Issue 89 - Universal Appeal of Vedic Math

VEDIC MATHEMATICS NEWSLETTER
Vedic Mathematics Academy

ISSUE No. 89

 

A warm welcome to our new subscribers.

Vedic Mathematics is becoming increasingly popular as more and more people are introduced to the beautifully unified and easy Vedic methods. The purpose of this Newsletter is to provide information about developments in education and research and books, articles, courses, talks etc., and also to bring together those working with Vedic Mathematics. If you are working with Vedic Mathematics - teaching it or doing research - please contact us and let us include you and some description of your work in the Newsletter. Perhaps you would like to submit an article for inclusion in a later issue or tell us about a course or talk you will be giving or have given. If you are learning Vedic Maths, let us know how you are getting on and what you think of this system.


 

This issue’s article is from Rick Blum a long-standing VM proponent. Please read his inspiring account of a recent experience at the end of this newsletter.

 

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NEWS

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UPGRADED WEBSITE

We are delighted to announce a major upgrade to the www.vedicmaths.org website. This has many new features including a search facility, translation service, totally updated books and websites sections etc., etc.

In celebration of this event the popular book on advanced VM: “Vertically and Crosswise” can now be downloaded for free.

A great deal of work and time has gone into this but should you come across anything on the website that is not fully working please let us know at

Note from Web Master about the Upgraded Website

Every time I have helped Kenneth with the website, it has been a learning curve. As when I did my Computing degree, the Internet and associated topics was barely being taught at University. So every time I have needed to create a different kind of web page, I have had to learn how to do it first.

So when earlier this year Kenneth requested that I work on how the web site looked rather than adding tutorial material as I had planned, this changed all my plans for the last several months. I received one of those nudges for a new direction to take, which led to reading at least three books and a lot of work implementing what I had read about. However as a result of this work, I have again added new skills to my repertoire.

On the surface, the result is a better looking website, which will hopefully make finding out about Vedic Mathematics a more pleasant experience for those using the website.

However underneath, the web site has a much stronger foundation which can be greatly expanded upon. So although my next task will be to add to those tutorials that I was going to start work upon before Kenneth's request, I now have lots of other ideas about improving the website. Most of these are based around improving the community based features of the website.

So hopefully I will be able to maintain a reasonable work/web site/life balance, so that I can keep on improving the facilities available to you.

Clive Middleton

 

PEBBLE MATHS TEACHER TRAINING COURSE

The interest in Pebble maths has been gaining ground so strongly this past year that it is necessary to run a training course for those people who want to teach children and adults to be creative and joyful in their approach to maths . Open to primary school teachers, high school teachers, special needs teachers, aides, home school parents, parents, in fact anyone who wishes to learn beautiful Mathematics.

Date:          Monday 6th - Friday 10th (inclusive) January 2014.  

Time:          9am - 4pm daily

Address:    35 Natan Court Ocean Shores NSW Australia

Cost:          $A 400

Vegan lunch supplied daily

Pebble Maths creates a strong foundation in the basic understandings that make the later Vedic work obvious and simple .The students who begin with Pebble Maths and continue their studies are always finding new ways to 'see' the essence of a calculation and look for and discover new approaches.

Please contact Vera Stevens at         

for more information .

For more on Pebble Maths see: http://www.pebblemaths.org/

 

ADVANCED VEDIC MATHEMATICS COURSE

A Diploma course starts today, 9th September 2013, in Advanced Vedic Mathematics. The course is run by E-gurukul in conjunction with the VM Academy and is created and given by Kenneth Williams. This is only available to those who successfully completed one of our VM Teacher Training courses. An alternative route onto this course will be possible in the near future.

 

CONFERENCE IN BANGALORE

This is organised by the NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF VEDIC SCIENCES TRUST. The main theme is: “Applications and Challenges in Vedic / Ancient Indian Mathematics” and dates are provisionally 20 – 25th December 2013. Venue: Auditorium, Maharani Arts, Commerce and Management for Women, Sheshadri Road, Bangalore-560001.

 

VEDIC MATHS FORUM

A Forum has been started by Raajesh Srinivasa Rama, who became a certified VM trainer on our most recent teacher training course. This is so that learners of Vedic mathematics can collaborate with trainers, get their questions clarified and VM techniques can be shared.

http://www.vedicmathsforum.org

 

TWO NEW ARTICLES IN THE ONLINE JOURNAL

http://www.vedicmaths.org/Journal.asp

“A Different Osculation Approach to Test Divisibility of Numbers” by Raajesh Srinivasa Rama. This shows four easy but very effective modifications that can be applied to Tirthaji’s osculation procedure.

“Nth power of Pingala Chanda” by Ranjani Chari. This shows a method, that was given by Pingala Chanda in 200 BC, of raising a number to some power.

 

VIDEOS BY SARWAN AGGARWAL

We have created a page for the many videos produced by Sarwan Aggarwal, one of our certified VM trainers. Please see:

http://www.vedicmaths.org/sarwan-s-videos

 

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ARTICLE for VM Newsletter 89

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UNIVERSAL APPEAL OF VEDIC MATH

            My name is Richard Blum and I have been a Pension Actuary for most of my working life. As an Actuary, I have enjoyed studying Mathematics all of my life. During the last 18 years, I have also been a Vedic Mathematics (VM) teacher.

            I have demonstrated VM in the typical venues one might expect: public, private and charter schools, to homeschoolers, etc. As an indication of the universal appeal of VM, it has also been shown to groups of senior citizens at a local college, to the deaf, at non-profits specializing in getting the unemployed jobs and on-line international workshops. Most recently, I held a class at a prison. The purpose of this article is to describe that experience.

            I was listening to a local radio station when I heard an interview regarding an educational program being run at the county prison. The idea behind this program is to have inmates, with a certain level of education, act as teachers to help other inmates get high school equivalency diplomas and generally educate the prison population.  Each one of these teachers is given a group to teach on an ongoing basis. It was apparent to me that giving these teachers at least a rudimentary knowledge of VM could only help their efforts. I contacted the prison, explained that I wanted to come over for a morning and demonstrate several VM techniques. My offer was accepted immediately as learning math in a prison environment is similar to learning math in a regular school scenario; very few can do it.

            My schedule was to teach the group of about 20 teacher/inmates from 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM with a 10 minute break each hour. I was cautioned, in advance, of expecting too much from this group. I was told not to do anything that might embarrass anyone, like asking for volunteers to come to the front of the class and explain concepts to assure that they understood what I had just explained. Whenever I teach a class, anytime a participant solves a problem correctly, I always ask the rest of the class to applaud. This too I was cautioned against doing. Needless to say, I ignored all of this advice.

            As I started to explain squaring numbers ending in a 5, I got the standard response. They had never seen anything like it before and wanted to see more. As I went from concept to concept their attention was riveted on me. Each time they understood a concept, most of them would put a big smile on their faces and say “I get it. This is great.” To add to their self-esteem, I explained to them that they were now doing math at a very high level and that the speed at which they were doing the problems was probably faster than anyone in the country. This made them feel very good about themselves.

            As I stated before, I was to teach from 8:30 to 11:30 in the morning with 10 minute breaks per hour. As it turned out, I taught for 3½ hrs. with no breaks. Several times the educational supervisor came over and asked them if they needed a break and everyone just wanted to continue. As I was finishing up, the educational supervisor come over to the group and told them that in 30 years of teaching in the prisons, he had never seen any group of inmates sit for 3½ hours without a break. With that, I got a big round of applause and the class ended. The inmates came up to me and thanked me for coming, telling me that the techniques I had showed them would show to their “students.” They also wanted me to come back and show them some more.

            From school children to adults, to the deaf and senior citizens and to the unemployed and prison inmates, they are all receptive to VM. This is a great time to not only know Vedic Math, but, to the share it with everyone.

By Richard Blum

 

End of article.

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Your comments about this Newsletter are invited.

If you would like to send us details about your work or submit an article or details about a course/talk etc. for inclusion, please let us know on

Previous issues of this Newsletter can be viewed and copied from the Web Site: www.vedicmaths.org

Please pass a copy of this Newsletter on to anyone you think may be interested.

Editor: Kenneth Williams

Visit the Vedic Mathematics web site at: http://www.vedicmaths.org

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9th September 2013

 

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