T V Venkateswaran, Vigyan Prasar

T V Venkateswaran, Vigyan Prasar
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few people who find mathematics interesting -readily
perceive order, clarity and economy in mathematics.
own effort, or efforts of enthusiastic teachers- crucial
role
However, such people are only a minority.
For most, mathematics is difficult, boring and consist of
essentially unending calculations
No use for imagination and creativity.
school mathematics experience is obviously unnerving,
Thus 'popular' and 'mathematics‘ -oxymoron; a
contradiction in terms?
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mathematics is around us -our everyday life practices.
alleviate math phobia- class room practices; improved
textbooks, inspiring curriculum, able teachers and so
on.
In so far as public attitudes is created and perpetuated
outside the education system, through popular culture
and mass media, popularization and public appreciation
assumes definite significance
goals of the popularization of mathematics is limited raising the awareness and interest in mathematics; the
task set is not ambitious and does not aim at providing
or enhancing the math skills or mathematical ability in
students.
David Hilbert said “a mathematical theory is
not to be considered complete until you have
made it so clear that you can explain it to the
first man whom you meet on the street”;
´ Terms and symbols
´ The very nature of mathematics readily
´ There is also the tricky question ‘simplification’
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Math popularization is confused with improving
computing skills of student
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Short cut to compute product of two numbers; simple
tricks to extract square root or cube roots and so on’
‘math-magic’- exposing children to startling facets
of arithmetical properties of numbers.
´ they neither raise the public appreciation nor
increase the awareness.
´ Only school students and at times teachers as
their clientele and ordinary public have no place in
it.
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‘recreational mathematics’, has been around
for ages.
´ Games, puzzles, teasers, logic puzzles and
magic squares
´ folk cultures have imbibed some features.
´ recreational mathematics -puzzle column in
news papers and so on- recent appeal of
Sudoku
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primary school - essentially maths done at the time of
dawn of civilization- addition, multiplication and so on in;
high school we learn what Greeks and Indians did about
1500 years ago.
In the higher secondary school we are introduced to
mathematics that evolved in 17th and 18th century.
Hardly ever we come across mathematics of our
contemporary times in our whole twelve years of school
education. It appears as if subject died centuries ago.
In school curriculum cannot pack everything
and most of the modern math -will be too
“advanced”.
´ popularization need not be constrained
´ Through popularization we can elucidate main
ideas of modern mathematics, explain what
applications they have and all without
expecting the audience to pass an examination
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One way to achieve this is to popularize about
new and contemporary applications of
mathematics in our modern day life.
´ The efforts to connect mathematics to people’s
everyday surroundings; from error corrections
in computer network to use of primes numbers
in cryptography (essential for secure e-banking)
to mobile networks to design of folds in
satellite panels and so on.
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While mathematics is an abstract science, it has
crucial applications
´ Science and mathematics are human action;
´ Mathematics has social, cultures and historical
dimensions.
´ The human and social side of the mathematics,
perhaps hardly of consequence to either class
room pedagogy or for establishing the truth value
claims of mathematics, yet it is a powerful tool for
creating public interest and awareness.
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Abstraction in mathematics is often falsely
identified with pure mathematics, and
concretization in mathematics does not only
mean applied mathematics. Concrete
examples of abstract ideas are also possible
and large corpuses of such materials are
available – from visual proofs to games and
puzzles. Such activities are useful in
communicating a ‘feel’ of mathematics.
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Through carefully crafted popularization activities we can
address issues concerning attitudes and beliefs surrounding
mathematics and its use in society, at work and in everyday
life. Traditional opinions can be questioned and up-to-date
images of mathematics presented via mass media, books
and other channels of communication. Development and
dissemination of inspirational examples of the development
and use of mathematics could be a particular focus. These
can demonstrate how mathematics and mathematical
knowledge permeate various working life activities. Only in
this way can mathematics eventually find a place in relaxed
conversations among laymen without immediately being
rejected as incomprehensible and relegated to strictly
mathematical social contexts.