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VEDIC MATHEMATICS NEWSLETTER ISSUE No. 16 Vedic Mathematics is becoming increasingly popular as more and more people
are introduced to the beautifully unified and easy Vedic methods. ***************************** This issue's article is written by Blidi S. Stemn, Assistant Professor at Northeastern University, School of Education, 50 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA. It is from an article in this month's teaching children mathematics journal. You will see it is about what we have previously called the Vedic Square. The figures referred to in the article are not given here but they can be reconstructed from the descriptions in the text. The Vedic Matrix/Square is a nine by nine square array of numbers formed by
taking a multiplication table (up to nine times nine) and replacing each number
by its digit sum. The digit sum is found by adding the digits in a number and
adding again if necessary: VEDIC MATRIX I did this activity with a group of 13 year olds in a school in Massachusetts, United States. To generate the Vedic Matrix, I asked the students, each student was given a 9 by 9 multiplication matrix and asked to complete the table. If any of the products in cell was more than 9, students were to repeatedly add the digits until the sum was less than or equal to 9 and the result recorded in the corresponding cell on a separate matrix. For example, 8 x 7 = 56; 56 is greater than 9 so add 5 and 6 to get 11. Since 11 is greater than 9 add the digits, i.e., 1+1 = 2 so 2 is recorded in the cell. After generating the matrix, the students were challenged to find as many patterns as possible. Discussion of the Patterns Identified The students were guided to arrive at the following relationships: There are twelve 3s and twelve 6s, twenty-one 9s, six 1s and six 8s, six 2s
and six 7s, and six 4s and six 5s. Now let us examine some calculations using
the above data. One of the fascinating things about this activity is that opportunities exist for making numerous connections among different mathematics concepts at multiple grade levels. Many students identified
a variety of number patterns and their relationships. For example, some found
that in the 3rd row, 3 + 6 = 9 and in the 6th row 6 + 3 = 9. Similarly, others
noticed that in any vertical or horizontal set of numbers, the sum of the first
and last numbers is 9 (ignoring the last column and row). For example, in the
second row they noticed that 2 +7 = 9; 4 +5 = 9; 6 + 3 = 9; and 8 + 1 = 9. These
pairs of numbers can be written as ordered pairs: (1, 8), (2, 7), (3, 6), and
(4, 5). Part II: Generating Shapes Discussion of the Shapes The more I look at the Vedic Matrix, the more patterns I find. **************************** TALKS AND BOOKS IN BIRMINGHAM There will be two Vedic Mathematics talks at the Natural Health and Ecology Show, 2nd, 3rd June (one talk on each day) at Ryton Organic Gardens near Birmingham, England. There will be a stand for Vedic Mathematics at the show and books will be available. CONFERENCE PRESENTATION Andrew Nicholas gave a talk on Vedic Mathematics at the 9th SEAL (Society for Effective Affective Learning) Conference at The King's School, Canterbury, Kent, UK on 30 March. The talk was very popular with people being turned away as there was not enough space for everyone. Members of SEAL are generally people who are looking for new educational forms and they enjoyed the presentation enormously.. Word went round the conference that this mathematics was something special. One lady from Russia, who could not attend the talk, wants to invite Andrew to give a presentation there. After the conference Andrew went to China where he researching for his new book, a novel about ancient lost knowledge. WORKSHOPS IN INDIA We understand the workshop at the International Centre, Goa, India was a big success and hope to give more information about this later. VEDIC MATHS IN YOUR COUNTRY As interest grows in Vedic Mathematics we get more inquiries from people wanting to attend courses or contact others. What is really needed is a country by country list of those active in VM so that we can put inquirers in contact with those near them. We would therefore like to make a list of people in each interested country so that we can put people in touch. Please send your email address and country to us if you would like to be put on a list and also include any other information you like (your area or city would be useful). Then when we get an inquiry from your country we will pass this information on to the inquirer. TIMES OF INDIA An editorial in The Times of India, under the title "UGC Seeks the Philosopher's Stone", on 7th April describes a recent proposal of the University Grants Commission to introduce courses on Vedic Mathematics, astrology and vastushastra (position and orientation of land and buildings) in science curricula. You can see the article at www.timesofindia.com HAVE YOU BEEN UNABLE TO SEND YOUR EMAIL? Recently we have found that our site Email addresses have not been forwarding
messages to us. We are very sorry for any Inconvenience this might have caused.
Therefore we may have not received some Email messages sent to us. Hopefully
we have now corrected this problem and have also put up alternative Email addresses
(just in case). CORRESPONDENCE EMAIL: I have been contacted by a teacher in Florida as per your recommendation and we are discussing some ways we can make vedic Math more popular in our respective areas and possibly across the country. I am thinking about forming a study group on Vedic Math. I hope I can get the approval to teach a course in VM. I intend to do a workshop first and then push for a course at my present university or elsewhere. VM is so fascinating!!!! EMAIL: Thank you for your assistance. Your explanation cleared everything up for me! You have been most helpful. I have one other question that concerns the educational requirements one has to have to teach Vedic Mathematics in an official school environment. Is there a distinct series of courses to take in college? Are Master and Doctorate degrees offered in this subject? Has Vedic instruction taken a firm foothold in the States? My interest is rapidly growing as each chapter of Vedic Mathematics unfolds. If instruction is available in the U.S., I would probably consider a career teaching these amazing methods to others. I am a first-year college student who has at present selected a career as a Research Scientist/Botanist. Vedic mathematics has already begun to change my life--I might switch careers because of it! :) REPLY: In spite of the obvious merits of the Vedic system it is taking a long
time for it to be properly appreciated, though things have picked up a lot in
the last couple of years. I think there have been a small number of VM doctorates
in India and I am not aware of any standard college courses in Vedic Maths:
we are not quite there yet. There have been many courses in many countries but
nothing regular as far as I know. EMAIL: Are you aware of any workshops or talks on Vedic math in U.S this summer or in the next academic year ? I will appreciate getting any info. on this.Thanks. **************************** Your comments about this Newsletter are invited. Articles in previous issues of this Newsletter can be copied from the web site
- www.vedicmaths.org: To subscribe or unsubscribe to this Newsletter simply send an email to that
effect to news@vedicmaths.com Visit the Vedic Mathematics web site at Email news@vedicmaths.com 9th May 2001 |
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