Friday, May 7, 2010
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
MAN PROPOSES GOD DISPOSES
Man proposed a trip
To outer space, one day
He planned the course
And mapped the charts
And all began to say
I wonder if ? someday in time
Man can reach the moon
To see what God has planned in space
I hope it will be soon
In time the dream that man proposed
Became reality
Astronauts went up in space
To see what God could see.
To think that by our sacrifice
We helped to fund this plan
The TV and the radio
Could show it all to man.
For seven years, the question
Frustrations and the tears
The program was successful
And seemed to calm men?s fears
But then one day we watch the screen
To see this shot in space
Before Men?s very anxious eyes
The Challenger erased.
God proposed a trip for man
Before all time began
And from this earth he molded him
A new love now began.
From Adam?s side a woman friend
Was planned there from the start
A program of creation
was joined by God?s own heart.
In our atomic age of space
When man explores unknown
He enters into woman?s womb
Destroys a child that?s known
Yes! Known by God, since time began
Who made the outer space
So if we fund abortion
We ought to hide our face.
To outer space, one day
He planned the course
And mapped the charts
And all began to say
I wonder if ? someday in time
Man can reach the moon
To see what God has planned in space
I hope it will be soon
In time the dream that man proposed
Became reality
Astronauts went up in space
To see what God could see.
To think that by our sacrifice
We helped to fund this plan
The TV and the radio
Could show it all to man.
For seven years, the question
Frustrations and the tears
The program was successful
And seemed to calm men?s fears
But then one day we watch the screen
To see this shot in space
Before Men?s very anxious eyes
The Challenger erased.
God proposed a trip for man
Before all time began
And from this earth he molded him
A new love now began.
From Adam?s side a woman friend
Was planned there from the start
A program of creation
was joined by God?s own heart.
In our atomic age of space
When man explores unknown
He enters into woman?s womb
Destroys a child that?s known
Yes! Known by God, since time began
Who made the outer space
So if we fund abortion
We ought to hide our face.
WILLIAM SHAKESPERE
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
THE WORLD OF WORDS
Words have a curious life of their own. Some of them rise in reputation, some are pushed into oblivion while others experience an irreversible downfall; gravitational force seems to be at work in their world too!!! The fate of words is just as unpredictable as that of human beings. No sensible person would attempt detailing the story of all words in an article. Assuming that I belong to the world of those sensible people I’m here going to tell you the life history of a few words that I have selected in an arbitrary manner.
Most often words acquire a derogatory meaning in the course of time, which is a sad commentary on the human psyche. These words have fallen into disrepute, thanks to the vagaries of the human mind.
The word villain, for instance, had an inoffensive meaning in the initial stages of its existence. In the early days of manorial system the word merely denoted a labourer. Two hundred years later it came to be associated with the gross manners of a lowly labourer and later on came to mean a perpetrator of evil because it was thought that a person in the lower rung of the social ladder lacked probity! Words that have suffered a similar fate are churl (from the root ceorl meaning countryman) and boor (from the Dutch word boer meaning peasant)
To a person living in 1400 AD stink and lust carried no pejorative meaning; they only meant smell and desire. Similarly the word doom meant judgment to the Britishers of the 14th century. This sense of the word is retained in the verb deem derived from the above-mentioned word. Would you believe that lewd originally meant "unlearned" or "ignorant" and that silly meant happy and then happened to have a changeover in meaning? While patriotism has a positive meaning its actual equivalent term nationalism has been attributed negative connotations for no good reason.
Words also have had the problem of mistaken identity. The word demean meant to conduct but due to the mistaken idea that it was connected with the adjective mean it happened to acquire the present meaning; and pester has come to have the present meaning through an etymological stumble making it seem to have come from pest. The word pester, before the twist in its meaning took place, meant to entangle.
Some people have been immortalized in the world of words but not very much to their liking. News of the kind of existence they have in the realm of words would make them squirm in their graves. The word dunce comes from the medieval philosopher Duns Scotus, whose adversaries were of the opinion that his work was insipid; gradually the word came to mean a wooden headed person, in other words, a fathead: boycott originates from Captain Boycott who was agent for the Irish estates of a certain English peer about the year 1880. He was notorious for his harsh treatment of the tenants; the Irish tenants planned to have him removed through a planned strike against him. This mode of treatment came to be known as boycott.
The word spoonerism has the most interesting history of all words. It comes from Spooner who is known for his speech defect of misplacing the first letters of words. When Spooner addressed a gathering of farmers he called them "tons of soil" and to a student who missed his history classes he said in an angry tone, " you hissed my mistory classes". It is said that in a conversation he called the well-known two-wheeled vehicle a "well boiled icicle" and a friend’s cottage as a "nosy little cook". He is also said to have talked about "tearful chidings". Spoonerism later came to be a generic term for such a speech defect. The Count de Sade is responsible for the existence of the word sadism; the sense of opprobrium that his name suggested due to his misdeeds continues to live on in this word.
And then there was a distinguished Roman general called Lucullus who was well known for his love of lavishness and opulence rather than anything else. Once when his servant had cooked unexceptional food because there was no guest the angry Lucullus said "dost thou not know that today Lucullus dines with Lucullus?" Hence lavishness has come to be equated with this Roman general in the word Lucullan.
Finally there is Eros, the Greek god of love (fortunately his name has not been associated with any negative overtones) who is however not as popular as the Roman god of love, Cupid. Words such as erotic come from this god of love. One interesting thing about Eros is that if you rearrange the letters you will get the word rose. Is that why lovers exchange roses? Probably yes.
So far we have seen how, in the case of many words, we human beings have contributed our mite to make the lives of words miserable. The situation can be reversed sometimes. For instance, if you look at a person’s face and say that his/ her face is appalling instead of using the word appealing (deliberately or accidentally, whichever is the case) imagine what your plight would be; what else? You will end up with black eye!
Most often words acquire a derogatory meaning in the course of time, which is a sad commentary on the human psyche. These words have fallen into disrepute, thanks to the vagaries of the human mind.
The word villain, for instance, had an inoffensive meaning in the initial stages of its existence. In the early days of manorial system the word merely denoted a labourer. Two hundred years later it came to be associated with the gross manners of a lowly labourer and later on came to mean a perpetrator of evil because it was thought that a person in the lower rung of the social ladder lacked probity! Words that have suffered a similar fate are churl (from the root ceorl meaning countryman) and boor (from the Dutch word boer meaning peasant)
To a person living in 1400 AD stink and lust carried no pejorative meaning; they only meant smell and desire. Similarly the word doom meant judgment to the Britishers of the 14th century. This sense of the word is retained in the verb deem derived from the above-mentioned word. Would you believe that lewd originally meant "unlearned" or "ignorant" and that silly meant happy and then happened to have a changeover in meaning? While patriotism has a positive meaning its actual equivalent term nationalism has been attributed negative connotations for no good reason.
Words also have had the problem of mistaken identity. The word demean meant to conduct but due to the mistaken idea that it was connected with the adjective mean it happened to acquire the present meaning; and pester has come to have the present meaning through an etymological stumble making it seem to have come from pest. The word pester, before the twist in its meaning took place, meant to entangle.
Some people have been immortalized in the world of words but not very much to their liking. News of the kind of existence they have in the realm of words would make them squirm in their graves. The word dunce comes from the medieval philosopher Duns Scotus, whose adversaries were of the opinion that his work was insipid; gradually the word came to mean a wooden headed person, in other words, a fathead: boycott originates from Captain Boycott who was agent for the Irish estates of a certain English peer about the year 1880. He was notorious for his harsh treatment of the tenants; the Irish tenants planned to have him removed through a planned strike against him. This mode of treatment came to be known as boycott.
The word spoonerism has the most interesting history of all words. It comes from Spooner who is known for his speech defect of misplacing the first letters of words. When Spooner addressed a gathering of farmers he called them "tons of soil" and to a student who missed his history classes he said in an angry tone, " you hissed my mistory classes". It is said that in a conversation he called the well-known two-wheeled vehicle a "well boiled icicle" and a friend’s cottage as a "nosy little cook". He is also said to have talked about "tearful chidings". Spoonerism later came to be a generic term for such a speech defect. The Count de Sade is responsible for the existence of the word sadism; the sense of opprobrium that his name suggested due to his misdeeds continues to live on in this word.
And then there was a distinguished Roman general called Lucullus who was well known for his love of lavishness and opulence rather than anything else. Once when his servant had cooked unexceptional food because there was no guest the angry Lucullus said "dost thou not know that today Lucullus dines with Lucullus?" Hence lavishness has come to be equated with this Roman general in the word Lucullan.
Finally there is Eros, the Greek god of love (fortunately his name has not been associated with any negative overtones) who is however not as popular as the Roman god of love, Cupid. Words such as erotic come from this god of love. One interesting thing about Eros is that if you rearrange the letters you will get the word rose. Is that why lovers exchange roses? Probably yes.
So far we have seen how, in the case of many words, we human beings have contributed our mite to make the lives of words miserable. The situation can be reversed sometimes. For instance, if you look at a person’s face and say that his/ her face is appalling instead of using the word appealing (deliberately or accidentally, whichever is the case) imagine what your plight would be; what else? You will end up with black eye!
SECULARISM IN INDIA
Secularism is a much-discussed word in India and it never fails to evoke the strongest of reactions from all concerned. This is only partially due to the strange political realities obtaining in our country, contrary to the popular notion that it has been contrived by political operators. It must be understood that nothing can be contrived for which some previous background does not exist—very rarely have political issues been totally ‘manufactured’ or whipped out of a conjuror’s hat, that too such emotive ones. For example, if the Ayodhya issue were simply the creation of a few power-hungry netas, it would not have drawn millions of kar sevaks to the ‘disputed structure’ in December 1992. Such an eminent litterateur as V. S. Naipaul would not antagonize a sizable section of his readership by trying to rationalize what had happened at Ayodhya on 6th December, 1992, had he considered it to be merely a power game. The moral: the entire concept of secularism in India is different from that in the West, its connotations there being administration-oriented and not paradigmatic, as is the case here.
In India, we are told, there was complete communal harmony before the British had arrived—at least that is what the Nehruvian academic establishment would have us believe. Communal disharmony, some historians would have us believe, is an offshoot or fallout of the divisive policies of the Raj—‘divide and rule’, Hindu/Muslim appeasement, initiating the policy of reservations and quotas et al. However, this approach towards forging inter-communal ties has been patently unsuccessful, given the plethora of examples for the unease in Hindu-Muslim relations in India. It is the lesson of history that it cannot be wished away or negated. This is precisely what was happening in India all these decades, as Koenraad Elst shows in his controversial book Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam. Despite there being a tremendous scope of disagreeing with a lot of what he extrapolates, it is difficult to refute concrete historical evidence, and that too, exhaustively over determined.
Thus, it is perhaps more advisable to exorcise the past than to conceal it, for concealment leads to putrefaction and, in the case of past deeds/misdeeds, exaggeration and rumour - mongering. This is made clear at the time of communal riots, the conflagrations of which are fed by the rumour mills. Often, it is that the rumour is much more horrible than the actual deed, and it adds grist to the mill of vengeance and retaliation. In order to prevent this, it is necessary that people have ‘perfect information’ and can form their opinions based on true knowledge. The best way to achieve national integration is to build bridges of truth and reconciliation between them, as opposed to those of negation, false certification and subterfuge. This would eat into the basic premises of communalism and deprive it of its raison d’être, thus freeing society of the baggage of the past in a just and effective way.
However, it must also to be noted that the Indian State is not truly ‘secular’, for all its claims, protestations and displays of righteous indignation. An ‘absolutely’ secular State may not adorn official ceremonies with quasi-religious trappings, and when coconuts are broken during the launch of warships and government-aided campaigns—be they for bringing about universal literacy or vaccination—the secular credentials of the State are in question. Indian etatiste secularism is best described as ‘haphazard’, displaying a crass insensitivity to the feelings of both the majority and minority communities. The customs and traditions of our great systems of belief, viz., Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam, have been trivialized by the over-zealous manoeuvres of our stridently secular State. When the beliefs and ways of millions of people are treated, with the utmost cynicism, as mere tricks of electoral politics, it not only casts doubts on the secular credentials of the State, but also highlights its callousness towards the emotional intelligence and well-being of its citizens.
In conclusion, it appears that secularism in India is, to quote a Bengali adage—a stone bowl of gold (sonar pathorbati)! Whereas the Constitution enjoins us to disjoin religion from politics and administration, it will be progressively more difficult to require this of certain classes of our society. When aspirations and militancy mingle, they make a deadly combination; frustration only aggravates the situation and hastens the eventual fait accompli. The so-called lower strata of society cannot be controlled much longer; in the absence of opportunities commensurate with talent and/or qualifications they will, in general, vent their frustration in agitative and confrontational politics, be it of the Right or the Left. Given the present trend, it is likelier that they will veer towards the Right, which in India carries the baggage of cultural/Hindu nationalism. This leaves the way clear for all pessimists, but if the proponents of Hindutva could use this their moment in history effectively and intelligently, India’s past could truly be exorcised. All else, including the economy, would then be just fine!
In India, we are told, there was complete communal harmony before the British had arrived—at least that is what the Nehruvian academic establishment would have us believe. Communal disharmony, some historians would have us believe, is an offshoot or fallout of the divisive policies of the Raj—‘divide and rule’, Hindu/Muslim appeasement, initiating the policy of reservations and quotas et al. However, this approach towards forging inter-communal ties has been patently unsuccessful, given the plethora of examples for the unease in Hindu-Muslim relations in India. It is the lesson of history that it cannot be wished away or negated. This is precisely what was happening in India all these decades, as Koenraad Elst shows in his controversial book Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam. Despite there being a tremendous scope of disagreeing with a lot of what he extrapolates, it is difficult to refute concrete historical evidence, and that too, exhaustively over determined.
Thus, it is perhaps more advisable to exorcise the past than to conceal it, for concealment leads to putrefaction and, in the case of past deeds/misdeeds, exaggeration and rumour - mongering. This is made clear at the time of communal riots, the conflagrations of which are fed by the rumour mills. Often, it is that the rumour is much more horrible than the actual deed, and it adds grist to the mill of vengeance and retaliation. In order to prevent this, it is necessary that people have ‘perfect information’ and can form their opinions based on true knowledge. The best way to achieve national integration is to build bridges of truth and reconciliation between them, as opposed to those of negation, false certification and subterfuge. This would eat into the basic premises of communalism and deprive it of its raison d’être, thus freeing society of the baggage of the past in a just and effective way.
However, it must also to be noted that the Indian State is not truly ‘secular’, for all its claims, protestations and displays of righteous indignation. An ‘absolutely’ secular State may not adorn official ceremonies with quasi-religious trappings, and when coconuts are broken during the launch of warships and government-aided campaigns—be they for bringing about universal literacy or vaccination—the secular credentials of the State are in question. Indian etatiste secularism is best described as ‘haphazard’, displaying a crass insensitivity to the feelings of both the majority and minority communities. The customs and traditions of our great systems of belief, viz., Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam, have been trivialized by the over-zealous manoeuvres of our stridently secular State. When the beliefs and ways of millions of people are treated, with the utmost cynicism, as mere tricks of electoral politics, it not only casts doubts on the secular credentials of the State, but also highlights its callousness towards the emotional intelligence and well-being of its citizens.
In conclusion, it appears that secularism in India is, to quote a Bengali adage—a stone bowl of gold (sonar pathorbati)! Whereas the Constitution enjoins us to disjoin religion from politics and administration, it will be progressively more difficult to require this of certain classes of our society. When aspirations and militancy mingle, they make a deadly combination; frustration only aggravates the situation and hastens the eventual fait accompli. The so-called lower strata of society cannot be controlled much longer; in the absence of opportunities commensurate with talent and/or qualifications they will, in general, vent their frustration in agitative and confrontational politics, be it of the Right or the Left. Given the present trend, it is likelier that they will veer towards the Right, which in India carries the baggage of cultural/Hindu nationalism. This leaves the way clear for all pessimists, but if the proponents of Hindutva could use this their moment in history effectively and intelligently, India’s past could truly be exorcised. All else, including the economy, would then be just fine!
VEDIC MATHS
What is this `Vedic Mathematics'? It is somewhat difficult to define as the very terminology is used only by a small set of authors and a handful of mathematicians. The purveyors of `Vedic Mathematics' are agreed, however, that the landmark work in this ``discipline'' is the text ``Vedic Mathematics'', written by Jagadguru Swami Sri Bharathi Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja, Sankaracharya of Govardhan Matha, Puri (he died in 1960) and published in 1965 (Jagadguru, 1965). It is instructive to examine this text in some detail. The title page has the interesting sub-title, ``Sixteen Simple Mathematical Formulae from the Vedas (For one-line answers to all Mathematical Problems).'' Passing through diverse prefatory remarks by various personalities (none of whom is a mathematician), we come to the author's preface, arranged in numbered paragraphs. After explaining the meaning of the word the `Veda'(paragraph 2), the author continues in the following vein (paragraph 3) :`` In other words, it connotes and implies that our ancient Indian Vedic lore should be all-round complete and perfect and able to throw the fullest necessary light on all matters which any aspiring seeker after knowledge can possibly seek to be enlightened on.'' In paragraph 9 the reader learns that ``we were agreeably astonished and intensely gratified to find that exceedingly tough mathematical problems (which the mathematically most advanced present day Western scientific world had spent huge lots of time , energy and money on and which even now it solves with the utmost difficulty ...) can be easily and readily solved with the help of these ultra-easy Vedic Sutras ...contained in the Parisista (the Appendix-portion) of the Atharvaveda in a few simple steps and by methods which can be conscientiously described as mere mental arithmetic.''
Having informed us that he has regularly lectured on the subject at Nagpur University (paragraph 11), the author unfolds his `revolutionary' findings in paragraph 14 (vi): ``As regards the time required by the students for mastering the whole course of Vedic mathematics as applied to all its branches, we need merely state from our actual experience that 8 months (or 12 months) at an average rate of 2 or 3 hours per day should suffice for completing the whole course of mathematical studies on these Vedic lines instead of 15 or 20 years required according to the existing systems of the Indian and also of foreign universities.''
After all this introduction, we find inside the book mathematics of the middle and high school level, where the emphasis is throughout on a series of tricks (whose origins are explained) to solve various problems: for example, faster ways of dividing, multiplying and factorising numbers, and ways of dealing with problems in conics . Some readers may find the book diverting; some of the methods described may be actually be useful somewhere in school teaching (though this needs detailed investigation). The real issue, however, is not so much the level of the contents as the additional philosophical baggage that is provided. How are we to take the assertion that the Vedas provide the answers to all questions of mathematics? Is there any scientific sense in which a particular body of knowledge can be said to contain the answer to all questions of mathematics? The contents of the book seem far-removed from this goal; comprising as they do elementary mathematics; even the list provided of the subjects intended to be dealt with by the author in later volumes (which were never published) does not rise above this level.
In fact, mathematics from the high school level indisputably requires material that cannot be provided by the `Vedic' or for that matter `Islamic', `Greek', or `Babylonian'. Modern mathematical teaching requires considerable input that cannot be traced back to antiquity. The book ``Vedic Mathematics,'' seeks constantly to prove the superiority of various methods to those used in the ``Western'' methods, the reference point often being English texts long fallen out of use, presumably dating to the author's youth. Nor is the book of any use in studying the history of mathematics in India; it is simply unequal to the task.
What, in fact, is ``Vedic'' about the mathematics set out in the book? Some of the examples cited are already well known to historians and adequately described elsewhere. As for the appendices to the Atharvaveda, the alleged source of the Vedic mathematical riches described in the book, they appear to be totally non-existent. No authoritative edition of the text of the Atharvaveda contains the appendices referred to. The game is given away in the General Editor's Foreword, where it is noted that these ``appendices'' are not part of the established texts but should be regarded as new and the `discovery' of the author himself! The General Editor also notes that the style of language makes it clear that the `appendices' are the author's own discovery and that the book should be judged on its own merits - where of course the book fails miserably from the standpoint of science.
Despite its absurd claims and transparently bogus status, Jagad-guru Swami's book became the focus of a National Workshop on Vedic Mathematics held at Jaipur in March 1988 by the Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan and various other Government bodies and universities. The proceedings were published as ``Issues in Vedic Mathematics'' (Khare, 1991). The seminar enjoyed the official patronage of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the objectives of the seminar were spelt out in a letter to all participants by the Special Secretary, Department of Education. The papers presented at the seminar scarcely rise above the level of the book that inspired them. There is much talk of applying the ``Vedic'' methods to developing algorithms for computers (some participants opt out and claim that these methods render calculators and computers redundant) and some of the articles indeed are, to put it charitably, nonsense from any scientific viewpoint. The seminar ends with recommendations to the Government: a second seminar to be held on VM, in which traditional and modern mathematicians are to study the introduction of VM at different levels; a committee to study the introduction of VM in schools; research in VM; multimedia strategies for awareness of VM; the Department of Electronics to be sounded out on VM applications to computer technology. One interesting whistle-blowing paper (Shukla, 1991, page 31) brings to light the fact that the Sankaracharya's book is not based on what is in the Vedas.
Having informed us that he has regularly lectured on the subject at Nagpur University (paragraph 11), the author unfolds his `revolutionary' findings in paragraph 14 (vi): ``As regards the time required by the students for mastering the whole course of Vedic mathematics as applied to all its branches, we need merely state from our actual experience that 8 months (or 12 months) at an average rate of 2 or 3 hours per day should suffice for completing the whole course of mathematical studies on these Vedic lines instead of 15 or 20 years required according to the existing systems of the Indian and also of foreign universities.''
After all this introduction, we find inside the book mathematics of the middle and high school level, where the emphasis is throughout on a series of tricks (whose origins are explained) to solve various problems: for example, faster ways of dividing, multiplying and factorising numbers, and ways of dealing with problems in conics . Some readers may find the book diverting; some of the methods described may be actually be useful somewhere in school teaching (though this needs detailed investigation). The real issue, however, is not so much the level of the contents as the additional philosophical baggage that is provided. How are we to take the assertion that the Vedas provide the answers to all questions of mathematics? Is there any scientific sense in which a particular body of knowledge can be said to contain the answer to all questions of mathematics? The contents of the book seem far-removed from this goal; comprising as they do elementary mathematics; even the list provided of the subjects intended to be dealt with by the author in later volumes (which were never published) does not rise above this level.
In fact, mathematics from the high school level indisputably requires material that cannot be provided by the `Vedic' or for that matter `Islamic', `Greek', or `Babylonian'. Modern mathematical teaching requires considerable input that cannot be traced back to antiquity. The book ``Vedic Mathematics,'' seeks constantly to prove the superiority of various methods to those used in the ``Western'' methods, the reference point often being English texts long fallen out of use, presumably dating to the author's youth. Nor is the book of any use in studying the history of mathematics in India; it is simply unequal to the task.
What, in fact, is ``Vedic'' about the mathematics set out in the book? Some of the examples cited are already well known to historians and adequately described elsewhere. As for the appendices to the Atharvaveda, the alleged source of the Vedic mathematical riches described in the book, they appear to be totally non-existent. No authoritative edition of the text of the Atharvaveda contains the appendices referred to. The game is given away in the General Editor's Foreword, where it is noted that these ``appendices'' are not part of the established texts but should be regarded as new and the `discovery' of the author himself! The General Editor also notes that the style of language makes it clear that the `appendices' are the author's own discovery and that the book should be judged on its own merits - where of course the book fails miserably from the standpoint of science.
Despite its absurd claims and transparently bogus status, Jagad-guru Swami's book became the focus of a National Workshop on Vedic Mathematics held at Jaipur in March 1988 by the Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan and various other Government bodies and universities. The proceedings were published as ``Issues in Vedic Mathematics'' (Khare, 1991). The seminar enjoyed the official patronage of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the objectives of the seminar were spelt out in a letter to all participants by the Special Secretary, Department of Education. The papers presented at the seminar scarcely rise above the level of the book that inspired them. There is much talk of applying the ``Vedic'' methods to developing algorithms for computers (some participants opt out and claim that these methods render calculators and computers redundant) and some of the articles indeed are, to put it charitably, nonsense from any scientific viewpoint. The seminar ends with recommendations to the Government: a second seminar to be held on VM, in which traditional and modern mathematicians are to study the introduction of VM at different levels; a committee to study the introduction of VM in schools; research in VM; multimedia strategies for awareness of VM; the Department of Electronics to be sounded out on VM applications to computer technology. One interesting whistle-blowing paper (Shukla, 1991, page 31) brings to light the fact that the Sankaracharya's book is not based on what is in the Vedas.
is your computer slows down
1)Restrict what starts on startup! Does your computer start up very slowly? That is because you have lots of programs that start up whenever your computer starts up, most of which you probably don't want to, possibly even spyware and adware. Click on Start, then Run, and type "msconfig" (without the quotes" into the box, and press enter. Now, click on the startup tab. The only absolutely essential programs are: ScanRegistry, TaskMonitor, SystemTray, LoadPowerProfile, and your anti-virus and firewall software. There are other programs that you may want, so if there is anything that you aren't sure about, then type its name into Google. There are many websites that have a database of almost every task imaginable, and they will tell you what the program is, and whether you need it or not. After this, you will notice a very visible improvement next time you startup your PC. On a slightly related note, go to your Control Panel, click Add/Remove Programs, and uninstall anything that you need. You'd be amazed at how many programs you have that you never use, or could easily do without, that will free up disk space and improve computer performance.
2)Clean and optimize your registry! The registry is a very important part of a Windows computer, where essential system information is stored. Whenever you install a program, information is most likely added to the registry. When you uninstall a program, all of the information isn't usually removed. Spyware, adware, and other unwanted programs can also infect your registry. This is the main cause of error messages, blue screen errors, overall slowness, and even crashes. There is a very neat program called Registry Fix , which scans your registry for errors and repairs them. They offer a free trial that will just scan it for you and tell you what the problems are, and then for $37 you can purchase it and actually fix the errors. It it finds any errors, which is most cases will be in the hundreds, I would definitely recommend purchasing it, as the effect will definitely be visible. This is a awesome little program.
3)Defrag your hard drive! Everytime you use your hard drive (basically whenever you're using your computer!) files are getting all scattered about on your hard drive, which slows down the time it takes a file to open because it takes longer for your computer to find it. Windows has a built-in utility to do this, which can be found by going to My Computer, right clicking on the icon for your hard drive, going to Properties, clicking on the Tools tab, and then clicking on Defragment. This process will clean up your hard drive, by rearranging file storage and allowing files to be found more quickly. This can take a few hours, so you should run it overnight or before you leave for work, and it is suggested that you run it once per month.
4)Zap your spyware! Statistics show that almost all computers are infected with various forms of adware and spyware. There are programs out there, some free and some paid, that will scan and remove all traces of spy/adware that it can find. There are two free ones that I recommend, Adaware and Spybot . If you run these two and delete everything, you will definitely notice a difference, but they will not get everything. Personally, I run Adaware, Spybot, and XoftSpySE . It is very affordable, and I find when I use all three, each one finds stuff that the others do not, so its a great combination. The $30 certainly beats having to buy a new computer! Each of these programs are pretty self-explanatory, simply run each an delete everything that it finds, and you'll find your computer running a lot smoother.
5)Install anti-virus software and a firewall, run them, and keep them up-to-date! Its amazing the number of people who do not do this, and it really puts their computer in jeopardy. I remember a statistic that a Windows PC connected to the internet without a firewall usually becomes infected within 20 minutes. Don't be a statistic, its very easy to do, just keep your anti-virus and firewall software up-to-date. For anti-virus and firewall software, I use McAfee. If you are a Comcast high speed internet subscriber, you should be able to get these for free from Comcast.net. Otherwise, you could go to a local computer store or go to McAfee.com . Other popular anti-virus/firewall suites include Norton , and Trend Micro Internet Security . Personally, I used to use Trend Micro and had no complaints, but switched to McAfee through Comcast and have no complaints about them either. Steer clear of shady so-called anti-virus programs, however, as you don't want to find a virus-infested "anti-virus" program
2)Clean and optimize your registry! The registry is a very important part of a Windows computer, where essential system information is stored. Whenever you install a program, information is most likely added to the registry. When you uninstall a program, all of the information isn't usually removed. Spyware, adware, and other unwanted programs can also infect your registry. This is the main cause of error messages, blue screen errors, overall slowness, and even crashes. There is a very neat program called Registry Fix , which scans your registry for errors and repairs them. They offer a free trial that will just scan it for you and tell you what the problems are, and then for $37 you can purchase it and actually fix the errors. It it finds any errors, which is most cases will be in the hundreds, I would definitely recommend purchasing it, as the effect will definitely be visible. This is a awesome little program.
3)Defrag your hard drive! Everytime you use your hard drive (basically whenever you're using your computer!) files are getting all scattered about on your hard drive, which slows down the time it takes a file to open because it takes longer for your computer to find it. Windows has a built-in utility to do this, which can be found by going to My Computer, right clicking on the icon for your hard drive, going to Properties, clicking on the Tools tab, and then clicking on Defragment. This process will clean up your hard drive, by rearranging file storage and allowing files to be found more quickly. This can take a few hours, so you should run it overnight or before you leave for work, and it is suggested that you run it once per month.
4)Zap your spyware! Statistics show that almost all computers are infected with various forms of adware and spyware. There are programs out there, some free and some paid, that will scan and remove all traces of spy/adware that it can find. There are two free ones that I recommend, Adaware and Spybot . If you run these two and delete everything, you will definitely notice a difference, but they will not get everything. Personally, I run Adaware, Spybot, and XoftSpySE . It is very affordable, and I find when I use all three, each one finds stuff that the others do not, so its a great combination. The $30 certainly beats having to buy a new computer! Each of these programs are pretty self-explanatory, simply run each an delete everything that it finds, and you'll find your computer running a lot smoother.
5)Install anti-virus software and a firewall, run them, and keep them up-to-date! Its amazing the number of people who do not do this, and it really puts their computer in jeopardy. I remember a statistic that a Windows PC connected to the internet without a firewall usually becomes infected within 20 minutes. Don't be a statistic, its very easy to do, just keep your anti-virus and firewall software up-to-date. For anti-virus and firewall software, I use McAfee. If you are a Comcast high speed internet subscriber, you should be able to get these for free from Comcast.net. Otherwise, you could go to a local computer store or go to McAfee.com . Other popular anti-virus/firewall suites include Norton , and Trend Micro Internet Security . Personally, I used to use Trend Micro and had no complaints, but switched to McAfee through Comcast and have no complaints about them either. Steer clear of shady so-called anti-virus programs, however, as you don't want to find a virus-infested "anti-virus" program
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