Bhubaneswar, Sept. 18: The Regional Science Centre today introduced four enclosures inside the mathematics gallery and revamped the children's corner to mark the institute's 26th anniversary.
The new enclosures are named Classroom Mathematics, Geometry, Probability and Trigonometry, and they will help students of higher secondary classes understand their subjects through colourful and handy models.
"Understanding calculus (mathematics to understand how things change) through various applications such as differentiation, integration, geometric and trigonometric formulae are there in the higher secondary syllabus, but we were finding it difficult to understand them without seeing any models. Now, the new gallery makes them simple to understand," said Poonam Parida, a Class XI student from DAV Public School, Popkhariput.
Ritvik Pujari, a student of Class VIII from KIIT International School, said: "The simple models displaying complex mathematical things should be explored by all students."
For example, the enclosure Classroom Mathematics shows how mathematical differentiation is used to measure the curved surface area of an object, calculate volume of a cone and sphere and even how different musical notes emerge from the source on a mathematical scale.
Science and technology secretary C.J. Venugopal inaugurated the mathematics gallery.
Centre in-charge Archana Khosla said: "There are two interesting addition according to the theory of probability as how to know the exact age of a person with the help of six tables and tell head or tail while tossing a coin. It has become a hit with the schoolkids."
Khosla also said the kids' corner with a hope to educate children below 12 years of age basic mathematical knowledge has been completely renovated.
After the inauguration of the gallery, Venugopal said: "The state government, in collaboration with the National Council of Science Museums, would open a district-level science centre at Bargarh by 2016. Three more centres in Koraput, Keonjhar and Khandapada are also in the pipeline, for which site selection has been over."
At present, there is another district level centre in Dhenkanal, apart from the centre in Bhubaneswar.
The council sources said there was also a plan to develop the city-based regional centre in a big way. However, final decision regarding this is yet to be taken. The centre have galleries on motion, universe, a 3D movie room, and makeshift planetarium called taramandal, workshop, science toy counter and outdoor installations showcasing scientific models. The regional centre also organises regular sky watching sessions with the help of a telescope.
