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Maths for the real world
ZIYA US SALAM
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A team of academics has been quietly working at the ICICI Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Delhi's St. Stephen's College to promote greater application of Mathematics in professional life. Read on...
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HE TAKES you back to the classroom all right. But then he wants to take you straight to the corporate world and apply mathematics in encrypting e-mail too! He would like to provide "intellectual stimulation'' for Mathematics but is candid enough to admit that the whole system is flawed, that children are taught Calculus almost by rote and their whys are not answered. And as we grow up, the higher education system of the country has "no relation to society. What you learn has no relationship with your profession''. He laments that research institutions are ``removed from universities quite unlike in the West'' and that our ''Government does not understand that they should be university-based to provide for a better interaction''.
The team that made Mathematics enjoyable.
He firmly believes that "higher education should be self-sustaining as far as possible. We live on Government hand-outs. That should stop''. Meet Dinesh Singh, the straight-talking Director of ICICI Centre for Mathematical Sciences at St. Stephen's College. "Our centre has nothing to do with Delhi University,'' adds out the academic who has also happens to be Adjunct Professor with the University of Houston in the U.S.
"I am convinced that higher education must be structured along lines radically different from the present structure. The `begging bowl' approach must make way for something more responsive to societal needs, which also retains the essentials of academic freedom coupled with responsibility. Even Gandhiji had maintained that Government should not be burdened with the funding of higher education.''
On then to the next step towards achieving what he preaches. On to ICMS, set up in 1998 on a purely voluntary basis with support from distinguished academics across the world. And some help from the corporate world so that "students learn real, actual mathematics and not just what the MBA students are taught''. ICMS is a think-tank where original ideas are generated, applied and taught. It also has a practical and real world orientation built around creative applications to real world situations. According to Dr Singh, ''ICMS seeks to provide intellectual challenges and creative outlets to students and faculty alike. In the process, we create insight and appreciation in the disciplines of Mathematics, Economics and Physics. Computing plays a major role in several ways. This is an effective answer for those who feel that college and university education has become irrelevant.''
The ICMS faculty members are building a structure that combines all the components of high-end knowledge with practical and useful applications. This is done through a well-rounded teaching and research programme, a strong interaction with the real world through internships at leading corporate houses where knowledge is gainfully applied, consultancies and exposing students and faculty to distinguished mathematicians from abroad under the Life of Mathematics programme.
Says Singh, "At the end of the day it is all Mathematics. But it is a liberal interpretation of the subject. We have people from Physics, Economics and Computers on our faculty as also our students. We teach innovative courses not taught elsewhere. We teach hard-core Maths here.''
A Swedish mathematician delivering a lecture at St. Stephen's College, Delhi.
According to him, the best time for faculty and students is when visiting academics come over for a couple of weeks. "At that time for a few weeks we all drink, eat and sleep Maths and see for ourselves that it is possible to apply Mathematics in real world.''
Some of the other activities of the Centre include a programme in Mathematical Finance — a two-year part-time programme for students of the college — Mathematics in the Modern World, a DST-sponsored project. It also offers a refresher course for college lecturers in Linear Algebra and Analysis and a Nurture Programmes which is all about generating ideas with undergraduate students.
Concludes Singh, "I believe that what you do with your hands enters your heart. I ask students to get real. Apply Maths in real world, not just learn abstract Mathematics. It is all about high-end knowledge with a practical dimension, synergetically merged.''
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