A student of La Martiniere for Girls at the BITM mathematics workshop. Picture by Arnab Mondal

Experiments with pythagoras theorem and square root spiral to Vedic maths, students of city schools are having fun with maths.

Twenty-five students from La Martiniere for Girls took part in the Young Learner’s Mathematics Workshop conducted by the school’s science club at the mathematics gallery of Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM), while more than 500 students from schools across the city thronged the Mathematics You Can Touch exhibition organised by Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan at Don Bosco, Park Circus.

“While teaching maths, we usually tell students ‘suppose/assume such and such is the value of such and such’. But how much can you suppose? At the workshop, students practically worked out values for each assumption,” said Ratuli Mukherjee, co-ordinator of mathematics at La Martiniere for Girls, who conducted the workshop at BITM along with Dilip Ghosh, the musuem’s education officer.

Anusha Misra, Class X, calls herself a maths convert and it’s all thanks to Mukherjee’s efforts. “At the beginning of the term she was always complaining about the subject. She kept asking why she had to study numbers. I worked on her with the same exercises that I have here in the workshop and today Anusha declares maths is her favourite subject,” said Anusha’s teacher.

“I think we should have more of such workshops. We get to learn a lot of new things and interact with like-minded people about mathematical problems,” chipped in Anusha.

The exhibition at Don Bosco used mirrors, soap films and dice to help middle school students understand mathematics better.

Devang Arora, a Class XI student at Don Bosco, wished he had come across such practical demonstrations of mathematical theories when he was in middle school. “We are on the verge of passing out of school. I think my juniors will benefit greatly.”

Madhurima Moitra, the head of the language department at Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan, said the exhibition aimed at giving maths a new dimension. “Maths can be scary for many, but not when one understands its basics in a fun and playful manner.”

Teachers too loved the idea. “This is an excellent way to get students interested in maths,” said Sanjay Gupta, assistant teacher of accounts and commerce at Don Bosco.