News

TN students high on mobile use, low on math; 40% can’t find Tamil Nadu on Indian map

HIGHLIGHTS

• 24.6% of high school students aged 14-18 years are able to carry out subtraction
• Only 47% can solve division problems
• 28.4% are able to recognise numbers (10-99)

A mere 24.6% of high school students aged 14-18 years are able to carry out subtraction, while only 47% can solve division problems and 28.4% are able to recognise numbers (10-99), as per the findings of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released on Tuesday based on a survey in rural Madurai.
In contrast, students dabbling with the digital world was significantly higher with 95.3% frequently using mobile phones, and 63% spending time on computers. Only 27% said they had never had access to computers.

This year’s study picked one district in each state for an indicative survey sample. In Tamil Nadu, it was conducted among 1,044 youths in 925 households in 60 villages of Madurai. The age category was expanded from 3-15 years to 14-18 years for the first time.

Reading levels too were found to be poor, with more than 25% unable to read a sentence in English and about 17% not able to read a Class II text in Tamil. “For this level of students, these figures are very disappointing. Many of them are unable to even do basic arithmetic,” said Oliver B of Pratham, the NGO which carried out field work for the survey.

Worse, only 68.9% were able to name the country’s capital, while 79% could name their own state. In fact, more than 6% were unable to recognise the map of the country, while 58.8% only identified their own state on a national map.

Madura College (self-finance courses) principal Dr K M Rajasekaran said the findings were not surprising. “Mobile phones have become a nuisance among students and 90 % of them use them not in a constructive manner. For instance, an android mobile can be used to browse for information, read newspapers and look out for study material, but few do that. They use it for social networking chats, meme creation and watching movies and songs,” said Rajasekaran, who is based in Madurai city.

Some academicians felt there was little interest in textbooks and lessons, as mobile phone penetration increased. It is perhaps time for teachers too to find ways to engage them in classrooms using technology, said Ramachandran, who was part of the ASER survey team.

Others felt technology could have adverse effects. Fr A Susaimanickam, head master, St Claret Higher Second ary School, Karumathur, Madurai, said dependence on technology had affected memory power, with very few students barely able to remember tables of mathematics or able to do mental mathematics.

Mathematics of Photography

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Passy

Mathematics is just one of my passions. As well as teaching Mathematics, MultiMedia, and ICT as my “Day Job”, I also work as a Photographer on weekends.

Modern Digital Photography involves quite a bit of behind the scenes Mathematics.

This Mathematics includes Geometric Sequences, Polyhedrons, Fractions, Geometry, Circle Areas, Angles, Algebra Formulas, and Symmetry.

An understanding of this Mathematics can definitely make you a better Photographer, even if it just means you know the best Viewpoints, Angles, and Geometric Composition to use when taking pictures with a Mobile Phone.

I have found that understanding the Mathematics of a DSLR Camera really helps me do fast effective problem solving on Photoshoots.

Digital Cameras have preset auto modes which work well in about 80% of situations, but there are other times when a Camera needs to be put into full Manual Mode and some Mathematical Problem Solving invoked.

Here at Passy’s World we have produced a comprehensive series of articles on the Mathematics of Photography, including plenty of real life examples as well as selected Videos which can be viewed.

We recommend working through these articles in the order in which they appear in the Overview Below.

The eight Mathematics of Photography articles are as follows:

– Photo Composition Rules

– Digital Camera Variables

– The ISO Variable

– The Aperture Variable

– The Shutter Speed Variable

– The White Balance Variable

– Combining Variables for Correct Exposure

– Flash Photograpy and Diffusers

Mathematician and their contribution

It is no doubt that the world today is greatly indebted to the contributions made by Indian mathematicians. One of the most important contribution made by them was the introduction of decimal system as well as the invention of zero. Here are some the famous Indian mathematicians dating back from Indus Valley civilization and Vedas to Modern times.

– Aryabhata

Aryabhata worked on the place value system using letters to signify numbers and stating qualities. He discovered the position of nine planets and stated that these planets revolve around the sun. He also stated the correct number of days in a year that is 365.

– Brahmagupta

The most significant contribution of Brahmagupta was the introduction of zero(0) to the mathematics which stood for “nothing”.

– Srinivasa Ramanujan

Srinivasa Ramanujan is one of the celebrated Indian mathematicians. His important contributions to the field include Hardy-Ramanujan-Littlewood circle method in number theory, Roger-Ramanujan’s identities in partition of numbers, work on algebra of inequalities, elliptic functions, continued fractions, partial sums and products of hypergeometric series.

Riddles

1. Mr. Smith has two children. If the older child is a boy, what are the odds that the other child is also a boy?

Answer 50

2. If 1/2 of 5 is 3, then what is 1/3 of 10?

Answer 4

3. What 3 positive numbers give the same result when multiplied and added together?

Answer 1 , 2 and 3

4. If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?

Answer 9

Quotes

Mathematics is a game played according to certain rules with meaningless marks on paper. — David Hilbert

2. Mathematics is concerned only with the enumeration and comparison of relations. — Carl Friedrich Gauss

3. Mathematics is the door and key to the sciences. — Roger Bacon

4. Mathematics is the science of what is clear by itself. — Carl Jacobi

5. Mathematics – the unshaken Foundation of Sciences, and the plentiful Fountain of Advantage to human affairs.  — Isaac Barrow

6. Mathematics is as much an aspect of culture as it is a collection of algorithms. —  Carl Boyer

7. Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things.– Henri Poincaré

8. Mathematics is one of the essential emanations of the human spirit — a think to be valued in and for itself like art or poetry.

9. Mathematics is not a careful march down a well-cleared highway, but a journey into a strange wilderness, where the explorers often get lost. Rigour should be a signal to the historian that the maps have been made, and the real explorers have gone elsewhere. –– W. S. A

10. Mathematics, as much as music or any other art, is one of the means by which we rise to a complete self-consciousness. The significance of mathematics resides precisely in the fact that it is an art; by informing us of the nature of our own minds it informs us of much that depends on our minds.– John William Navin Sullivan

Geometric progression

Geometric Progression, Series & Sums

Introduction

A geometric sequence is a sequence such that any element after the first is obtained by multiplying the preceding element by a constant called the common ratio which is denoted by r. The common ratio (r) is obtained by dividing any term by the preceding term, i.e.,

where	r	common ratio
	a1	first term
	a2	second term
	a3	third term
	an-1	the term before the n th term
	an	the n th term

The geometric sequence is sometimes called the geometric progression or GP, for short.

For example, the sequence 1, 3, 9, 27, 81 is a geometric sequence. Note that after the first term, the next term is obtained by multiplying the preceding element by 3.

The geometric sequence has its sequence formation: 

To find the nth term of a geometric sequence we use the formula:

where	r	common ratio
	a1	first term
	an-1	the term before the n th term
	n	number of terms

Sum of Terms in a Geometric Progression

Finding the sum of terms in a geometric progression is easily obtained by applying the formulas:

nth partial sum of a geometric sequence

sum to infinity

where	Sn	sum of GP with n terms
	S∞	sum of GP with infinitely many terms
	a1	the first term
	r	common ratio
	n	number of terms

Addition technique

1.   How to additions fast. For example we have to do a simple addition like 234 + 563+ 985 + 349.  
Sol. Traditional Method:

Alternative Method 1:

Instead of doing like this we first add all the digits in the hundred's place.  2 + 5 + 9 + 3 = 19. Put 2 zero's to the right hand side so we get 1900.
Now add the digits in the tenth's place. 3 + 6 + 8 + 4 = 21. Put 1 zero to the right hand side so we get 210.
Now add the digits in the units place 4 + 3 + 5 + 9 = 21.
Now 1900 + 210 + 21 = 2131

Alternative Method  2:
First add all the hundreds to the first number. So we get 234 + 500 + 900 + 300 = 1934.  Now add the tens to this number 1934 + 60 + 80 + 40 = 1934 + 180 = 1934 + (200 - 20 ) = 2134 - 20 = 2114.
Now add the unit digits to this number = 2114 + 3 + 5 + 9 = 2014 + 17 = 2114 + ( 20 - 3 ) = 2134 - 3 - 2131.
If you do adequate practice you can easily add numbers without much effort. Only thing required is practice.