Geometry in the Sulvasutras: mathematics which has stood the test of time. This article by professors Dani and Limaye highlights the understanding and applications of mathematics in Vedic times in a most readable and inspiring manner. KG Misra takes a hard look at coaching programs in mathematics and the way the pressures of entrance examinations dumb down elegant reasoning in mathematics and convey a completely false impression about the definition of being successful in mathematics. There is a lot of material in the ClassRoom section from our field authors: Ankit Patodi demystifies the divisibility rules and Amit Chand does the same for the familiar algorithm for finding the square root by long division. Swati Sircar has extended AtRiA’s ClassRoom coverage to Statistics with a behind-the-scenes look at the formula for the median. James Metz gives a contextual understanding of exponents and we also have a submission from a reader which details the mathematics behind the folk method used to find the height of a tree which was described in the last issue. Ranjit Desai asks us an interesting ‘What-If’ question in Journey of a Minute Hand. Speaking of What-If, do check out A Ramachandran’s whimsical question in Viewpoint.
March, 2021