Ajit Ghosh, a National Institute of Technology professor, inaugurates the seminar on mathematics. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Aug. 10: How do you multiply a four-digit number by a three-digit one? You can follow the method of long multiplication or use a calculator. However, the problem can be solved much more easily using methods described by ancient Indian mathematicians.

The Indian system of mathematics, known as Vedic Mathematics provides easy solutions to many complex mathematical problems many of which were discussed at a seminar on “Ancient trends in Mathematics” held on the Jamshedpur Women’s College premises today.

More than 100 students and teachers of the college attended the seminar, which was presided over by Sanat Mandal, professor of Mathematics at the Jamshedpur Workers’ College.

Gargi Chaterjee, an undergraduate student of Mathematics at the Jamshedpur Women’s College, demonstrated how long multiplication can be done without the help of calculators within a few seconds.

Chatterjee explained that subtracting the numbers from the nearest squares of 10 and then multiplying the remainders would give the last digits of the product. Subtraction of the remainder of the first number from the second number will give the initial digits.

For example, the product of 92 and 93 is 8556. Subtraction of the numbers from the nearest squares of 100 gives 8 and 7 respectively. The product of 8 and 7 is 56. Subtracting the remainder of the first number, 8, from the second number, 93, gives 85. Hence, the required product is 8556.

Students, who attended the seminar, enjoyed learning the unique methods. “I never thought that such complex calculations can be done without a calculator,” said Rajnee Kumari, an intermediate student.

Ajit Ghosh, former professor of Mathematics at the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, said, “Vedic Mathematics is based on 16 sutras (formulae) which are given in the book Vedic Mathematics written by Swami Krishna Bharati Maharaj. These help in solving complex mathematical problems. The 16 sutras were written in the appendix of Atharva Veda,” said Ghosh. He encouraged the students to learn more about ancient Vedic Mathematics.