GB

A-life (artificial life, spiral)

A-life (artificial life, spiral)
Originally uploaded by punyamishra

A Life
Changing a little
at a time.
A slightly different
point of view,
another shift
in perspective.
A Life,
you would think,
spirals endlessly.
Its an illusion:
Its finite,
like everything else.

GB #5

A-life (artificial life) III

A-life (artificial life) III
Originally uploaded by punyamishra

A Life
black and red,
completely Square.
Looks the same
whichever way
you look at it.
Going around
a circle.
That's it?

GB #4

Punya

Punya
Originally uploaded by punyamishra

A Pun-
A bad one,
or a good 1,
is just a Pun.
You'll never know,
whether
I say what I mean,
or I mean what I say.
A good pun, ya?

GB #3

A-life (artificial life) II

A-life (artificial life) II
Originally uploaded by punyamishra

A Life.
What a life!
It gets further
and further
from itself.
And smaller
and smaller
forever.
And dissolves into
nothingness.

GB #2

A-life (artificial life) I

A-life (artificial life) I, originally uploaded by punyamishra.

A Life
is no life.
Turn it around
its the same.
What A Life.
From A to E,
not worth living.

GB #1

Get Smart! Maths Concepts

The book Get Smart! Maths Concepts has been released by Penguin Books, India.

The book is a survey of middle school math, and covers concepts that I feel will be useful for all students to know. It may even give a quick review of things you need to know in pre-algebra and algebra, before you encounter them again in a calculus class. The emphasis is on thinking mathematically, rather than just learning the procedures to solve problems.

You can buy the book from flipkart.

Book Released

Maths Concepts has just been released. Check out:
http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/Bookdetail.aspx?bookId=7609

This blog is to answer questions if any from readers, post errata, and discuss solutions of the problems in the Do and Discuss section of the book.

Acknowledgements

From the book Get Smart! Maths Concepts, Puffin Books, India, 2008.

I acknowledge the debt I owe to Professor Richard Askey of the University of Wisconsin. Most of the topics of this book are included in a beautiful handout made by Professor Askey. The handout outlines the essential aspects of algebra and geometry that students should know before they learn the Calculus.

I would also like to thank Vatsala Kaul, Penguin’s Editor for this book. Vatsala conceptualised this book creatively, and has clarified the exposition throughout this book. Further, I thank Shubhank Bhadauria and Tarun Sachdeva for creating the graphics in this book.

I thank the following people who are an integral part of my life, and who have encouraged me in one way or the other during the writing of this book: My school friends—Hartosh Singh Bal, Punya Mishra, Poonam Madan, Gaurav Suri, and Vikram Jamalabad. My colleagues— Jagdish Prakash, Shantanu Prakash, Abhinav Dhar, Sangeeta Gulati, and Meena Raju. And my family—Hem Bhatnagar, S. S. Bhatnagar, Saurabh Kumar, Amit Bhatnagar, Jayshree Bhalerao, and Priti Kumar.
Last but not the least, I wish to thank my daughter Tejasi. It is because of Tejasi and her friends that I rediscovered the joy of doing mathematics at the primary and middle school level.

What this Book is About

What is Counting?
Addition and Subtraction
Multiplication and Areas
Division
Divisors and Multiples
Prime Factorization
Addition and Subtraction of Fractions
GCD and LCM
Integers
Rational Numbers
Decimals and Measurement
Linear Equations
Symbols and Their Algebra
Division of Polynomials
Basic Constructs of Geometry
Congruent Triangles
Parallel Lines
Area and Perimeter
Pythagoras Theorem
Coordinate Geometry
The Square Root of 2

How to Study Math

164 Pages

Dedication

Dedicated to Mrs. Asha Sarin and the late Mr. I.S. Chawla, two amazing math teachers, who got me hooked to math in the late 70s and early 80s in Modern School, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi.

Prize for students

In case you read (even parts of) the book, interact with me, suggest this book to your friends and teachers, ask me really good questions, and in general take part in useful discussions on this page...

And you are a student... studying anywhere in grades 6-12th...I will award free subscriptions to mathguru.com (and maybe more websites).

So do feel free to interact here.

Errata

Here is a list of errata that have crept into the book due to one reason or the other. I'm sorry, and I hope this errata sheet will help you learn from the book without too many problems.

Here is the errata (Last updated October 9, 2010):

Errata for Get Smart! Maths Concepts, by Gaurav Bhatnagar

If you find more errors in the book that are not mentioned in the errata list, please do leave a comment on this site.

Post solutions/answers here

If you wan't to discuss the answers to the problems in the DO AND DISCUSS section, this is the place to do so. Submit answers by adding a comment here, or send me email at gaurav.bhatnagar at mathguru dot com.

Oxie - A Limerick on Vikas Verma

A post-modern guy, Oxie (alias Vikas),

Is a sophisticated guy, not at all crass,

Ask him how many children—he says: "Tough to keep a tally.

But if you are in Europe, and see kids playing in a gali,

It may be something to do with me, Vikas."

Vikas is no more. He died of a massive heart attack, when he was about 40 years old. He was a friend from my high school. The name Oxie was given to him in his college.

I wrote this limerick in better times. He was a fun loving guy, and loved making people around him have fun. I will at some point write an obituary. Right now (even after 3-4 years, on 27-4-2011) I am too affected by his death to write much about him.

Itching for a run anyone? A limerick

Just came back from a 45 min run,

Read MC’s words on running the ton,

Prevent friction; apply lubricant, before you try,

He says: You know where to apply—

So that is why I feel like scratching my buns!

MC is Maneesh Chandra, a school friend. His comments on running inspired this one.