Skip to main content

Pi Day

March 14 is Pi Day.  Those who have some familiarity with basic arithmetic will know that pi is a mathematical constant - a ratio, in fact - whose value is approximated to 3.14.  So 14/3 (or 3/14, as the Americans write it), today, is pi day.

 Interestingly or coincidentally, it is also the birthday of Albert Einstein, arguably the greatest genius who ever lived. 

 The New Yorker has published, among many illuminating articles, a very humorous questionnaire on the occasion: Diagnostic Exam: Do You Have Math Anxiety?  A sample question:

What is a hypotenuse? 
(a) A very graceful hypot. 
(b) An overweight chanteuse. 
(c) The  French word for profound boredom.
Mathematics is often assumed to be a scary monster.  Actually it can be sheer fun if we learn to exercise our logical faculty properly.  Most people don't want to think - that's the simple truth.  Mathematics calls for some abstract thinking also which is assumed to be boring or even scary.  Hence many give up maths.  In other words, they give up logical thinking.  And they run after frauds like godmen and miracle workers.  

There's so much irrationality in our world today in spite of all the progress that we are making  with the help of science and technology which are founded on mathematics.  We want the benefits of rational thinking.  We have no shame in accepting the contributions of rational thinkers when it suits us.  But when it comes to our petty notions about many things which are nothing more than superstitions, we cling tenaciously to inanities.  

That's why Pi Day is important.  We have to bring some basic maths into our lives.  Some simple rational thinking.  

A concluding question adapted from The New Yorker:

What do you do when you travel to a foreign country and need to figure out the currency?
(a) I ask, “How much is that in real money?”
(b) I ring up my godman's receptionist.
(c) I demand nationalism and seek to convert my country's currency as the international currency. 
Labels:

Comments

  1. magiceyeMarch 14, 2016 at 7:00 AM

    Loved the last one!! :)

    Happy Pi Day to you too!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. parwatisingariMarch 14, 2016 at 7:17 AM

    :) you beat me to it, last year I did write a blog on this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 14, 2016 at 7:22 AM

      Morning mail from New Yorker reminded me, Sharmila.

      Delete
  3. sunaina sharmaMarch 14, 2016 at 7:49 PM

    Teaching math has become a bone of contention - how do we teach math correctly? Do we make kids memorize tables, or do we teach them to think? Do we follow traditional methods of teaching or do we apply methods that are confusing to parents but ok to kids? Many Indian friends have made their kids learn their tables. While I was wondering what I should do with my son who hasn't yet 'achieved' that fete, my son comes home and tells me the solution to a multiplication sentence and asks me to give him another one. I try him and he solves that. I ask him how he did it and he tells me the logic his teacher has taught. Do I boast that he knows the tables now....:D? Not really. But I am happy he is understanding the method.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 14, 2016 at 8:45 PM

      A very interesting question from you, Sunaina (as usual, I must add).

      Teaching math requires entirely different strategies according to the level. At the elementary level, it is important to teach the primary tables to the child. Basic addition and multiplication should be part of the child's primary skills. You can't do away with rote learning here.

      The logical skills develop gradually. No child will enjoy learning geometry unless he learns to employ logical skills. When he comes to algebra, abstract thinking and analytical skills also become necessary. The real skill of the teacher lies in developing those skills and it is not a very easy job. But it need not be a Herculean task either.

      I understand that teachers often fail in ensuring that the pupil knows the fundamentals required for the particular concept. For example, before teaching factorisation a teacher should ensure that the pupil knows basic arithmetic of addition and multiplication as well as employing those skills to divide numbers into their possible factors.

      At the higher levels, the challenges are very demanding simply because a lot of fundamental concepts have to be understood by the pupil before getting into the complexities involved.

      Delete
  4. UnknownMarch 15, 2016 at 6:53 AM

    An interesting post and discussion here:) By the way, I wish many people read this post and ponder over the virtues of logical and critical thinking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 15, 2016 at 9:53 AM

      As far as I have understood, people don't want to think. They want others to do that job for them. That's why we have so many religion-related problems these days.

      Delete
  5. HemaMarch 16, 2016 at 1:12 AM

    What a great post! I laughed out loud at option c of the hypotenuse question :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 16, 2016 at 6:47 AM

      The credit should go to the New Yorker.

      Glad you liked it.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ghost of a Banyan Tree

  Image from here Fiction Jaichander Varma could not sleep. It was past midnight and the world outside Jaichander Varma’s room was fairly quiet because he lived sufficiently far away from the city. Though that entailed a tedious journey to his work and back, Mr Varma was happy with his residence because it afforded him the luxury of peaceful and pure air. The city is good, no doubt. Especially after Mr Modi became the Prime Minister, the city was the best place with so much vikas. ‘Where’s vikas?’ Someone asked Mr Varma once. Mr Varma was offended. ‘You’re a bloody antinational mussalman who should be living in Pakistan ya kabristan,’ Mr Varma told him bluntly. Mr Varma was a proud Indian which means he was a Hindu Brahmin. He believed that all others – that is, non-Brahmins – should go to their respective countries of belonging. All Muslims should go to Pakistan and Christians to Rome (or is it Italy? Whatever. Get out of Bharat Mata, that’s all.) The lower caste Hindus co...
121 comments
Read more

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
44 comments
Read more

Romance in Utopia

Book Review Title: My Haven Author: Ruchi Chandra Verma Pages: 161 T his little novel is a surfeit of sugar and honey. All the characters that matter are young employees of an IT firm in Bengaluru. One of them, Pihu, 23 years and all too sweet and soft, falls in love with her senior colleague, Aditya. The love is sweetly reciprocated too. The colleagues are all happy, furthermore. No jealousy, no rivalry, nothing that disturbs the utopian equilibrium that the author has created in the novel. What would love be like in a utopia? First of all, there would be no fear or insecurity. No fear of betrayal, jealousy, heartbreak… Emotional security is an essential part of any utopia. There would be complete trust between partners, without the need for games or power struggles. Every relationship would be built on deep understanding, where partners complement each other perfectly. Miscommunication and misunderstanding would be rare or non-existent, as people would have heightened emo...
9 comments
Read more

Tanishq and the Patriots

Patriots are a queer lot. You don’t know what all things can make them pick up the gun. Only one thing is certain apparently: the gun for anything. When the neighbouring country behaves like a hoard of bandicoots digging into our national borders, we will naturally take up the gun. But nowadays we choose to redraw certain lines on the map and then proclaim that not an inch of land has been lost. On the other hand, when a jewellery company brings out an ad promoting harmony between the majority and the minority populations, our patriots take up the gun. And shoot down the ad. Those who promote communal harmony are traitors in India today. The sacred duty of the genuine Indian patriot is to hate certain communities, rape their women, plunder their land, deny them education and other fundamental rights and basic requirements. Tanishq withdrew the ad that sought to promote communal harmony. The patriot’s gun won. Aapka Bharat Mahan. In the novel Black Hole which I’m writing there is...
61 comments
Read more

A Lesson from Little Prince

I joined the #WriteAPageADay challenge of Blogchatter , as I mentioned earlier in another post. I haven’t succeeded in writing a page every day, though. But as long as you manage to write a minimum of 10,000 words in the month of Feb, Blogchatter is contented. I woke up this morning feeling rather vacant in the head, which happens sometimes. Whenever that happens to me but I do want to get on with what I should, I fall back on a book that has inspired me. One such book is Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince . I have wished time and again to meet Little Prince in person as the narrator of his story did. We might have interesting conversations like the ones that exist in the novel. If a sheep eats shrubs, will he also eat flowers? That is one of the questions raised by Little Prince [LP]. “A sheep eats whatever he meets,” the narrator answers. “Even flowers that have thorns?” LP is interested in the rose he has on his tiny planet. When he is told that the sheep will eat f...
8 comments
Read more