Mathematics of life

Maths And Life Have More In Common Than You Can Even Imagine

Aditi Suresh, XII & Aastha Gupta, Alumnus, AIS PV

The Greeks, born in the incipience of civilization, without occupation and hobby, were quintessential in creating something that the universe isn’t complete without, or so they have us think at school. As much as the greater part of humanity resents its creation and curses this subject, Mathematics establishes useful rules for navigating through life just as if it was a math textbook, and it is about time we reckon its importance in our lives.

The pressure cooker
It was only until grade nine, that Math was just about triangles. The Babylonians however, foresaw the need for concepts like trigonometry, algebra and the likes, basically all the stuff that makes adrenaline surge through a student’s body, to about five times the usual rate. It is hard to forget that feeling you get right before a Math test, as your hands get clammy and your body starts sweating, all the while your nerves tap dancing like crazy. However, this only worsens as your brain tries to process all those formulas you crammed in your head last night. No matter how cool you act about it, the pressure gets to you eventually.
Life: The leap from triangles to trigonometry is very similar to life. It is important to remember that anxiety does no good, but rather makes you doubt the table of 17 you mastered once. Life is a concoction of ups and downs, and success only comes when you take the leap of faith. So, it’s better to cook well while you’re in the pressure cooker and have a shot at making a delicious stew, because worrying about the result will get you nowhere.

An overcooked bacon
One puts in all the efforts to get RHS equal to LHS just to realise that you’ve either got it right or you’re still hundreds of miles away. Researchers suggest that reiterating a Math question won’t get it right, but understanding the psychology behind it would. So sit back, take a sip of water and remind yourself that you would still get marks for all those steps. After all, an overcooked bacon is far worse than the one which is still in the process.
Life: Regardless of the answer, the route you chose to find that square root is what matters. Getting tensed about ‘what next’ will only lead to another screw up. Sometimes, it’s the journey that makes your destination worth, so remember to do what you can, the best you can and aim to get partial credit if not a full score.
 Trials of yore
Ah, the bitter memories of the weeks past, spent crying and clutching your hair and the occasional calming sessions in front of the mirror (and this is after just one NCERT exercise) while preparing for the exams, alights in us sentiments of repulsion and trauma. The unending tuition classes, the utter inability to solve that ‘Circles’ problem despite repeated attempts are some of the trials a modern student has to endure in order to pass the ultimate test, M-A-T-H-E-M-A-T-I-C-S. Unsurprisingly, it all boils down to students starting to avoid math prep like crazy and just assuming the Math textbook is but an unsolvable nightmare.
Life: Despite the torment produced by studying Mathematics, remaining resilient is the key. At the end of the day, only those students top this subject who keep trying. The ones who adopt ‘Math is not my cup of tea’ attitude, forever remain haunted by it. Similarly, life too subjects us to suffering in order to ensure that we are moulded into adaptive humans that we are meant to be. All those months of torturous studying you do, will make you achieve for the most part, a decent grade. Life might drag you through deep puddles of lava, but at the end, it will drop you in a cool pool of lemonade. 

Scholastic Alert

Examination: Undergraduate Common Entrance Exam for Design (UCEED)
Course:  Bachelor of Design (B.Des) - 4 yrs. Admissions to (B.Des) programmes at IIT Bombay, IIT Guwahati and IIITDM Jabalpur are done through Undergraduate Common Entrance Examination for Design (UCEED).
Eligibility: The candidate must have interest in design with creative, visual and problem solving aptitudes.
Applications are open to applicants who have passed/will appear for Senior Secondary (10+2) examinations in academic year 2018–19 in any stream from any recognised board like CBSE, ICSE, IB or equivalent.
Important dates:
Date for online registration: October 9 - November 9, 2018
Date of entrance examination: January 19, 2019
Website: www.uceed.iitb.ac.in

Institute: National Institute of Design (NID)
Course: Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) – 4 yrs at NID, Ahmedabad
Graduate Diploma Programme in Design (GDPD) – 4 yrs at NID, Kurukshetra & at NID, Vijayawada
Eligibility: Admission to all design courses will depend on the candidates’ performance in the two-stages of Design Aptitude Test (DAT). It aims to assess the skills, knowledge and behavioural abilities of candidates.
Stage 1: DAT Prelims - They will be conducted across India. Appearing for DAT Prelims or being ranked in the shortlist does not guarantee admission.
Stage 2: DAT Mains - Candidates shortlisted after DAT Prelims will be invited to appear for  Stage 2 DAT Main exams at Ahmedabad or at other campuses of NID viz Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Gandhinagar, Kurukshetra and Vijayawada.
Educational Qualification:
Applications for academic year 2019–20 are open to applicants who have passed/will appear for Senior Secondary (10+2) examinations in academic year 2018–19 in any stream from any recognised board like CBSE, ICSE, IB or equivalent
Important dates:
Online application form: October 1, 2018 (Monday)
Last date: November 9, 2018
DAT Prelims: January 6, 2019
DAT Mains: May 12 or May 19, 2019
DAT Mains Results: May 31, 2019
Website: http://www.admissions.nid.edu
Taruna Barthwal
Head, Amity Career Counseling & Guidance Cell

For any query, write to us at careercounselor@amity.edu

Reversal of learning

The Little Things Teachers Learn From Their Students

Pulkit Goyal, AIS Gur 46, XII

Teachers are always put on a pedestal, and why shouldn’t they be? They teach their students various valuable lessons that they use not just inside the classroom, but throughout their life. Well, education is not a one-way street. Just like any other avenue in life, it also works on reciprocity and it just so happens that the teachers end up taking lessons from the very students they were supposed to deliver lessons to.

Period 1: Uniquematics
A classroom has a diversity of students. Some are naughty, some quiet, some with straight ‘A’s and some who struggle with every subject. A teacher finds herself at the welcoming end of these myriad personalities. Despite how annoying some students can be, she tries to understand different personalities, each accompanied by their own special qualities and learns to identify something special in everyone, a learning she takes often outside the classroom.

Period 2: Patienceology
As a teacher, it is impossible to never meet students who don’t like to pay attention in class, are always behind with homework, and are a constant source of trouble. It is when they get too testing that they teach a teacher the  lesson of patience. In those moments of irritation, teachers have to remind themselves that they cannot hit the student, no matter what happens. Instead, they calm down, take deep breaths, and look for a better solution to teach the child a lesson.

Period 3: Excusenometry
From “I kept the notebook, but can’t find it” to the clichéd “I am feeling unwell,” teachers have seen it all. If your teacher heard the excuse and let you go, don’t think of yourself as smart enough to fool them. They’ve played all these games and applied these tricks hundreds of times in their teaching career. In the process, they were too fascinated with your creativity and picked up inspirations only to be applied back to you. All your excuses that your family pet gobbled away your assignment will only turn out as topics of the next summer project. So, the next time you say that the  dog ate pages of your assignment, be ready to write next project on the lesser-known species of dogs!

There is no doubt that a teacher plays a gigantic role in shaping the future of the students. Yet every once in a while, this natural order is reversed. So really, when a teacher enters a classroom, the students aren’t the only ones that come out taught, even if they are on completely different subjects.