Guwahati, July 4: Two plus two is four. Fine up to that, but beyond? Phobia of mathematics starts setting in, for many at least.

It is this phobia that Gauhati University wants to exorcise and, for starters, it is turning to drama to send across the message that there is nothing to fear about mathematics.

The region’s premiere university will stage Ramanujan Katha on its campus on July 17 to attract young students to the dormant beauty of mathematics.

Khanindra Chandra Chowdhury, a professor of the mathematics department of Gauhati University, who has written the play and will direct it, too, told The Telegraph that the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar was full of strange contrasts. He said Ramanujan had no formal training in mathematics but was a natural mathematical genius, in the class of Gauss and Euler. He said Ramanujan’s works would encourage those who otherwise see the devil in maths.

“Probably Ramanujan’s life has no parallel in the history of human thought. He did not follow the conventional ways of learning mathematics and used his intuition and original thinking to enjoy the subject. Ramanujan advocated that mathematics is not just about calculation. His theory was that there is mathematics in every sphere of human life and one needs to have intuition or creativity to understand it,” Chowdhury said.

He said someone had written “Ramanujan did mathematics for its own sake, for the thrill that he got in seeing and discovering unusual relationships between various mathematical objects”.

The play will be staged under the banner of Assam Academy of Mathematics, a wing of the mathematics department of the university.

Chowdhury, who is himself from a family with acting and theatre background, said the script has been written interestingly with an aim to arouse curiosity among students about mathematics. He said a section of mobile theatre artistes, Gauhati University students and some young artistes would play various roles in the play.

Nanda Ram Das, a professor and president of Assam Academy of Mathematics, while appreciating Chowdhury’s effort, said the main objective of the academy was to popularise the subject among the younger generation by making it interesting.

He said the way mathematics was taught now, many students considered it a dreadful subject and suffered from a phobia.

Das said the academy was conducting various programmes and implementing schemes to popularise mathematics.

“Gauhati University is also trying to popularise Vedic mathematics among school students. Vedic maths based on 16 sutras or principles was discovered by a Hindu scholar and mathematician, Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja, during the early part of the 20th century,” another professor said.

He said the simplicity of the Vedic system implies that calculations can be carried out mentally (though the methods can also be written down). There are many advantages in using a flexible, mental system. Pupils can invent their own methods and they are not limited to the one “correct” method.