng your i nner mi nd,
thus openi ng your thi rd eye.
Common sense: Ev ery maths probl em needs a good
strong dose of thi s speci al drop. I t tel l s you that
nothi ng i s beyond your ken. I f a probl em i s set
before you, read i t careful l y. Remember, i t need
not freeze your mi nd i nto a state of pani c. I t i s
a probl em that has a sol uti on. Al l you hav e to
do i s appl y your common sense to i t.
To hel p you draw on thi s drop, l et me ask
you a mathemati cal questi on:
71
II 6 men can pack 6 packets of candy in 6
minutes, how many men are required to pack
60 packets in 60 minutes?
Read i t careful l y. Now appl y your common
sense. The fi rst thi ng that shoul d stri ke y ou i s
that you do not necessari l y need more men. Why ?
Because you hav e more ti me to pack that candy !
Now wri te i t step by step:
1. 6 men pack 6 boxes in 6 minutes
2. 6 men pack 1 box in 1 minute
3. 6 men pack 60 boxes in 60 minutes.
Pai nl ess, w asn 't i t? To the math s-al i en ,
however, i t appears to be a compl ex probl em. She
reads i t, feel s that i t i s too di ffi cul t and cl ams
up mental l y. Al so, the roboti c manner of teachi ng
maths i n school doesn't hel p, and the cl ev er way
i n whi ch the probl em has been worded makes
you focus on the number of men i mmedi atel y. But
a l i ttl e thi nki ng i rri gated by common sense, wi l l
show you that thi s i s not so.
If i t had been worded i n another way, you
woul d hav e found i t si mpl er:
If 6 men can pack 6 packets of candy in 6
minutes, how many packets of candy would
they pack in 60 minutes?
Knowi ng that the number of men remai ns
constant, y ou'd wri te:
1. In 6 minutes, 6 packets are packed.
2. In 1 minute, 1 packet is packed.
3. In 60 minutes, 60 packets are packed.
72
But the way i t was worded the fi rst ti me cal l s
for that one drop of common sense! So you see,
i t i s as easy as eati ng candy !
Confidence. Another drop requi red to tackl e
a maths p r obl em i s conf i d ence. The gr eat
confi dence of a bul l dozer. Pl ough i nto a probl em
wi th the fi rm, strong feel i ng i n you that you can
do i t. Nobody, not ev en y oursel f, wi l l dare to
questi on y ou!
I noti ce that many peopl e feel there i s a 'tri ck'
to sol v i ng a maths probl em. When someone shows
you how to sol ve a seemi ngl y compl ex probl em,
the human ego comes i nto pl ay. She makes i t
appear so easy, you want to crawl i nto a corner
to hi de yoursel f. You wonder why she found i t
so easy , and y ou d i d n't? What y our 'tr i ck y '
probl em-sol v er has conv eni entl y forgotten to tel l
you i s that she had come across i t earl i er than
you and had taken the ti me to get a grasp of
i t, or that she may hav e stumbl ed on to i t by
acci dent. She l eav es out these ti ny detai l s and
makes you feel l i ke a 'dumbo'.
Whi l e the 'tri cky ' probl em-sol v er may appear
to be handi ng you a method on a si l ver pl atter,
be wary. I n the l ong run, her method may not
work. It wi l l not work i f you hav e merel y adapted
i t but not understood i t. It wi l l not work ev en
for her, because she sees i t as a cl ev er tri ck or
short cut. Whi ch means that for each probl em
she has to fi nd a new 'tri ck'.
The best way to l earn maths i s to al l ow y our
natural i ntel l i gence to take over. Wi th a cl ear,
confi dent mi nd, you wi l l be abl e to do i t.
73
Concentration. Every I ndi an, when confronted
wi th the drop of concentrati on, wi l l i nstantl y thi nk
of Pri nce Arjuna i n the Mahabharata. I t i s an oft-
r ep eated tal e, but I must nar r ate i t her e to
underl i ne the i mportance of concentrati on.
Dr onachar y a taught ar cher y to the r oy al
pri nces of Hasti napura. One day, he deci ded to
test thei r power of concentrati on. Gatheri ng hi s
royal pupi l s around hi m, he poi nted to the target
a bi rd on the branch of a tree. They had to
shoot the bi rd and br i ng i t d own. The fi r st
candi date for the concentrati on test was Pri nce
Yudhi sthi ra.
'What do y ou see?' asked Drona, as the pri nce
readi ed hi msel f wi th the bow and arrow.
'I see the bi rd, the branch on whi ch i t si ts,
and the l eav es of the tree,' repl i ed the pri nce.
74
'What el se?' demanded Drona.
'The tree, the sky, you my teacher and
my brothers,' sai d Yudhi sthi ra.
Drona cal l ed the other pri nces Duryodhana
and Bhi ma. They gave the same repl y. Poor Drona
was saddened. He fel t he had fai l ed as a teacher.
Fi nal l y, wi th a heav y heart, he cal l ed Pri nce
Ar juna.
'Do you see the bi rd?' he asked hopel essl y.
'I d o/ repl i ed the pri nce, confi dentl y.
'What el se do you see?' asked Drona.
'I see onl y the bi rd,' repl i ed Pri nce Arjuna
steadfastl y.
'Do you not see the tree, the sky, mysel f
y our teacher and bey ond ?' queri ed Drona,
hope l i fti ng hi s heart.
'I see onl y the bi r d ,' r ep eated Ar ju na
stubbornl y.
'What part of the bi rd do you see?'
'Onl y the ey e!' sai d Arjuna.
Thi s was the answer Drona had hoped for.
I t d i sp l ay ed Pr i nce Ar j u n a's p ow er of
concentr ati on.
What does concentrati on do? It hel ps you to
focus. I t bl ocks out anxi ety and emoti ons. I f a
sportsman were to worry about bei ng tackl ed by
hi s opponents as he runs for the goal , he woul d
nev er get started. Thi nk of maths as a fun-sport.
Your goal i s to get at the sol uti on, to net i t.
The poi nt I am maki ng i s that when a maths
probl em i s presented to a person, she al l ows her
75
anxi ety to take over. She creates those exceptional
circumstances in her mind. I nstead, i f the emoti ons
were bl ocked out by concentrati ng, he or she
woul d set out cal ml y to understand the nature
of the maths probl em and work on a method to
sol ve i t.
The best way to concentrate i s to swi tch to
neutral gear. Don't thi nk i n terms of 'Oh God,
how wi l l I do i t?' or 'What i f I cannot do i t?'
Be aware that though y ou are a hi ghl y i ntel l i gent
person, i t i s not your i ntel l i gence that i s on tri al .
Read each sentence w i th concentr ati on. For
exampl e, i f the probl em i s wri tten thus:
A woman spends Rs 230.50 on an average
during the first 8 months. During the next
4 months, she spends Rs 180 on an average.
During that year, she takes a loan of Rs 164.
What is her average monthly income of that
year?
Fi r st, read the p r obl em car eful l y . Nex t,
enumerate data. Then al l ow your common sense
and confi dence to tel l y ou that you can do i t.
Concentrate on the probl em, and begi n by
outl i ni ng the data i n si mpl e steps. I nstantl y, y ou
hav e the answer:
1. Sum of money she spends in 8 months
8 x 230.50 = 1844
2. Sum of money she spends in the next 4
months
4 x 180 = 720
76
3
4
5
Why i s concentrati on so i mportant? It acts as
a catalyst towards defusing the I-can't-do-it feeling.
N egati v e thou ghts mak e y ou focus on the
i rrel ev ant. I nstead, i f you bri ng your powers of
concentrati on to bear on the maths probl em, you
shi ft your focus to what i s rel ev ant.
Someti mes, words and numbers defeat you
at the fi rst readi ng. But i f you don't al l ow such
defeati st thoughts to creep i n, you are al ready
on the ri ght path. Confi dence i n yoursel f wi l l
dri v e you to focus on the ri ght cl ue. I t wi l l enabl e
you to see the probl em i n si mpl e terms. Thi s keeps
the feel i ng of frustrati on and the sense of defeat
at bay.
Deci mal s mi ght be another reason for you to
feel di scouraged. You feel that i f you were gi v en
round fi gures, you woul d be abl e to sol ve the
maths probl em easi l y. Fi ne. Thi nk al ong those
l i nes.
Suppose the woman spends Rs 200 (i nstead
of 230.50) i n the fi rst 8 months, how woul d you
tackl e i t? You woul d mul ti pl y 200 by 8. Wri te
that d own. Now appl y the same method to
. Total money spent in 12 months
1844 + 720 = 2564
. Loan taken is not part of her income.
Therefore,
2564 - 164 = 2400
. Thus her monthly income
77
the actual probl em. So you wi l l wri te i t now as
230.50 x 8.
Si mpl i fyi ng a probl em makes you understand
i t better. Wi th understandi ng comes the feel i ng
that i t i s manageabl e. You can si mpl i fy i t i f you
concentrate on i t.
Control. The fi rst three Cs Common sense,
Confi dence and Concentrati on add up to the
fourth C Contr ol . Once y ou hav e d oused
anxi ety, fear, pani c w i th those three preci ous
drops, you wi l l automati cal l y feel i n control of
the si tuati on. But you must feel you are i n control .
You must tell yoursel f that you are i n control .
Look on maths as a purri ng sports car. You
are the dri ver. You are at the hel m. There's no
way you are goi ng to rel i nqui sh the wheel to
another. If you are dri v i ng uphi l l , you wi l l dri ve
sl owl y . Si mi l ar l y i n maths, take y our ti me.
Understand each number and symbol . Anal y se
what i s requi red. You, the control l er, hav e three
stri ngs attached to y our fi ngerti ps the data,
the method, the sol uti on. As you take each step,
or go i nto the next gear, y ou wi l l fi nd i t gets
easi er.
How do you al ways ensure that you are i n
control ? If you fi nd that despi te taki ng the step-
by -step approach, you hav e reached a dead end,
don't gi ve up. Go to an easi er probl em. An easy
probl em gi ves you that sense of control because
you know you can sol v e i t. Often, a shi ft i n gears
wi l l gi ve you a fresh perspecti v e on how to sol ve
the more compl ex probl em.
\ 78
I know a wri ter of short stori es who deci ded
to try her hand at wri ti ng a nov el . After a few
months of i ntense scr i bbl i ng, she found she
coul dn't go on. As she tol d me, 'I fel t I had l ost
control of the characters, the pl ot. I di dn't know
i n whi ch di recti on my story was headi ng.' What
di d she do? Di d she gi ve up wri ti ng al together?
Not at al l . She put the nov el asi de and went back
to wri ti ng short stori es. She regai ned control . She
then approached the nov el wi th the same sense
of bei ng at the hel m. She took up the book, chapter
by chapter , and w i thi n si x months, she had
fi ni shed her book!
The sense of control i s i mportant not onl y i n
your approach to maths, but to ev erythi ng i n l i fe.
If you l et the four Cs, the four l i fe-gi v i ng drops
i rri gate y our mi nd, you wi l l nev er regret i t. Your
mi nd wi l l bl oom wi th the knowl edge gi ven by
these drops. And you wi l l fi nd that i t i s not onl y
maths that you wi sh to expl ore, but other areas
as wel l ! After al l , l i fe i s an eternal v oy age of sel f-
di scovery.
79
9
Mathability: Problem-
Solving
It isn't that they can't see the solution,
it's that they can't see the problem.
G.K. CHESTERTON
E
ach one of us i s bl essed wi th that i ntangi bl e
abi l i ty cal l ed i ntui ti on. I t i s a mother's i ntui ti on
that tel l s her why the baby i s cryi ng. When your
car suddenl y star ts maki ng strange knocki ng
sounds, i t i s the mechani c's i ntui ti on that tel l s
hi m what has come l oose. When there i s a power
fai l ure, i t is the el ectri ci an's i ntui ti on that tel l s hi m
what coul d be wrong and where he shoul d start.
Sol v i ng maths probl ems too requi res i ntui ti on.
My statement may come as a surpri se to you. Al l
thi s ti me you thought that maths was a matter
of memori si ng formul ae, usi ng a l ogi cal , step-by -
step approach, and that was i t.
Mathematical mind games
But thi nk about i t. What exactl y is i ntui ti on? What
i s that speci al fl ash that i l l umi nates a probl em
80
and shows you the way ? I s i t a gi ft from God?
It i s l i ke ev erythi ng el se. I ntui ti on i s seeing
relationships based on personal experiences.
For examp l e, how w ou l d y ou sol v e thi s
probl em:
If 5 tyres were used on a car which has travelled
20,000 miles, how many miles would each tyre
sustain, if all the tyres were used equally in
sustaining this mileage?
I f you approach thi s probl em purel y 'l ogi cal l y '
wi thout seei ng rel ati onshi ps, you woul d si mpl y
di v i de 20,000 by 5 and come up wi th the answer:
4000 mi l es. How di d you arri v e at thi s answer?
By a si mpl e formul a of di v i si on. But you got the
wr ong answer!
Here i s where your experi ence and the abi l i ty to
work out rel ati onshi ps come i n handy. For exampl e,
you mi ght wonder i f the car i n thi s probl em runs
on fi v e tyres i nstead of the normal four!
The i ntui ti ve person, howev er, wi l l work i t
out i n thi s way, to arri v e at the ri ght answer:
When the car trav el s one mi l e, each of the
4 tyres sustai ns one mi l e's use.
So when a car trav el s 20,000 mi l es, a total
of (20,000 x 4) 80,000 tyre mi l es are used.
Si nce the mi l eage has been gathered on 5
tyres, each tyre has used
= 16,000 mi l es.
81
Another i ntu i ti v e p er son may sol v e the
probl em thi s way:
Si nce 4 out of 5 tyres are bei ng used:
| x 20,000 = 16,000 mi l es.
What di d y ou d ed uce from thi s exer ci se?
I f y our answ er w as 4000 mi l es, d on't be
d i shear tened . At the fi r st r ead i ng, y ou wer e
probabl y rel i eved that i t was a si mpl e matter of
di vi si on. Wi thout stoppi ng to thi nk, you rushed
i nto that formul a, thi nki ng: 'Ah, for once, I 'v e
got i t!' Had you stopped to anal yse i t, I am sure
you woul d have real i sed i t was wrong.
Your i nstant response i s the human factor I
hav e tal ked about al l al ong. The i mage of maths
that i s so prev al ent, i s that i t is a mechani cal
process.
82
Using your imagination
If we had been taught from an earl y age that
maths i s a l i vi ng, v i brant sci ence, I am sure we
woul d hav e seen i t i n i ts total i ty. And i n v i ewi ng
i t as a l arger practi cal sci ence, we woul d hav e
col l ecti v el y dev el oped the maths i ntui ti on.
As i t stands, i n cl ass or at home, chi l dren are
made to do maths i n an automati c, uni magi nati v e
way. Wi th the i dea fi xed i n thei r brai ns that 'the
teacher's method i s the ri ght one', students do
not dev el op thei r own thi nki ng. Or ev en real i se
that i t i s possi bl e to do so. Very rarel y are they
encouraged to work out thei r own methods. Thus,
whi l e they add, subtract, mul ti pl y, di v i de, they
do i t mechani cal l y, l i ke a cal cul ator rather than
as thi nki ng persons.
Si nce thi s happens to many peopl e, those who
di spl ay more thi nki ng powers, more i magi nati on,
more i ntui ti on, are seen as hav i ng a 'mathemati cal
mi nd'. What appears to be a compl ex probl em
to Shei l a is chi l d's pl ay to Raji v. The fact i s that
the qual i ty of exposure to maths di ffers between
these tw o peopl e. As a r esu l t, Raji v mak es
connections. He sees the l i nks or rel ati onshi ps i n
probl ems that Shei l a does not.
What adul ts fai l to teach chi l dren is that a
formul a is purel y a means to sol v i ng a probl em.
It i s not the be-al l and end-al l of maths. For
exampl e, Arun, a geol ogy student, tel l s me about
a new probl em he was gi ven i n school :
If 2 men can build a 10-feet high wall in 20
days, how long will 5 men take to build the
same wall?
83
Arun says: 'I remember thi s v i v i dl y because
I was the onl y student to get the ri ght answer.
Even the ones we saw as the "br ai ns" of maths
rushed to answer, 50 day s! At home, we had
some constructi on work goi ng on. I remember my
father tel l i ng the contractor to put more men on
the job to get the work done faster. So I worked
i t out the other way and fi gured the answer was
8 day s.'
As you can see, Arun's personal experi ence
came i n handy i n maths. He was abl e to l i nk the
fact that more men woul d take l ess ti me to do
the same job. In thi s common-sense factor l i e the
seeds of what i s mathemati cal l y cal l ed i nv erse
proporti on. Unfortunatel y, students are not al ways
taught a formul a from a common-sense approach.
The resul t: they memori se the formul a and are
then unabl e to use i t or appl y i t when di fferent
probl ems ari se.
Conceptualising problems
I ntu i ti on i s al l about understanding through
experioicc. Hav en't you often sai d: 'I f I had known
thi s i n school , I woul d hav e understood i t better?'
Now that you hav e experi enced that somethi ng,
you are abl e to appl y i t to the theory you were
taught i n school . What you are now experi enci ng
i s that speci al fl ash of i nsi ght whi ch has ri sen
from your i ntui ti on worki ng on the wheel s of
your experi ence.
In the practi ce of medi ci ne, an experi enced
doctor i ntui ti vel y knows what coul d be wrong
wi th a pati ent. Based on thi s and hi s exami nati on,
84
he tel l s the pati ent to carry out speci fi c tests. A
l ess experi enced doctor mi ght not get thi s fl ash
of i ntui ti on and may hav e to ask for a wi der
range of tests to be carri ed out. Si mi l arl y, a 'maths-
d octor ' p r acti ses maths based on hi s own
experi ence.
Thi s i s i nteresti ng, because i t means you are
nev er too ol d to l earn maths. Unl i ke a student,
an adul t's approach to maths i s experi ence. And
that i s certai nl y a pl us poi nt! I n fact, I see l i fe
as an eternal l earni ng process. Regardl ess of age,
we are al l students. Peopl e who say, 'I 'm too ol d
to l earn,' are onl y demeani ng thei r maturi ty.
An adul t knows that hi s fi xed deposi t amount
i n the bank y i el ds, say, 11 per cent. Here, he
experi ences for hi msel f the theory of percentages
that he had l earnt i n school . But i n school , he
had absorbed the method of percentages purel y
as an abstract mathemati cal formul a. As I hav e
sai d earl i er, i ntui ti on ari ses out of the qual i ty of
exposure to maths.
Start wi th si mpl e probl ems. Then go on to
more compl ex ones. Col l ect bi ts and pi eces of
i nformati on and punch them i nto your memory.
Then, whenev er you come across a probl em, you
can sort through your 'knowl edge-bank', usi ng
your experi ence and common sense creati v el y to
sol ve i t.
The ri ght sol uti on i s there i n the brai n, but
maths-al i ens do not gi ve themsel v es enough ti me
to thi nk and thus percei v e the sol uti on.
The very act of percei v i ng an i dea, the thi nki ng
process, i s cal l ed conceptualisation. It is the vi tal
85
key to probl em-sol v i ng. I t i s a mental l ever. You
wei gh one i dea. I f i t does not work, you try
another. ,The greater the choi ce of concepts that
you gi ve yoursel f, the greater the chances of your
sol v i ng a probl em.
Overcoming mental blocks
Qui te often, however, a person comes up agai nst
a mental or conceptual bl ock. The reason coul d
be p ani c, a negati v e ap p r oach, a cl ue r ead
i ncorrectl y, or the wrong focus. Probl em-setters
use thi s human factor and expl oi t i t to l ead you
i nto w hat ap p ear s to be a d au nti ng maze.
Actual l y , the pr obl em-setter i s gi v i ng you an
op p or tu ni ty to use y ou r i ntel l i gence, y our
anal y ti cal powers.
To sol ve a probl em you may hav e to use a
fami l i ar process i n a new way, you may hav e to
abandon a conv enti onal i dea, you may ev en hav e
to reassembl e certai n components to make a new
arrangement . . . . The rugby pl ay er's approach
does not work, though i t l ooks tempti ng enough.
It bri ngs you back to square one. Whereas, i f you
thi nk for fi v e mi nutes l onger and work at i t
systemati cal l y, chances are you wi l l be cl oser to
reachi ng your goal i n l ess ti me.
I f you feel you sti l l hav e a mental bl ock, form
an i mage i n y our mi nd . Suppose y ou w er e
confronted wi th a hi gh wal l . What woul d y ou
d o? Woul d y ou beat y our head agai nst i t?
No. Woul d you wal k away from i t? No. You
woul d try to fi nd a way to wal k around i t or
cl i mb over i t.
86
Si mi l arl y, i n maths, try to wal k around the
mental bl ock. By openi ng your mi nd to a new
appr oach, you wi l l be engagi ng i n a creati v e
process. You wi l l be taki ng a subconsci ous l eap.
A leap, not a mere step. I t i s a geometri cal , not
an ari thmeti cal progressi on. You hav e taken thi s
l eap after a good deal of thought, after much
sti rri ng i n your brai n, after a host of i deas hav e
whi rl ed, shi fted, col l i ded, and fi nal l y emerged as
a pattern. That i s when you experi ence that speci al
fl ash i ntui ti on!
The hungry dogs!
Let me ani mate i t for you. You hav e two dogs
cal l ed Rambo and Hammer. You hav e ti ed both
of them on one short l eash.
Diagram 1
87
The di agram abov e shows that Rambo and
Hammer are at the centre of the l i ne C. On ei ther
si de you hav e pl aced a l arge bowl of dog food
A i s one bowl and B i s the other. The two
dogs are hungry. What do they do? Rambo tri es
to reach A, whi l e Hammer tri es to reach B. Thus:
Diagram 2
Nei ther can reach i ts respecti v e bowl . The
l eash i s too short. They try agai n, harder:
Diagram 3
No l uck. Hungry, they si t down at C once
agai n, and l ook at each other nonpl ussed:
Diagram 4
W
i v ^i
A C B
They hav e to thi nk of a new way to appease
thei r hunger. Fi nal l y, both turn to bowl A and
eat:
Diagram 5
Then both turn to the bowl B to eat:
88
Diagram 6
By try i ng, thi nki ng, anal y si ng, Rambo and
Hammer had a fl ash of i ntui ti on whi ch they
carri ed out i n Di agrams 5 and 6!
So you see, i ntui ti on i s embedded i n each one
of us. Someti mes, or more often than not, it ari ses
from a practi cal si tuati on and col l i des wi th maths
whi ch i s seen as an abstract sci ence. Knowl edge
and i ntui ti on are i ntertwi ned i n a constant cycl i c
moti on. What you shoul d do i s hook on to i t and
the worl d of maths wi l l open out to you i n one
bi g, gl ori ous, grand fl ash of i ntui ti on!
You can do i t!
89
11
Logic of Mathability
Nothing is particularly hard if you
divide it into small jobs.
HENRY FORD
D
o you know somethi ng? I envy you. You are
on the verge of a di scovery. Looki ng at maths
agai n wi th fresh eyes i s rather l i ke goi ng out on
your fi rst date. It has al l the breathl ess exci tement
that goes wi th i t. The i ntroducti ons hav e been
mad e. The spar k has been l i t. Now, i t's a
progressi on.
The best part about rel earni ng maths i s i ts
uncanny resembl ance to a fi rst date, where you
hang on to each other's words. You tal k about
your l i kes and di sl i kes. You di scover the thi ngs
you have in common. I n other words, you tal k
about yoursel f as you are. Then, an i nterested
query from your date l eads you back to y our
chi l dhood, and back agai n to the present. Perhaps
you touch on the future.
90
That is what l earni ng or rel earni ng maths in
adul thood is al l about. You bri ng to i t y our
experi ence, and start somewhere in the 'mi ddl e',
wi th a feel i ng of exhi l arati on because you don't
hav e to star t agai n, fr om the begi nni ng.
Somewhere al ong the way, you cal l on what you
hav e l earnt in the past. And you real i se that the
groundi ng makes sense to you now after all these
years!
Most peopl e sail through addi ng, subtracti ng,
mul ti pl yi ng, and di v i di ng. They take to fracti ons
l i ke a fi sh to water. They di ve i nto the sea of
number s, fl i ck thei r fi ns and pi ck out si mpl e
fracti ons. It is wonderful to know, for exampl e,
that hal f of a pi e is wri tten as And that it
denomi nates one part of an enti re pi ece. The
number above the l i ne i s the 'part' and i s cal l ed
the numerator, whi l e the number bel ow the l i ne
is the 'whol e' and i s cal l ed the denomi nator.
Mastering the methods
The beauty of the l anguage of maths l i es i n i ts
short, preci se terms. If you were to put i t i nto
words, you woul d be wri ti ng l ong essays that
woul d onl y confuse you! In i ts essence, the maths
l anguage saves you both ti me and energy. As you
master i t and i ts methods you can, wi thi n mi nutes,
arri v e at your answer.
Every fracti on has a weal th of meani ng to
i t. For exampl e, ^ can mean:
91
a. Sharing:
One hal f of a whol e pi e.
b. Computing:
One amongst others. For exampl e, you can
say 'one out of two chi l dren born ev ery
day has brown ey es.'
c. Comparisons:
One compared to another (rati o).
d. Mathematical:
One di v i ded by two.
1 - 2
It i s al l so si mpl e. Where i s the barri er? After
tal ki ng to several peopl e, I di scov ered that the
confusi on begi ns when they fi rst l earn fracti ons,
deci mal s, and percentages.
The probl em i n understandi ng, as I see i t,
ari ses when a chi l d i s taught addi ti on, subtracti on,
mu l ti p l i cati on, and d i v i si on as i nd ep end ent
segments. So the mi nd i s set on that course Every
92
new segment that i s taught thereafter is seen as
i ndependent in i tsel f.
Yet, fr acti ons, d eci mal s, and p er centages
conv er ge, unl i ke the fi rst four segments. For
ex amp l e, y ou cannot change ad d i ng i nto
subtracti ng. Yet, you are asked to change fracti ons
i nto deci mal s or percentages. I t l ooks di ffi cul t,
because i n your mi nd, fracti ons, deci mal s, and
percentages shoul d stand apart from one another.
What many fai l to understand i s that fracti ons,
deci mal s, and percentages are the same segment,
bu t expressed i n a d i ffer ent way . They ar e
translations of each other, not transformations. They
are another way of understandi ng and expressi ng
the same thi ng.
I n the Engl i sh l anguage, you can express the
word possible as conceivable or probable, dependi ng
on the context. Si mi l arl y , i n maths, fr acti ons,
deci mal s or percentages are used, depending on
the context. The d i f f er ences ar e sl i ght, bu t
i mpor tant.
I n deci mal s, the denomi nator i s al way s i n
tens. For exampl e, you can wri te a fracti on as
1 1 7
- , , , You cannot do thi s wi th deci mal s. Here,
2 4 6
tens, hundreds, thousands, etc., are al way s the
whol e or the denomi nator. For exampl e:
Decimal Fraction
0 1
= Ti
0-01 =
100
93
Percentage i s a speci al i sed d epar tment of
fracti ons and deci mal s. Here, the denomi nator i s
al way s 100:
Percentage Fraction Decimal
4% ~ or j-5 0.04
The scaffolding element
So far, so good. But what a mathemati ci an l i ke
me takes for granted i s not as si mpl e for a person
w hose mathemati cal br ai n has not been
sti mul ated. Thi s dawned on me when Sheetal , a
born-agai n mathemati ci an, expl ai ned to me that
i n school , she had been taught to di v i de fracti ons
by i nv er ti ng the d enomi nator and then
mul ti pl yi ng i t wi th the numerator.
What Sheetal meant was that i f she w er e
gi ven a probl em thus:
5 4
Problem: + =?
4 5
She was tol d the method was:
5 4 5 5 25
Method: T
_ ;
" T
=
T
X
T - T 7
4 5 4 4 16
She memor i sed the method bu t nev er
understood i t. Sheetal has an enqui ri ng mi nd.
Recentl y she deci ded to work i t out for hersel f,
and thi s is how she di d i t:
94
Problem:
4
4
5
(numerator) (denominator)
4
Then she figured that the denominator had
to be changed to . She saw it as a number
4
in itself and wrote it as:
i _5 _ 20 _
5
X
4 ~ 20 '
Dimly, she began to perceive the importance of
this. So she wrote it down, inverting both
fractions:
1 i
4 ~ 5
x
5 5
4 4
X
5 4
4 5
25 _ 20
16 " 20
25
16
95
'Wasn't that rather a l ong process to get the
same answer?' I asked.
'Of course i t w as/ she repl i ed. 'But that i s
where 1 fel t my maths teacher had turned us i nto
robots. He nev er expl ai ned why we had to i nv ert
the denomi nator. But after worki ng out sev eral
fracti ons usi ng my method, I real i sed that what
he had taught me was correct.'
I must hav e l ooked a l i ttl e amu sed . She
expl ai ned, 'Don't you see? My maths teacher was
handi ng me a short cut. Hi s i ntenti ons were good.
Why teach the chi l dren thi s l ong-wi nded method
when he coul d make l i fe easi er for us? He was
handi ng us a fi ni shed product wi thout expl ai ni ng
what went i nto the maki ng of i t.'
Suddenl y I saw what she meant. But she
i nsi sted on gi v i ng me an exampl e: 'I see al l students
as l i ttl e "maths engi neers". The teacher gi v es us
a short cut, a bri dge. But the next ti me we hav e
to bui l d a bri dge on a di fferent l ev el , we wi l l not
be abl e to do i t because we don't hav e the support
system or the scaffol di ng to bui l d i t on. We don't
understand i t, so we cannot do i t.'
Einstein and the little girl
I thi nk you hav e understood what Sheetal meant.
In fact, I hav e often wondered si nce, how much
of maths we hav e to unl earn to l earn i t agai n!
I thi nk thi s poi nt was under stood by Al ber t
Ei nstei n. The ci ty he l i v ed i n Pri nceton
abounds wi th stori es of thi s great man. One such
tal e i s parti cul arl y stri ki ng, and I thi nk y ou wi l l
enjoy i t.
96
A l i ttl e gi rl woul d often v i si t Ei nstei n. Her
mother, on real i si ng what her daughter was doi ng,
questi oned her about i t.
The l i ttl e gi rl repl i ed, 'I had troubl e wi th my
ari thmeti c homework. Someone sai d that at No.
112 l i v es a very bi g mathemati ci an and that he
i s al so a good man.' The mother l i stened wi th
dawni ng horror as her l i ttl e daughter conti nued
artl essl y, 'So I went to hi m and asked hi m to hel p
me. He ex p l ai ned ev er y th i n g v er y w el l . I
understood i t much better than when our teacher
expl ai ned i t to us i n school . He sai d I shoul d
come to hi m whenev er I found a probl em too
di ffi cul t.'
Upset at what she saw as a presumpti on on
her daughter's part, the agi tated mother rushed
to the hal l owed No. 112 and apol ogi sed profusel y
for her daughter 's behav i our.
97
Ei nstei n sai d gentl y, 'You don't hav e to excuse
y oursel f. I hav e certai nl y l earnt more from the
conv ersati on wi th the chi l d, than she di d from
me.'
I hav e often w ond er ed i f the gr eat man
real i sed the v al ue of the 'scaffol di ng el ement' that
Sheetal expl ai ned to me.
Avoid reinventing the wheel
Yet, I do real i se that i n maths certai n thi ngs hav e
to be taken as 'gi v ens'. If a student had to spend
ti me questi oni ng and l earni ng about ev ery 'gi v en/
he woul d never progress bey ond a certai n poi nt.
He mi ght understand a few formul ae thoroughl y,
but he woul dn't hav e more knowl edge, onl y a
l i mi ted store of i t.
Therefore, I feel that y ou shoul d approach
maths from your i ndi v i dual poi nt of vi ew. For
ex amp l e, Sh eetal 's w ay of w or k i ng out the
probl ems may seem to you l i ke rei nv enti ng the
wheel . You know that to di v i de a fracti on by a
fracti on, you hav e to i nv ert the denomi nator and
mul ti pl y the numerator wi th i t thus:
i - A
5 ' 3
_
5 * 4 ~ 20
It has not gi v en you any troubl e so far. It
has become a part of y ou, so you may ri ghtl y
feel that to fol l ow Sheetal 's method at thi s stage
w ou l d be rather confusi ng. As I sai d, tackl e
probl ems that you hav en't understood. Sheetal
has her scaffol di ngs; y ou may requi re y our own
98
i n other areas. Choose the ones that puzzl e you
and go on from there.
I feel that the 'mi ssi n g l i nk ' betw een
understandi ng and sol v i ng a probl em often l i es
i n one thi ng al one: the student has not understood
the actu al meani ng of w or d s l i ke fr acti ons,
deci mal s and percentages. Thi s i s the reason why
I started thi s chapter by defi ni ng each term and
gi v i ng 'transl ated' exampl es.
I t i s just l i ke l earni ng to dri v e a car. Maths
has di fferent gears. When you rev erse a car you
go i nto rev erse gear. The abi l i ty to 'rev erse the
mental gear ' someti mes acts as a brake on the
stu d ent. Maths gi v es p r obl ems that need a
di fferent gear or a di fferent approach each ti me.
Let me i l l ustrate thi s wi th a probl em:
Problem:
In an examination, 75% of the candidates
passed in English, 65% in Mathematics, while
15% failed in both English and Maths. If 495
students passed in both subjects, find the total
number of candidates who took the exam.
To the maths-al i en, thi s pr obl em appear s
compl ex. But remember, percentages are there to
simplify the matter. You wi l l see what I mean as
I gi v e the step-by -step approach.
Method:
Suppose the number of candidates = 100,
75 passed in English. So, 25 failed in it.
65 passed in Maths. So, 35 failed in it.
15 failed in English and Maths.
99
Candidates failing in English alone =
25 - 15 = 10
Candidates failing in Maths alone =
35 - 15 = 20
So, number of failed candidates =
10 + 20 + 15 = 45
No. of passed candidates =
100 - 45 = 55
If 55 passed from the total of 100,
495 passed from the total no. =
So, the total number who sat for the exam =900
Percentage or a hundred, gives you a base or
a yardstick to calculate the rest. Thus, 75%
means 75 of every hundred. The last step may
appear complex. But if you write it in words,
it goes:
55 passed of 100
495 passed of X.
Now, assemble the 'passes' together. Next, put
the totals together:
55 and 495; 100 and X
Then you put the ratio signs to make it clear.
55 : 495 : : 100 : X
This reads as, 55 is to 495 is the same as 100
is to X.
Translated:
Symbol Meaning
: is to
: : is the same as
100
Once you have understood the relationship
between the 'pass' and the 'total', the next step
is easy. If 495 is multiplied by 100, it gives
49500 which cannot be the answer. When
divided by 55, it gives the exact relationship
to 49500.
Thus:
49500
= 900
55
As Sheetal puts it: 'maths is like figuring out
how you are related to such and such cousin
and so on!'
Now do you see what I meant when I said
relearning maths is very much like setting out
on your first date? You have certain
assumptions in your mind. You link them up
elegantly. Before you know it, you are looking
forward to your second date!
101
11
Mathability: Making
it Easier
Turn your stumbling blocks into
stepping stones.
AN ON YMOUS
O
ver the years, I hav e tal ked to v ari ous peopl e
about maths. I fi nd that most peopl e face
no p r obl ems w i th ad d i ti on, su btr acti on and
mul ti pl i cati on. But for some reason, di vi si on creates
a sl i ght setback. I hav e often wondered about
thi s. One reason coul d be that students feel the
di ffer ent method s are taught i n the or der of
di ffi cul ty. Addi ti on bei ng the easi est i s taught fi rst,
fol l owed by the sl i ghtl y more di ffi cul t method
subtracti on. Next i s the more compl ex method
mul ti pl i cati on, and fi nal l y , the most d i ffi cul t
methoddi v i si on.
Thi s i s not true. The sequence of teachi ng has
nothi ng to do wi th whi ch method i s easi er or
more di ffi cul t. I t i s a natural progressi on. For
exampl e:
102
Subtracti on i s the rev erse of addi ti on.
Mul ti pl i cati on i s a progressi on of addi ti on.
I n addi ti on, y ou wri te:
2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8
I n mul ti pl i cati on, i t i s:
2 x 4 = 8
Here, the 4 denotes 4 times. Hence, the tabl es
we memori se are actual l y qui ck mental addi ti ons.
Di v i si on i s the rev erse of mul ti pl i cati on.
For exampl e, i n mul ti pl i cati on, you wri te:
3 x 4 = 12
Here, you are addi ng 4 threes together. Thus:
3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 12
I n di v i si on, you wri te:
12 + 3 = 4
Here, you are subtracti ng three 4 ti mes:
12 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 = 0
I hav e gi v en some el ementary exampl es to
gi ve you a deeper understandi ng of these methods.
Ov er the years, mathemati ci ans hav e del i ghted
i n usi ng thei r grasp of el ementary pri nci pl es to
make maths easi er sti l l .
The 'tricks' of the trade
Some peopl e are i nti mi dated i f they hav e to di v i de
a number by 5. But they are comfortabl e wi th
a round fi gure l i ke 10. I n such cases, they shoul d
take adv antage of the fact that 5 i s hal f of 10
and coul d do i t thi s way :
103
Problem: 165 + 5 = ?
Method: 1. 165 x 2 = 330
2. 330 - 10 = 33
Answer: 165 + 5 = 33
Si mi l arl y, i f di v i di ng by 15 poses a probl em,
remember that 15 i s hal f of 30. Si nce 30 i s a
round fi gure, i t mi ght be easi er to thi nk i n these
terms:
Problem: 105 + 15 = ?
Method: 1. 105 x 2 = 210
2. 210 + 3 0 = 7
Answer: 105 +15 = 7
The si mpl e l ogi c here i s that 30 i s two ti mes
15. So, i f the di v i dend i s 105, make i t two ti mes
105 x 2 = 210. You al ready know that the
di v i sor 15 when doubl ed i s 30. I n effect, you are
doubl i ng both numbers thus:
(105 x 2) + (15 x 2) = 210 + 30 = 7
So, 105 + 15 = 7
I f you hav e to di v i de a number by 14, 16,
18, 20, 22 or 24, to si mpl i fy i t to y oursel f, you
can use numbers of l esser v al ue such as 7, 8, 9,
10, 11 or 12.
Divisor 14:
Problem: 392 + 14 = ?
Using divisor 7:
Method: a. 392 + 2 = 196
b. 196 + 7 = 28
Answer: 392 + 14 = 28
104
Divisor 16:
Problem: 464 4 16 = ?
Usi ng di v i sor 8:
Method: a. 464 4 2 = 232
b. 232 4- 8 = 29
Answer: 464 4 16 = 29
The same method appl i es here:
1. 882 -r 18 = 441 - 9 = 49
2. 4960 t 20 = 2480 - 10 = 248
3. 946 4- 22 = 473 4 11 = 43
4. 1176 4 24 = 588 4 12 = 49
Dividing by factors
I f y ou fi nd i t di ffi cul t to di v i de 1088 by 32, here
i s an easy method. You can break 32 i nto i ts
factors. You know 8 x 4 = 32. So you can use
8 and 4 to di v i de 1088.
Problem: 1088 4 32 = ?
Method: 1. 1088 4 8 = 136
2. 136 4 4 = 34
Answer: 1088 4 32= 34
Or i f you are gi v en thi s cal cul ati on:
Problem: 2695 4 55 = ?
Method 1. 5 x 11= 55
2. 2695 4 5 = 539
3. 539 4 11= 49
Taki ng the l ast exampl e, you wi l l real i se how
105
much easi er i t i s to do i t thi s way rather than
the way you were taught i n school , whi ch was:
5 5)2 6 9 5(4 9
2 2 0
4 9 5
4 9 5
0 0 0
Of course, i f you are at home usi ng the school
method, don't change i t. My i dea i s onl y to make
those of you who hi t a mental bl ock when faced
wi th seemi ngl y l arge numbers real i se that there
are easi er methods of doi ng the same sum.
Let's take another exampl e:
Problem: 8192 16 = ?
Keep i n mi nd here that to di vi de by numbers
that are power of 2 such as 4, 16, 18, etc.
y ou hav e to hal v e onl y the di v i dend:
Method: 1. 8192 4 2 = 4096
2. 4096 -r 2 = 2048
3. 2048 4 2 = 1024
4. 1024 -=- 2 = 512
To expl ai n : 16 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2. Or 2
4
So, by hal v i ng the number 8192 four ti mes,
you get the correct answer. Hence:
8192 v 16 = 512
Thi s techni que i s extremel y useful when you
are faced wi th a l arge number. For exampl e:
106
Problem: 32768 - 128 = ?
Method: 128 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 .
Or 2
7
So, you hal v e 32768 sev en ti mes:
1.32768 -H 2 = 16384
2.16384
+ 2 = 8192
3. 8192 -r 2 = 4096
4. 4096 - 2 = 2048
5. 2048 - 2 = 1024
6. 1024 - 2 = 512
7. 512
* 2 = 256
32768 -r 128 = 256
An i mportant poi nt to remember i s that these
methods work onl y wi th certai n numbers. When
gi v en a probl em, study the numbers i nv ol v ed.
Thi s wi l l hel p you fi nd a qui ck and easy way
to sol v e i t.
Dividing by fractions
Thi s i s an extremel y i nteresti ng techni que si nce
i t gi v es you an i nsi ght i nto fracti ons and how
they work i n di v i si on. Obv i ousl y, i t i s easi er to
di v i de by whol e numbers than by fracti ons. What
do y ou do i f you see: 360 -r = ?
There i s a very easy way of doi ng i t. Thi nk.
What i s the l i nk between the two numbers? What
107
you want i s a round number wi th whi ch you
are comfortabl e. As you thi nk, you wi l l real i se
that the fi rst step i s to make 7-^ i nto a round
number. Try the numbers one by one. Di scard
those that don't sui t you and take the one that
you are comfortabl e wi th.
Maki ng 7-^ i nto a round fi gure:
1. 71 x 2 = 15. Di scard!
2. 7\ x 3 = 22.5. Di scard!
3. l\ x 4 = 30. Take i t!
To equate the two numbers i n the probl em,
mul ti pl y 360 by 4 too.
I wi l l wri te i t down step by step:
Problem: 360 + = ?
Method: a. 7j x 4 = 30
b. 360 x 4 = 1440
Now, c. 1440 - 30 = 48
Answer: 360 4- 7^ = 48
108
Check list
There are certai n si mpl e tests that show whether
a number i s exactl y di v i si bl e by another number
or a mul ti pl e of i t. I hav e gi v en them bel ow
for easy reference:
Number 2
I f a number i s di v i si bl e by 2, i t wi l l end i n an
ev en number or a 0.
Number 3
I f a number i s di v i si bl e by 3, the sum of i ts di gi ts
wi l l be di v i si bl e by 3.
Example: I s 372 di v i si bl e by 3?
3 + 7 + 2 - 1 2 .
Si nce 12 i s di v i si bl e by 3, i t means 372 i s
di v i si bl e by 3.
Number 4
If a number i s di v i si bl e by 4, the l ast two di gi ts
are di v i si bl e by 4 or are zeros.
Example: I s 3188 di v i si bl e by 4?
88 -r 4 = 22
So, 3188 i s di v i si bl e by 4.
Number 5
I f a number i s di v i si bl e by 5, the l ast di gi t wi l l
be 5 or 0.
Number 6
If a number i s di v i si bl e by 6, the l ast di gi t wi l l
be ev en and the sum of the di gi ts di v i si bl e by 3.
109
Example: I s 2076 di v i si bl e by 6?
a) I t i s an ev en number.
' b) 2 + 0 + 7 + 6 = 15
c) 15 i s di vi si bl e by 3
d) So, 2076 i s di v i si bl e by 6
Number 7
Ah, thi s one has ev aded mathemati ci ans! There
is no qui ck test to show i f a number i s di v i si bl e
by 7.
Number 8
If a number i s di v i si bl e by 8, the l ast three di gi ts
are di vi si bl e by 8.
Example: I s 4898760 di v i si bl e by 8?
760 + 8 = 95
So, 4898760 i s di v i si bl e by 8.
Number 9
I f a number i s di v i si bl e by 9, the sum of i ts di gi ts
are di vi si bl e by 9.
Example: I s 12122748 di v i si bl e by 9?
1 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 7
+ 4 + 8 = 27.
27 + 9 = 3
So, 12122748 i s di v i si bl e by 9.
Number 10
If a number i s di v i si bl e by 10, i t ends wi th a 0.
110
Number 11
Thi s one i s extremel y i nteresti ng. How do you
know i f a number i s di v i si bl e by 11?
Example: I s 58432 di v i si bl e by 11?
To work thi s out, add the di gi ts i n the ev en
pl aces, then those i n the odd pl aces.
The d i ffer ence betw een the tw o answ er s
shoul d be 11 or 0.
Take 58432.
5 + 4 + 2 = 11
8 + 3 = 11
11 - 11 = 0.
So, 58432 i s di v i si bl e by 11.
To divide by 10, 100, 1000 etc.
mov e deci mal poi nt one, two, three, etc. pl aces
to the left i n di v i dend.
To divide by 0.1, 0.01, 0.001, etc.
mov e deci mal poi nt one, two, three, etc. pl aces
to the right i n di v i dend.
To divide by
mul ti pl y by 3 and di v i de by 10.
To divide by 33-^
mul ti pl y by 3 and di v i de by 100.
1 1 3
To divide by 333-^
mul ti pl y by 3 and di v i de by 1000.
2
To divide by 16-
mul ti pl y by 6 and di v i de by 100.
To divide by 12
mul ti pl y by 8 and di v i de by 100.
To divide by 8 ~
mul ti pl y by 12 and di v i de by 100.
To divide by 25
mul ti pl y by 4 and di v i de by 100.
To divide by 50
mul ti pl y by 2 and di v i de by 100.
To divide by 125
mul ti pl y by 8 and di v i de by 1000.
To divide by 10, 100, 1000, etc.
mov e deci mal poi nt one, two, three, etc. pl aces
to the right i n mul ti pl i cand.
To divide by 0.1, 0.01, 0.001, etc.
move deci mal poi nt one, two, three, etc. pl aces
to the left i n mul ti pl i cand.
112
To divide by 5, 50, 500, etc.
mul ti pl y by 10, 100, 1000, etc.
To divide by 25, 250, etc.
mul ti pl y by 100, 1000, etc. and di v i de by 4.
To divide by 125
mul ti pl y by 1000 and di v i de by 8.
To divide by 3 3 1 6 - ^, 12-^, 8-^, 6-j
mul ti pl y by 100 and di v i de by 3, 6, 8, 12, 16.
The methods I hav e outl i ned i n thi s chapter
can be cal l ed 'tri cks', if you wi l l ! Why not? My
purpose i s to gi v e you a 'scaffol di ng' to make i t
easi er for you to di v i de. Such 'tri cks' are used
by the l i fe-of-the-party type to enthral the guests
wi th hi s or her 'mathemati cal prowess'! Try them
out. I t i s al l a part of the great maths-game!
I nstead of bei ng i nti mi dated, you can di v i de and
rul e!
113
16
Shorthand of Maths
Man is a tool-using animal . . .
ivithout tools he is nothing,
with tools he is all.
TH OMAS CARLYLE
M
athemati cs bei ng such an i ntri nsi c part of
my mental make-up, I suppose I tend to
take i ts useful ness for granted. Howev er, a chance
remark from a passi ng acquai ntance jol ted me
out of my compl acency.
A y oung l ad y w ho i d enti fi ed her sel f as
Ashi ma, col l ar ed me at a party. 'I 'v e al way s
wanted to meet y ou,' she began. 'Tel l me, why
is mathemati cs i n exi stence? Does i t real l y serve
any purpose?'
'Why do you say that?' I asked her.
'Wel l ,' she sai d, 'except at a v ery el ementary
l evel , I don't see how i t hel ps me i n l i fe. I mean,
ari thmeti c is fi ne. But why do we hav e al gebra?
Coul dn't we manage wi thout i t?' Before I coul d
gather my thoughts, her escort appeared and took
her away.
114
I too l eft the party. Her i nnocent remark had
set me thi nki ng and I wanted to be al one to sort
out my thou ghts. I thou ght of her w or d s:
'Ari thmeti c i s fi ne, but why al gebra?'
The oldest language
To put i t si mpl y, I thi nk mathemati cs i n general
is a revol uti on i n the communi cati on of i deas. It
i s a part and process of the evol uti on of manki nd.
And if you thi nk back, i t is the ol dest l anguage,
the ol dest phi l osophy i n the worl d. By l i steni ng
to sounds, man ev ol v ed the spoken l anguage.
Every regi on of the worl d had peopl e expressi ng
thei r feel i ngs wi th sounds whi ch became words.
Later, l anguage became a sci enti fi c process as we
del ved i nto i ts grammar. Thi s ev ol uti on serv ed a
useful purpose as grunts were repl aced by words
to communi cate better. As l anguage fl ouri shed,
i t dev el oped man's capaci ty for hi gher thi nki ng.
To the ear l y I nd i an sages, d ev el op i ng
mathemati cs w as y et another art, one mor e
method of commu ni cati on, one mor e w ay of
understandi ng and rel ati ng to the worl d around
them. We thi nk that today we are i n an era of
speci al i sati on. But I thi nk our anci ent sages were
the ori gi nal speci al i sts. Thei r ev ol uti on was a
constant, cr eati v e r ev ol u ti on. They w er e the
ori gi nal arti sts who expl ored the worl d and the
uni verse through thei r senses. That i s why they
dev el oped one more l anguage mathemati cs
and gav e i t to the worl d.
It caught the i magi nati on of the peopl e. Li ke
any other l anguage, i t fl owered as new i deas
115
fl owed i nto i t. Take the Engl i sh l anguage, for
i nstance. I t has fl ow er ed and i s constantl y
ev ol v i ng because i t absor bs new wor ds from
di fferent env i r onments. I ndi an words such as
v erandah and bungal ow were assi mi l ated i nto
the Engl i sh l anguage onl y duri ng the Bri ti sh Raj.
Mathemati cs fl ow er ed i n the same way .
Addi ti on may hav e hel ped i n the anci ent barter
system, enhanci ng a more 'bl i nd' exchange of
goods by gi v i ng them a certai n v al ue. Then a
mathemati cal thi nker worked out mul ti pl i cati on
whi ch, i f you anal yse i t, i s another way of addi ti on,
or a shor thand of addi ti on. And just as any
l anguage has i ts roots in certai n conv enti ons and
tradi ti ons, so does mathemati cs.
Lancel ot Hogben, i n Mathematics in the Making,
descri bes the ev ol uti on of the posi ti v e or pl us
factors and the negati v e or mi nus factors. Taki ng
the cl ock, he marked the top hal f as the posi ti v e
arena, whi l e the bottom hal f r epr esented the
negati v e arena.
Per hap s tr ad i ti on r ul ed that al l maths
cal cul ati ons from 9 to 12 were of a posi ti v e nature,
whi l e 3 to 9 were of a negati v e nature. I t i s
di ffi cul t now to fi gure out what functi ons our
anci ent forefathers had i n thei r mi nds for each
116
symbol , each cal cul ati on. But then, we don't real l y
know how every word ev ol v ed i n, say, the Engl i sh
l anguage. We don't ev en know why words spel t
i n the same way are pronounced di fferentl y. For
exampl e, noti ce the di fferent pronunci ati ons of
'put' and 'but'. Yet, we conti nue to use them as
we hav e been taught.
Symbols and Signs
Maths too has certai n i deas i n i t whi ch cannot
al ways be expl ai ned. For exampl e, why do two
negati v es produce a posi ti v e? Perhaps the best
answer i s prov i ded by Professor John T. Tate, a
mathemati ci an at Harv ard, when he says: 'Thi s
rul e i s si mpl y a conv enti on that i s uni v ersal l y
agreed upon by peopl e worki ng wi th numbers
because i t i s useful .'
That bri ngs me back to the begi nni ng. As I
sai d earl i er, maths was, and i s, one more means
of communi cati on, one more l anguage added to
the human repertoi re. Wi thout maths we woul d
be wri ti ng down i deas i n l onghand. We woul d
be sayi ng: 'Two pl us three mul ti pl i ed by two gi ves
ten.' But usi ng the shorthand way makes i t easi er:
(2 + 3) x 2 = 10
I t i s seeing a cal cul ati on at a gl ance. I t i s a
system, a symbol i c l anguage desi gned because i t
i s conv eni ent. I f i t weren't for the symbol s and
si gns, we woul d hav e reams and reams on maths
unti l fi nal l y i t woul d be a dead sci ence.
Fortunatel y, human bri l l i ance keeps i t al i ve.
Ashi ma asked: 'Why al gebra?' It i s a l i ttl e l i ke
117
aski ng: 'Why any other l anguage? Why doesn't
the enti re worl d speak onl y one l anguage?' Woul d
we seri ousl y want al l l anguages, sav e one, to di e
out?
Si mpl e equati ons as we know them today,
w er e not so si mp l e y ear s ago. Du r i ng the
Renai ssance, al gebra was a v er y compl i cated
process. For exampl e, Pascal wrote i t as:
Trouame. i.no.chegiotoal suo q drat.facia. 12
Today, we know i t as:
x + x
2
= 12.
Note the di fference between a thought-process
bei ng wri tten out i n l onghand, and the shorter,
si mpl er way of modern al gebra.
Later, a mathemati ci an tri ed to si mpl i fy al gebra
by decl ari ng that al l v owel s shoul d stand for the
unknown, whi l e the consonants shoul d denote the
known. Howev er, the great Descartes had the
fi nal word. Or, i n thi s case, the fi nal sy mbol ! He
deci ded that the l ast l etters of the al phabet such
as 'x' shoul d stand for the unknowns and the
l etters at the begi nni ng such as 'a' or 'c' shoul d
stand for knowns.
Now Descartes may hav e ev ol v ed thi s method
ei ther from a l ogi cal thought process or by some
i dea rooted i n a certai n tradi ti on. The poi nt i s,
as i n any l anguage where words hav e come down
to us compl ete wi th thei r meani ngs, so has the
symbol 'x' come to us meani ng 'unknown'. We
use i t qui te freel y ev en i n our ev ery day l anguage.
The x-factor r ep r esenti ng the u nk now n i s a
commonl y understood i dea today.
118
Conquering the x-factor
Our anci ent mathemati ci ans had gi ven bi rth to
an i dea. The next generati on of thi nkers set about
pol i shi ng i t or di sti l l i ng i t, and fi nal l y, boi l i ng i t
down to a formul a. Wi th thi s formul a, they coul d
expl ore new areas and rel ati onshi ps.
We are the bl essed i nheri tors of the si mpl e
equati on, and are free to reach ev en hi gher i f we
want to. When we are taught al gebra or any
branch of mathemati cs i n school , we are actual l y
parti ci pati ng i n the great growth of mathemati cs.
Not al l of us may speci al i se i n i t, but i t hel ps
us to expl ore our tal ents. That i s why a good
p ar ent ex p oses the chi l d to ev er y p ossi bl e
di sci pl i ne. For exampl e, a chi l d may hav e the
potenti al to be a great tenni s pl ayer, but i f he
i s nev er exposed to the game, he wi l l nev er know
he has i t i n hi m. By exposi ng chi l dren to ev ery
fi el d of maths, parents and educators are gi v i ng
them the opportuni ty to grow.
I n i ts si mpl est form, al gebra i s another v ersi on
of ari thmeti c. You need not feel i nti mi dated when
you see a probl em as:
Problem: 4x +5 = 17 Find x.
Again, it is common sense at work:
Method: 1. (4 x x) +5 =17
2. Which number added to 5 gives 17?
3. 12 + 5 = 17
4. 4 x 3 = 12
5. 4 x 3 + 5 = 17
6. x = 3.
119
Si nce you al ready know that 4x means 4 x
x, the rest is easy. Thi s may seem a l ong way
of worki ng- it out, but our forefathers had to go
thr ou gh such l ong p r ocesses befor e they
di scov ered a l i nk and a formul a was formed.
To understand an equati on, l ook at i t from
a practi cal v i ewpoi nt. What i s an equati on? I t
i s l i ke a scal e. The two si des shoul d balance each
other. So, when you l ook at an equati on wri tten
thi s way :
x + 7 = 10
Vi sual i se i t on a scal e:
Scal e 1: Scal e 2:
What i s requi red to bal ance the scal e?
I t has to be 10 = 10.
So you know that by addi ng 3 to 7 you get 10.
3 + 7 = 1 0 x = 3
Give your intuition a chance
As you understand thi s fundamental pri nci pl e
underl yi ng the equati on, your i ntui ti on wi l l begi n
to work. You w on't need y our v i sual scal e to
work out:
x + 24 = 34
You wi l l know that x equal s 10.
120
It i s a si mpl e matter of subtracti on. If you
keep the i dea of bal ance i n y our mi nd, y our
natural i ntui ti on wi l l take ov er, thus al l owi ng
you to grasp each i dea faster and faster, unti l
you feel you know i t i ntui ti vel y. When you see
a seemi ngl y more compl ex equati on, the fi rst
questi on you shoul d ask yoursel f i s: 'What shoul d
I put on one si de to bal ance the other si de of
the scal e?' From thi s, you can go on to the more
posi ti v e: 'To bal ance the equati on, I must bal ance
one si de wi th the other.' Thi s way you wi l l be
unfazed when you see:
x - 10 = 3
Here, I hav e del i beratel y made the fi gure on
the ri ght si de of the equati on a l ower number,
3. But you know i ntui ti v el y that x i s 13, because
13 - 10 = 3.
As the i dea of balance becomes entrenched i n
your mi nd, your i ntui ti on wi l l sharpen and your
thi rd eye wi l l open wi der.
What happens when you see the fol l owi ng
probl em?
10x = 5x + 10
How do you bal ance the two si des? You tackl e
i t thi s way :
10* - 5x = 5x + 10 - 5*
Then, 5* = 10
What may set you wonderi ng i s that there
is an x on both si des of the equati on. But wi th
121
the i dea of bal anci ng, you know you hav e to
'bal ance one si de wi th the other.'
With thi s i n mi nd, l et's go on to the next step:
Look at thi s equati on:
5x - 2 = 4x + 1
At fi rst si ght, i t appears compl i cated. But i t
is not. Fi rst, see what you are comfortabl e wi th.
You are happy wi th 2 and 1 because they don't
hav e the unknown V attached to them.
Now, deci de whi ch number you woul d l i ke
to use to bal ance the equati on. Let's say, you
deci de on 2. What do you hav e to do to bal ance
the equati on?
You hav e to put 2 on both si des. So you
wri te:
5 x - 2 + 2 =4 x + l + 2.
Ah, i sn't i t al ready l ooki ng si mpl er? Now
si mpl i fy i t further:
5x = 4x + 3.
Go on wi th one more bal anci ng act:
5x - 4x = 4x + 3 - 4x.
That gi ves y ou: x - 3 because al l the x v al ues
cancel each other out. You hav e sol v ed i t wi th
thi s understandi ng. Now, i f you wri te i t down
step by step wi thout the expl anati ons, i t woul d
read:
Problem: 5x - 2 = 4x + 1
Method: 1. 5 x - 2 + 2 = 4x + l + 2
2. 5x = 4x + 3
3. 5x - 4x = 4x + 3 - 4x
x = 3.
122
To gi v e you a greater understandi ng of the
worki ngs of your mi nd, I suggest you formul ate
your own probl em and work i t out backwards.
Suppose you start wi th:
1. 45 = 45
2. 45 - 6 = 39 + 6
3. (15 x 3) - 6 = (13 x 3) + 6
4. 15x - 6 = 13* + 6.
If you toy around wi th numbers thi s way,
you wi l l get to know equati ons l i ke the back of
y our hand!
Wi th the next probl em, keep i n mi nd the i dea
of bal anci ng.
Problem: There are two numbers with the
difference of 3 between them. The difference of
their squares is 51. What are the numbers?
Method: 1. One number is *
2. The other number is y
3. x i/ 3
4. x
2
- y
1
=51
5. i l zi C = 51 = 17
x - y 3
6. That means, x + y = 17.
Note: x
2
~y
2
=(x - y) (x +y)
7. x - y = 3. So, 17 + 3 = 20
8. Since there are two numbers,
2x = 20
9. So, x = = 10
2
10. v = 7.
123
As your i ntui ti on works on bal anci ng ev ery
equati on you come across, you wi l l fi nd that ev en
the most-comp l i cated probl em can be sol v ed
si mpl y. In other words, you hav e conquered the
.\-factor!
124
16
Mathability: Human Face
of Mathematics
Y
ear s ago, w hen I was y ou ng and
i nexper i enced, i f someone had asked me,
'What is cal cul us?' I woul d probabl y hav e bored
them by tal ki ng l i ke a mathemati ci an! But
experi ence has taught me that onl y by l i nki ng
a su bject to somethi ng the other p er son
understands wi l l the l i stener get the grasp of i t.
The compari son may not be a hundred per cent
accurate, but i t i s suffi ci ent to l i ght that spark
of i nterest.
If I were to tel l you that cal cul us i s about
'opti mums' or 'rate of change', you woul d swi tch
off mental l y. But I remember tel l i ng somebody :
'Cal cu l u s i s to maths w hat astr ol ogy i s to
astronomy .' I nstantl y , he was capti v ated. The
descri pti on was not accurate, but i t caught hi s
i nter est. I n fact, he hel d up hi s hand and
125
excl ai med: 'Wai t! Don't tel l me. You mean that
cal cul us fi nds rel ati onshi ps and anal yses them?'
'Bi ngo!' I repl i ed.
Director of maths
Si nce cal cul us has nev er been mar keted, i t i s
vi ewed wi th awe, or wi th i ndi fference, or not at
al l ! Yet, i t i s the extremel y v i brant, v ery human
face of maths. In cal cul us, you don't hav e to deal
wi th numbers i n themsel ves but wi th i l l ustrati ons,
such as shapes and graphs. I t has an i nbui l t
techni que. For exampl e, a scri ptwri ter may wri te
an excel l ent scri pt, compl ete wi th a ti ght pl ot,
strong characters, and effecti v e di al ogues. But that
scri pt wi l l not be appreci ated unl ess a di rector
can bri ng i t to l i fe on the screen.
The di rector has the i ntui ti on and abi l i ty to
fi ne-tune the scri pt, hi ghl i ght smal l detai l s thus
maki ng them dramati c. He does thi s wi th a keen
sense of awareness of what woul d appeal to the
publ i c. In other words, he i s abl e to percei v e the
rel ati onshi p between the wri tten scri pt, the way
i t wi l l unfol d on the screen, and audi ence appeal .
That is what cal cul us is al l about. I t i s the di rector
of maths. I t anal yses and tunes rel ati onshi ps.
Take the hypotheti cal career of an I ndi an fi l m
actress. She is excel l ent at emoti ng, and i s keen
to take on v ari ed rol es. She gets three rol es one
after another, each di fferent from the other.
The fi rst rol e i s of Si ta, a beauti ful and vi rtuous
y oung woman. She wi l l do any thi ng for her
husband, ev en wal k through fi re i f he asked her to.
126
The second rol e is of Gi ta, a modern-day Rani
of Jhansi . A fi ghter whose eyes fl ash fi re and
bri mstone.
The thi rd rol e is of Ri ta, a pl aygi rl . She begui l es
men, pl ays wi th thei r emoti ons, and di scards them
when she gets bored wi th them.
You wi l l noti ce that I hav e taken three rol es
wi th extreme characteri sti cs. To the actress, each
rol e is a chal l enge as i t cal l s upon al l her acti ng
prowess. Wi th her i mmense tal ent she i s poi sed
for superstardom. But, i n practi ce, does i t work
that way ? If you were to pl ot a graph of her
career, y ou woul d expect i t to zoom steadi l y
upwards. Thi s i s how her graph ought to l ook:
3 0
Au d i e n ce
re a ctio n
20
10
Sita Gita
R o le s
Rita
But i n real i ty, thi s may not happen. Why ?
Because we hav e based our cal cul ati ons purel y
on her tal ent. Wi th each rol e she has excel l ed
hersel f. But thi s i s where the audi ence reacti on
sets i n. So her graph wi l l read:
127
Audience
reaction
30
2 0
10
S ita G i ta
Roles
R ita
Why i s there thi s unexpected downtrend? The
key l i es wi th the audi ence. They rev ered her as
the pure Si ta. They adored her as the gutsy Gi ta.
But they hated her as the sl y Ri ta.
In percei v i ng thi s rel ati onshi p l i es the sci ence
and art of cal cul us. Thi s i s wher e terms l i ke
'i nfi ni te' and 'l i mi ts' come i nto cal cul us.
Calculus and the 'real world'
By now, I am sur e y ou ar e begi n n i n g to
understand thi s fasci nati ng subject.
Some months ago I read an arti cl e about Asi an
workers. Tradi ti onal l y, Asi ans hav e prov ed to be
hard-worki ng. They work twi ce or ten ti mes as
hard as non-Asi ans, at l ower w ages. Earl i er,
stri cken by extreme poverty, they were ev en wi l l i ng
to work doubl e shi fts. Si nce they were pai d by
the hour, the more hours they worked, the more
they earned. The word 'l ei sure' di d not exi st i n
thei r v ocabul ary. But wi th the i mprov ement of
128
thei r economi c si tu ati on, came the gr ad u al
real i sati on that there was more to l i fe than work.
They di scov ered a l i fe of l ei sure, of spendi ng ti me
wi th thei r fami l i es. So now, whi l e they wer e
wi l l i ng to put i n twel v e hours, they were not
wi l l i ng to put i n ei ghteen. They had reached thei r
'l i mi ts'. After a certai n poi nt, they v al ued l ei sure
more than the extra money they coul d earn by
worki ng extra hours. Ov erti me was no l onger
that attracti v e.
Thi s i s wher e wor ds l i ke 'opti mum l ev el ',
'l i mi ts' come i n handy. Thi s i s where cal cul us
takes over. The graph reads:
150
No. of Asians
willing to
1Q0
_
work overtime
50 -
10 12 18
Overtime hours per week
If you were to extend the graph to 20 or 24
hours, the curv e woul d go l ower. Such a graph
woul d prov e i nv al uabl e to an empl oyer. From i t
he woul d be abl e to ascertai n a pattern rel ati ng
to the real worl d. The 'real worl d' percepti on i s
i mportant because hi s paperwork woul d obv i ousl y
show hi m the fol l owi ng:
1. Hi s product has a v ast, l i mi tl ess market.
129
2. I f hi s workers worked r ound the cl ock,
he'd be abl e to get maxi mum producti on
and maxi mum profi ts.
But, i n pr acti ce, thi s may not w or k. Hi s
workers must be wi l l i ng to work 24 hours, or
he wi l l hav e to empl oy more workers for ni ght
shi fts. He wi l l real i se that such a si tuati on hi ts
a peak, but the human el ement begi ns to sl owl y
l ower i t. The sl ope of the curv e wi l l hel p hi m
to work out an opti mum si tuati on, thus enabl i ng
hi m to chart out the most effi ci ent and effecti v e
system.
You may hav e noti ced that both exampl es I
hav e ci ted hav e a l i nk. Both show the real worl d,
the human el ement that runs so strongl y i n the
best wri tten project report. That i s why I say,
cal cul us i s the v i brant, human face of maths. It
has the i nherent power to percei v e and anal yse
a si tuati on. An uni nformed empl oy er may thi nk
that the onl y i ncenti v e hi s worker needs i s more
money. But cal cul us wi l l show hi m the human
needs. I roni c, i sn't i t, that maths shows the human
si de to a human bei ng?
Si mi l arl y, the actress may take on rol es that
are si mi l ar to the rol es of Si ta and Gi ta and turn
down the Ri ta rol es. You may mourn the fact that
she has not expl ored her tal ent to the ful l est, but
the actress must wei gh her i nner sati sfacti on
agai nst box offi ce success. Cal cul us makes her
aware of the swi ngs. I t i s up to her to choose.
Thi s al so hol ds true for, say, a shopkeeper.
If he sets up shop i n a competi ti v e area, he wi l l
hav e to work out the opti mum l ev el s of sal es to
130
get a real i sti c pi cture. By careful study, he may
fi nd that he can succeed i f he keeps hi s shop
open l ater than the rest, or keeps i t open on
Sundays when others are cl osed. Perhaps, i f he
adds on a home-del i v ery serv i ce, he wi l l stand
a better chance of success. A maths-model cl ari fi es
the si tuati on and enabl es hi m to fi nd the peaks
and the pl ateaus.
Finding relationships
Cal cu l u s al so p l ay s an i mp or tant r ol e i n
archi tecture. Erecti ng an effecti v e dam or bui l di ng
has i ts roots i n cal cul us. The archi tect works out
hi s bl uepri nt wi th an understandi ng of the preci se
rel ati onshi p between forces. I n effect, cal cul us
catches the forces worki ng on any gi v en si tuati on.
Then i t organi ses those forces. I n the fi nal anal ysi s
of these forces l i es the key to the sol uti on. The
forces can be ti me, space, moti on . . . .
Cal cul us hel ps i n fi ndi ng the area of di fferent
shapes. Most of us know that a square can be
2 cm. x 2 cm. = 4 sq. cm. or a r ectangl e
2 cm. x 4 cm. = 8 sq. cm. Here, we know that
l ength x breadth = square area. But how do you
fi nd the area of a strange shape that does not
conform to these set patterns? Take a swi mmi ng
pool shaped l i ke a pi ano, or the conti nent of
Austral i a. Nei ther of them i s a square, a rectangl e,
a tri angl e, or a ci rcl e. But by di v i di ng the shape
i nto sev er al squ ar es or r ectangl es, y ou can
cal cul ate i ts area. I won't go i nto techni cal detai l s
or the methods because I am not conducti ng a
course i n cal cul us through thi s book! What I 'd
131
l i ke to do i s to show you not just the useful ness
or the rel ev ance but al so the human face of the
subject.
Cal cul us has i ts own termi nol ogy whi ch often
makes i t seem a di ffi cul t subject to tackl e. For
exampl e, curv ed shapes are cal l ed 'functi ons'. To
arri ve at the human el ement, you wi l l hav e to
l earn the sci ence of i t, grasp the concept. But
once you hav e absorbed the basi c i dea of what
cal cul us does and can do, you wi l l no l onger l ook
on i t wi th awe or i nd i ffer ence. Si mp l y put,
cal cul us i s fi ndi ng rel ati onshi ps. I f you meet a
new cousi n, woul dn't you be i nterested i n how
he or she i s rel ated to you? Si mi l arl y, cal cul us
i s the fami l y tree of maths. I n i ts branches l i e
the frui ts of effi ci ency and effecti v eness.
132
16
Eccentricities of Maths
Genius means little more than the faculty of
perceiving in an unhabitual way.
WI LLI AM JAMES
s I wri te thi s chapter, I presume you hav e
been readi ng the book i n chronol ogi cal order
chapter by chapter. You may or may not agree
wi th ev erythi ng I hav e sai d, but I am sure that
you now v i ew maths wi th more understandi ng
and l ess fear.
I n any fi el d there i s a degree of sel f-anal ysi s.
I know a wri ter who i s so charmed by words
that i f she doesn't wri te her quota for the day,
she feel s unful fi l l ed. She says: 'Words turn me
on. I see ev ery day as a new bi rth i n whi ch I
gather a bou qu et of fr esh ex p er i ences and
thoughts.' Her ul ti mate ni rv ana i s to wri te i t al l
down by anal ysi ng what she has gathered and
i ncl udi ng i t i n her arti cl es or stori es.
133
Self-analysis can be fulfilling
I al so know of a bri l l i ant I ndi an cl assi cal si nger.
She is an i nteresti ng study. She feel s she i s beauti ful
onl y when she si ngs. When she was i nterv i ewed
by a magazi ne, she l ooked for war d to seei ng
hersel f i n pri nt. Whi l e the i nterv i ew was on, the
photographer kept ci rcl i ng her, photographi ng her
in v ari ous candi d poses. When the feature was
fi nal l y pri nted, she was dev astated. She fel t she
l ooked ugl y i n the pi ctur es. 'I shou l d hav e
for bi d d en i t. I shou l d hav e ask ed them to
photograph me at a sol o performance.' She di d
not mean that she woul d l ook better because she
was dressed for the show or had make-up on.
What she meant was that bei ng a true l over of
musi c, i t was onl y whi l e she was si ngi ng that
she achi ev ed true beauty. Thi s was when her very
soul shone through i n al l i ts gl ory and made her
beauti ful . And thi s was the moment for the
photographer to capture her on fi l m.
I hav e captured such moments and thoughts
and shar ed them wi th y ou to show you the
wonderful art of sel f-anal ysi s. Such an exerci se
carri ed out i n moderati on i s extremel y ful fi l l i ng.
There i s a romance to i t and a sense of sati sfacti on.
I want you to reach out and capture that warm,
gl owi ng, i ndescri babl e feel i ng and use i t for maths.
Some psy chol ogi sts bel i ev e that by del vi ng
i nto your past and exami ni ng, step by step, why
you di sl i ke maths, you wi l l understand yoursel f
and begi n to l i ke maths better.
134
I am the ki nd of person, however, who prefers
to l ook ahead rather than back. Perhaps you can
or cannot wi pe out the past compl etel y from y our
mi nd but, bel i ev e me, the best way to forget the
past i s to put i t fi rml y behi nd you and l ook to
the wonderful present and the gl ori ous future.
You can do i t i f y ou want to.
Let me assume that you hav e a comfortabl e
l i festyl e. It i s i mmateri al whether you are marri ed
or di v orced or whatev er. You are fai rl y content
wi th yoursel f. You hav e al most ev ery thi ng you
need to meet y our soci al , psy chol ogi cal , and
bodi l y r equi r ements. Curi osi ty or some other
emoti on has made you pi ck up thi s book. So now,
l et us l ook ahead.
Do y ou want to do maths? But maths for
what? I n thi s questi on l i es the core of your sel f-
anal ysi s. Many peopl e thi nk that they shoul d do
maths onl y i f they are p l anni ng to become
mathemati ci ans, engi neers, or technocrats. That
i s l i ke sayi ng you shoul d exerci se dai l y onl y i f
you want to take up a sport professi onal l y or
become an athl ete or a gymnast.
By bei ng abl e to l ook at maths strai ght i n the
eye, you are abl e to take more control of yoursel f
and of your l i fe. It is amazi ng how much a smal l
change i n the pattern of l i fe can do for you.
Somehow, a l i ttl e shi ft bri ngs out the fi ghti ng
spi ri t i n you. As you l earn to tackl e one more
area, you di scov er a 'pl us' i n you. I n doi ng so,
you hav e a great feel i ng of rel i ef, of freedom, of
hav i ng conquered somethi ng.
135
Demand the best from yourself
The. best thi ng about starti ng somethi ng new i s
that y ou r 'age doesn't matter. There i s no ti me
l i mi t. You are not i n competi ti on wi th anybody.
What is ev en better news i s that si nce you are
an adul t, you hav e a ri ch store of experi ence, so
you become a better mathemati ci an because of
what you hav e seen, heard, and done. Your abi l i ty
to anal yse i s much sharper than i t was when you
were an i nnocent fl edgl i ng i n school .
Wi th absol utel y no pressure on you, you can
rel earn maths by choosi ng the method that sui ts
you best. There i s no adul t or authori tari an fi gure
standi ng ov er y ou, demandi ng the i mpossi bl e.
There i s no set procedure, no regi men i nv ol v ed.
If you are comfortabl e wi th words, you can
work on i t through sentences. I f you fi nd you
enjoy numbers, you can di scard the words. If you
are a v i sual i ser you can enjoy yoursel f by worki ng
on graphs or other di agrams.
I n other words, what you are doi ng today
is not l earni ng or memori si ng a subject because
i t has to be done. I nstead, you are taki ng on
maths because you want to. You are seei ng i t as
one more ski l l to be dev el oped. Yes, a ski l l such
as pl ayi ng tabl e tenni s or ri di ng a bi cycl e or dri vi ng
a car.
You can acqui re and sharpen thi s ski l l i n
vari ous way s. You can sol v e maths puzzl es as
you woul d a crossword puzzl e. You can l earn
l i ttl e 'tri cks' to try on your fri ends. You can try
out al l those 'shortcut' methods that you coul dn't
in school . Oh, the potenti al i s enormous!
136
Soaring high
Look on thi s phase of your adul t l i fe as: All the
things I couldn't do in maths ivhen I was in school
that I can do now. You are now free to enjoy the
pecul i ari ti es or eccentri ci ti es that are so typi cal
of Ol d Man Maths. For exampl e, take the number
8 and see what i t does:
888
+ 88
+ 8
+ 8
+ 8
You can i mbi be the mysti que of the number
9. Look at the mul ti pl i cati on tabl es:
9 x 1 = 9
9 x 2 =18
9 x 3 = 2 7
9 x 4 =36
9 x 5 =45
Now, add up the sum of the di gi ts i n each
answer:
9 + 0 = 9
1 + 8 = 9
2 + 7 = 9
3 + 6 = 9
4 + 5 = 9
The sum i s al way s 9!
Or take a number l i ke 87594. Rev erse the
order of the di gi ts: 49578. Subtr act the l esser
number from the greater one:
137
87594
- 49578
Remai nder = 38016
Now, add the sum of the d i gi ts i n the
remai nder:
3 + 8 + 0 + 1 + 6 = 18.
Agai n, add the sum of the di gi ts i n the answer:
1 + 8 = 9
So, i t is back to Ki ng Ni ne!
It i s a sti mul ati ng pasti me. I am a great
bel i ev er i n spi ri tual harmony. I thi nk that when
you are absor bed i n maths w hi ch i s the
structure that our uni v erse is bui l t upon you
are in touch wi th yoursel f. You are i n touch wi th
your i nsti ncts, your heartbeats. And just as the
si nger fel t that she was beauti ful when she was
si ngi ng, so i t i s wi th maths. It i s when your spi ri t
is sti mul ated that i t soars on the wi ngs of harmony.
138
16
Mathability: That
Extra Step
If you want to do something, do it!
PLAUTUS
hy hav e I w r i tten a book on how to
el i mi nate maths-al i enness and encourage
more peopl e to take up maths? I t' i s because I
want to awaken wi thi n ev ery reader the sl eepi ng
gi ant that sl umbers due to i gnorance or fear. That
sl eepi ng gi ant i s 'I nspi rati on'. An unexpl ai ned,
powerful , energeti c force that, once awakened,
gi ves you a great gi ft. The gi ft of wi l l i ngness. The
gi ft of acti on. The strong upsurge that makes you
take that extra step.
Be an achiever
That extr a step y ou take wi l l make y ou an
achi ever. What is an achi ev er? A mi l l i onai re? A
TV star? A pol i ti ci an? He is much more than that.
An achi ev er i s one w ho has accomp l i shed
somethi ng. A per son w ho has attai ned hi s
139
objecti v es. One who has ov ercome hi s fear. He
does not hav e to be famous to be an achi ever.
Every achi ev er known or unknown i n
the worl d is a successful person because he or
she has taken that extra step. That i s what I want
you to do. You may al ready be a success i n your
chosen fi el d. But i f you ov ercome your fear of
maths, you wi l l be taki ng that extra step whi ch
wi l l hel p you reap greater benefi ts and bri ng you
joys that hav e so far el uded you.
Take the exampl e of a farmer. He who takes
that extra step and sows one more seed, pl eases
the great mathemati ci an Nature. She rewards
hi m by mul ti pl yi ng that one l i ttl e extra seed i nto
several hundred grai ns. The farmer has one more
achi ev ement to hi s credi t. He i s bl essed wi th a
ri cher crop because he had the foresi ght, the
wi l l i ngness, the energy to take that extra step.
The benefits of maths
The benefi ts of that extra step are enormous. Let
us ex ami ne them at a p r acti cal l ev el and
enumerate them. What do you gai n by taki ng on
maths?
It makes you regard yoursel f wi th greater
respect and i n turn i nv okes respect from
those around you.
It prov i des you wi th greater opportuni ti es
for sel f-expl orati on and sel f-adv ancement.
It compensates you by showi ng you another
way of i ncreasi ng your earni ng capaci ty.
140
It makes you sel f-suffi ci ent because you can
pl an your i nv estments wi thout any qual ms.
It l eads y ou to devel op your mi nd by addi ng
one more accompl i shment to your brai n's
repertoi re.
It protects you from job-r etr enchment i n
di ffi cul t ti mes, because you hav e an extra
ski l l that mi ght i nduce your empl oy er to
retai n you.
I t enhances your job prospects because you
possess that i mportant ski l l .
It makes you more aware, more al ert, more
keen becau se i t i s a constant sour ce of
i nspi rati on.
It dev el ops i ni ti ati v e and enterpri se wi thi n
you, thanks to your new-found confi dence.
I t gi v es others confi dence i n you and your
abi l i ty.
I t bani shes the ol d habi t of procrasti nati on
that i n the past prev ented you from doi ng
cer tai n i mp or tant thi ngs such as
bal anci ng y our chequebook.
It gi v es y ou a purpose, an ai m, a focus that
i nsures you agai nst restl essness.
And fi nal l y, i t makes you a recogni sed ci ti zen
of a wonderful new worl d a worl d whi ch
fol l ow s the p r i nci p l es of the l aw of
i ncreasi ng returns. As I hav e sai d earl i er,
you hav e nothi ng to l ose and ev erythi ng to
gai n by l earni ng maths.
141
Fling away those old, rusty fears.
Let your clean metal shine through.
Let your' inspirational juices course through you.
Maths is your friend.
Maths is your instrument to a richer life.
Recognise the loyal friend who will never let
you down.
Give yourself a chance by giving maths a chance.
Maths has the answers, the solutions.
Take maths on and become an achiever.
Take that vital extra step!
O <
142
16
Myths About Maths
ho doesn't enjoy a bi t of gossi p? Fi l m and
pol i ti cal personal i ti es are i ts fi rst target
al most any where i n the worl d. Gossi p adds spi ce
to l i fe. There's somethi ng del i ci ousl y wi cked about
i t. Maths has i ts share of gossi p too! Take a pi ece
of adv i ce from me: enjoy i t, then forget i t. After
al l , as Pascal put i t so wel l , i t boi l s down to two
pl us two maki ng fi ve!
Let's hav e a cosy gossi p-sessi on about maths,
and then see what the real truth i s behi nd the
gossi p.
My th: Women mathemati ci ans are mascul i ne.
Truth: Who says so? Do you thi nk an i nti mate
knowl edge of the magi c of numbers
makes women suddenl y sprout bri stl es
on thei r cheeks? No way. In fact, as
143
far back as the 60s, Amer i can
researchers came up wi th the startl i ng
rev el ati on that women mathemati ci ans
were 'si gni fi cantl y more femi ni ne'!
My th: Non-mathemati cal mal es are si ssy and
femi ni ne.
Truth: Rubbi sh! I s there any medi cal proof
for thi s? But thi s sensel ess al l egati on
makes the poor non-maths mal e feel
as i f he has gone i n for a sex-change
operati on! He i s ashamed to admi t that
the onl y 'pi ' he rel i shes i s Mom's Appl e
Pi e!
My th: When i t comes to maths, you hav e to
l ock up your i ntui ti on and l et pure
l ogi c take over.
Truth: Tsk, tsk! Wi thou t i ntu i ti on w her e
woul d l ogi c be? For exampl e, y ou'v e
watched a murderer commi t a cri me;
then he tri es to conv i nce y ou i n a
l ogi cal way that you nev er real l y saw
i t. Despi te hi s persuasi v e arguments,
wi l l you be conv i nced? Of course not!
Heed the wi se words of one of the
greatest mathemati ci ans the worl d has
ev er produced: 'To these el ementary
l aws (of physi cs) there l eads no l ogi cal
path, but onl y i ntui ti on supported by
bei ng sy mpatheti cal l y i n touch wi th
exper i ence.' I t was Ei nstei n hi msel f
who came to thi s concl usi on!
144
Words l i ke 'rati onal ', 'preci se', 'l ogi cal ' hav e
gi v en poor Ol d Man Maths a bad name! Yet
mathemati cal hi story poi nts towards i ntui ti on.
New ton i ntu i ti v el y knew cal cu l u s ex i sted
somewhere on the fri nges of the consci ousness
of mathemati cs. But he coul dn't dev i se the l ogi cal
steps requi red to gi v e fl esh and bl ood to the
skel eton of hi s i dea.
I n mathemati cs, i ntui ti on i s the par ent of
i nventi on. Logi c fol l ows l i ke a wel l -trai ned dog.
In fact, maths does not hav e i ts roots i n l ogi c
at al l . It i s rooted i n i deas to make l i fe more
practi cal , more organi sed. Those i deas are born
out of observ ati on and i ntui ti on. Rene Descartes,
who has been gi v en the awesome ti tl e of 'Father
of Mod er n Math emati cs', w as one d ay i d l y
watchi ng a fl y crawl on the cei l i ng of hi s room.
Hi s i ntui ti ve mi nd caught an i dea that made hi m
chart the path of the fl y i n maths-l i ngo. And
anal yti cal geometry was born! I t depends on what
and where your mi nd i s tuned to for that moment.
The Scotti sh ki ng Robert Bruce deduced an enti rel y
di fferent phi l osophy from watchi ng the spi der!
An i ndustri al i st who wants to set up a new
pl ant may ask for data, profi t and l oss projecti ons,
and so on, from hi s marketi ng men. They may
come up wi th a pi cture that prov es that the new
project is goi ng to be a fi nanci al di saster. They
may advi se hi m through thi s l ogi cal process not
to go ahead wi th i t. But i f hi s i ntui ti on tel l s hi m
otherwi se, he wi l l use thei r projecti ons to ev al uate
the ri sk factors and sti l l go ahead. The ev entual
success of the project i s not due to l ogi c but to
hi s i ntui ti on!
145
Each one of us has thi s speci al mathemati cal
i ntui ti on wi thi n us. We hav e to l earn to l i sten
to i t.
Myth: Approxi mate i s for the bi r ds, exactness
i s for mathemati ci ans.
Truth: Wel l , wel l , wel l ! I 'd rather be a bi rd
i n that case! Of course, exact answers
d o hel p , bu t onl y at sci enti f i c
l aboratory l ev el s. Take heart from the
fact that 'appr oxi mate' i s what w e l i v e
by i n any fi el d. When y ou tot up y our
grocery bi l l , y ou need n't do i t to the
l ast paisa or cent. A once-ov er, just to
sati sfy y oursel f that i t's not wi de off
the mar k , i s en ou gh . Ev en maths-
or i ented k n ow l ed ge hi nges on the
appr oxi mate. The d i stance from the
ear th to the su n i s approximately
150,000,000 k i l ometr es. The su r face
area of the gl obe i s approximately 500
mi l l i on ki l ometres.
I t i s onl y i n school that y ou are taught to
get exact answers at the si mpl e ari thmeti c l ev el .
Thi s i s because y ou are bei ng taught a ski l l and
shoul d l earn to be as perfect as possi bl e at that
poi nt of ti me. But l ater, there i s no real v al ue or
sati sfacti on i n bei ng accurate to the l ast di gi t. For
exampl e, i n a project report a fi gure such as 3.65
i s r ounded off to 3.7, and so on. So, i t al l depends
on the ci rcumstances. Ev en a doctor say s that i f
hi s pati ent i s ov er fi fty -fi v e y ears of age, a bl ood
pressure l ev el of about 140 to 150 i s fi ne.
146
My th: If y ou count on your fi ngers, you are
a phi l i sti ne!
Truth: Pooh! For some reason, counti ng on
the fi ngers i s not seen as 'el egant'. Yet,
many do i t under the tabl e, behi nd
thei r backs, and so on. What parents
and teachers hav e to und er stand i s
that ther e's nothi ng w r ong w i th
counti ng on the fi ngers. What i s the
abacus after al l ? I t i s a sl i ghtl y more
ad v anced way of cou nti ng on the
fi ngers. Strangel y enough, the constant
use of a cal cul ator i s not as frowned
uport as counti ng on the fi ngers. A
cal cul ator onl y makes y ou l azy and
robs you of the abi l i ty to cal cul ate on
y our own. Counti ng on the fi ngers
c^oesn't. And as I 'v e sai d earl i er, maths
began at our fi ngerti ps, so why the
new i nhi bi ti on?
My th: The faster you sol ve a new probl em,
the smarter you are.
Truth: Yes, i f y ou are pl anni ng to compete
agai nst Carl Lewi s i n a 100 m race!
Mathemati ci ans are no mor e speed
mer chants than are wri ters. A good
wri ter can "take years to wri te a nov el .
Here, speed i s not essenti al . So al so i n
maths. Sp eed p r ov es nothi ng,
absol utel y nothi ng. What counts here
i s experi ence and practi ce. A cl assi cal
si nger makes her performance l ook so
fl ui d, so effortl ess, but i t i s hard work,
147
practi ce, and experi ence that make thi s
possi bl e. So i s i t wi th mathemati ci ans.
Pen and paper are requi red. The ti me
mathemati ci ans take depends on thei r
experi ence whether they'v e sol v ed
si mi l ar probl ems before. If there i s a
v ari ati on, thei r i ntui ti on too comes i n
handy. And don't forget that speci al
person Lady Luck!
So don't get di scouraged and throw up your
hands i f you come across a probl em that l ooks
tough. Just pi ck up the pen, thi nk, and start!
My th: You hav e to hav e the memory of an
el ephant to be a good mathemati ci an.
Truth: If that were so, el ephants woul d be
good mathemati ci ans! Thi nk of i t thi s
way : when y ou begi n to l earn the
Engl i sh l anguage, y ou hav e to fi rst
memori se the al phabet, but as you go
on, i t becomes a part of you. Thi s
i ncl u d es gr ammar and v ocabul ar y .
Si mi l arl y, wi th maths you shoul d al l ow
the symbol s and the practi ce of them
to become a part of y ou. After al l ,
doesn't 'two pl us two equal s four' rol l
easi l y off your tongue?
What i s maths? It i s the same as any l anguage.
You hav e to understand the concepts i n i t just
as you hav e to understand the grammar i n a
l anguage. Grammar has rul es; and maths has
formul ae.
148
Unfor tunatel y , from an ear l y age we are
taught to r attl e off mul ti pl i cati on tabl es l i ke
parrots. Few chi l dren grasp the concept of tabl es
that 2 x 2 = 4 i s the same as 2 + 2 = 4, or
that 3 x 3 = 9 is the same as 3 + 3 + 3 = 9.
I hav e an amusi ng i nci dent to rel ate wi th
regard to tabl es. About to knock on the door of
my fri end's home, I noti ced that i t was sl i ghtl y
ajar.
Pl anni ng to surpri se her, I pushed i t open
ful l y, but stopped when I heard thi s conv ersati on
between her and her ten-y ear-ol d son:
'Where are you goi ng?'
'To pl ay.'
'Hav e you l earnt your si xteen ti mes tabl e?'
'Yes, Mummy.'
'Al l ri ght. Reci te them to me. I want to hear
them.'
'Can't I reci te them l ater?'
'No. Ri ght now.'
Pause. Then the boy 's v oi ce started i n that
si ng-song manner. I t went: 'Si xteen-ones-ar e-
si xteen! Si xteen-twos-ar e-thi r ty ! Si xteen-thr ees-
are-forty -fi v e!'
He paused to take a breath and my fri end
sai d, 'Very good! Go on!'
Unabl e to suppress my l aughter, I wal ked i n.
Looki ng sheepi sh, the boy stopped. Obvi ousl y, he
nei ther had the i nterest nor the understandi ng
of the tabl es. He was reci ti ng the fi fteen ti mes
tabl e to hi s mother who di dn't know any better!!!
149
Such i nci dents bri ng home the fact that peopl e
thi nk tabl es and other mathemati cal concepts are
to be mempri sed, not understood. Yet, i n any
fi el d onl y by understandi ng do you remember.
Even the l yri cs of a song are remembered better
i f you hav e understood the meani ng of the words.
That i s why some peopl e say they are 'word-
deaf'.
I n maths, a proper grasp of the basi cs i s
essenti al . Thi s grasp hel ps as probl ems become
i ncr easi ngl y comp l ex. Memor i si ng a for mul a
w on't hel p i f y ou hav en't u nd er stood the
appl i cati on of i t.
My th: Th er e's no fl ash of i nsp i r ati on i n
maths. I t's al l perspi rati on!
Truth: I f that were so, why di d Archi medes
jump out of hi s bath, y el l i ng the now
famous word 'Eureka'? That's because
he had a fl ash of i nspi r ati on. Both
these qual i ti es are requi red to sol v e
maths probl ems.
My th: You ei ther hav e the abi l i ty to do maths
or y ou don't. Mathemati ci ans are born,
not made.
Truth: For mathemati ci ans, w hat a l ov el y
i mage to hav e! I f thi s were true, they
woul d be on cl oud ni ne, wi th peopl e
l ooki ng at them i n awe for thei r speci al
'i nborn' abi l i ti es! But the truth i s that
one i s not born a mathemati ci an. I t i s
an acqui red ski l l , a ski l l that can be
taught to ev eryone. But the fal se i dea
150
that math emati ci an s ar e bor n not
made, rai ses mental barri ers for most
peopl e. They tel l themsel v es: 'I can't
do i t because I was not born wi th a
maths brai n.' As they go on repeati ng
i t, they u nd er mi ne thei r own sel f-
confi dence.
Believe in Yourself
Maths i s exactl y l i ke a sport. I f a sportsperson
feel s she can't better the worl d record, she'l l nev er
do i t because she has not geared hersel f for i t.
Negati v e emoti ons stop her from ev en tryi ng. Oh,
you may see her runni ng on the track, but her
heart won't be i n i t. So al so wi th maths. Bel i ev e
i n yoursel f, bel i ev e you can do i t and you will
be abl e to do i t. I f i t comes to that, I 'd say we
are al l born to maths, but we don't know i t.
Now that y ou hav e r ead about the myths
what for i t i s, I hope y ou wi l l be abl e to di scard
any fal se noti ons you may hav e about maths. I t's
a great compani on and has al l the requi si tes of
l i fe i n i t work, fun and games, and ev en my th!

151
Touch
the future!
"We carry within us the seeds of the genius
we seek without. Each one of us possesses a
mathematical brain. An ingrained power a
creative energy, a greater problem solving
capacity than we probably give ourself credit for
With a better understanding, I am sure you can
influence yourself and your child to take maths on.
It is a great subject. Porit knock it. It is your and
your childfc competitive edge. It is the future''
PARENTING/CHILD DEVELOPMENT
^ORI ENT
1
^PAPERBACKS &
I SBN 81- 222- 0316- 7