Mathematics – Past, Present & Future - National Mathematics Day Celebrations, 14th August 2018

Department of Mathematics

Government College, Ambalapuzha, Alappuzha

Mathematics – Past, Present & Future

National Mathematics Day Celebrations, 14th August 2018

A brief report of the celebrations

The National Mathematics Day celebrations 2018 (NMDC2018) titled Mathematics – Past, Present & Future sponsored by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment supported by the Department of Science and Technology of Government of India was celebrated by the Department of Mathematics, Govt. College, Ambalapuzha on 14^th August 2018 with a bouquet of programmes. The celebrations included a lecture session on the life and contributions of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a quiz competition in general mathematics and history of mathematics for the students, and a lecture session on an important application of Mathematics.

 

The programme was publicized well via internet forums on Mathematics like mathforum.org.in (www.mathforum.in/2018/list-of-events/seminarsworkshops/national-mathematics-day-celebrations-govt-college-ambalapuzha-kerala), facebook (www.facebook.com/keralamathforum) and via printed brochures. Most of the nearby academic institutions like colleges were informed about the programme. Though there were difficulties in the conduct of the programme due to rescheduled university examinations and difficult weather conditions like heavy rain, the programme witnessed a good turn out of students and faculty members, mainly from the college itself.

The inaugural function

The programme started with a brief inaugural function. It was chaired by the Head of the Mathematics Department Sri. Asokan C K (who was the Principal-in-charge also on this day). The inauguration was performed by the Emeritus Professor in Mathematics at the Cochin University of Science and Technology Prof. A Vijayakumar. A former student of the college Ms. Arya Chandran who secured a UGC Junior Research Fellowship recently was felicitated during the inaugural function.

Talk by Prof. A Vijayakumar, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics

After the inaugural function and a tea break, Prof. Vijayakumar gave a talk “The man who knew infinity” from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM. His talk was based on the life and contributions of Ramanujan. He also gave attention to highlight some of the achievements made by Mathematicians of Indian origin. Special mention was given to the Fields medal winners Prof. Manjul Bhargava and Prof. Akshay Venkatesh. The participants enjoyed this talk by Professor Vijayakumar who is a respected expert at the National level on topics like History of Mathematics, Discrete Mathematics, and Applications of Mathematics in real life.

Quiz Competition for students

The second programme of the day was a quiz competition for the students. This was conducted by the research scholar in Mathematics (University of Kerala) Ms. Neha Elizabeth Thomas with the support of Ms. Arya Chandran. The preliminary round which began at 12:30 PM had a participation of around 20 teams (of two members in each). Four teams were selected for the final round. This round was conducted during 1:30 PM and 2:30 PM. Prizes were given to the teams which secured first (members: Fawas S & Vishnu S Babu of 5^th Semester B.Sc. Mathematics programme of the college) and second place (members: Jolly V J & Najeesha K N of the 5^th Semester B.Sc. Mathematics programme of the college) in the final round. The prizes distributed were books based on the biography of Ramanujan and Non European roots of Mathematics.

Talk by Sri. Asokan C K on some of the applications of Mathematics

The last part of the celebrations was a lecture by Sri. Asokan C K of the College. He gave a interesting presentation on the “Mathematics behind the digital image processing”. His talk gave a new dimension to the mathematics like Linear Algebra and Differential Equations students have observed in their classes.

Concluding moments

The programme was concluded at 4:15PM with a brief feedback session. Feedback revealed that the programme was well received by the participants.  The Programme Co-ordinator Dr. Vishnu Namboothiri K formally thanked everybody to conclude the celebrations towards 4:30PM.