Google Has Logo For Shakuntala Devi, The Human Computer

At first the logo looks somewhat like a ticking time bomb, but in reality, it is to show off Shakuntala Devi awesome human computing powers. 

This logo specifically depicts her 1982 Guinness Book of Records where she demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779 picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She correctly answered 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730 in 28 seconds.

Devi was born on November 4, 1929 in Bangalore, India and passed on April 21, 2013 at the age of 83. For more on her life see Wikipedia.

Vedic Maths Online talk at BITS Pilani

It was a pleasure to give an online lecture on Vedic Mathematics for students of BITS Embryo at BITS Pilani which serves as a forum for students to explore the world beyond the academic sphere through online,live and interactive lecture.

The audience consisted of students from the under-graduate to those in higher education programs particularly students pursuing M.Sc Mathematics .The duration of the general lecture was for 50 minutes which extended to 90  minutes followed by a question and answer session.

The Vedic Maths Forum India wishes to thank Ms Rachna Jha and her team at BITS Embryo for the kind invitation extended.

Vedic Maths in Mumbai

The last week has been personally very inspiring for me. It was a week which I spent in Mumbai exploring what else but Vedic Mathematics.

First we had the TEDx talk on Vedic Mathematics organized at the Ecole Mondiale World School. It was a unique talk in terms that we used a prop to propagate the message of the simplicity of Vedic Mathematics. For those of you who were present there know what I am talking about! More on this when the actual video comes out, till then keep watching this space.

It was a pleasure meeting Shri Vinay Nair in Mumbai who is actively associated with the Chinmaya International foundation.

Vinay gifted me a book which he had authored called 'The teacher who taught us to think'. I think it is an awesome way to felicitate his high school maths teacher Raman Sir. The book is about the unique ways of teaching through which Raman Sir not only instilled a systematic thinking procedure in his students but also brought about great inner transformations in them.The book is especially important in today's day as it teaches parents and teachers who face the challenge of creating love for mathematics in their children.

Among other things it  was interesting to meet the Aakanksha team.The Akanksha Foundation is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide children from low-income communities with a high-quality education, enabling them to maximize their potential and transform their lives. Akanksha works in the field of education, initiating school reform through The School Project, and providing a supplemental education through the Akanksha centers.

Currently, Akanksha reaches out to over 4000 children through two models: the after-school or center model and the school model. Akanksha has 40 centers and 13 schools in Mumbai and Pune. Through the centers, a commitment is made to support each child by providing a strong educational foundation, good time, self-esteem and values, and to help them plan how they can earn a steady livelihood as a step towards improving their standard of living. The School Project is a venture to open high-quality schools serving children from low-income communities in Mumbai and Pune.  These schools are in partnership with local municipalities, with the vision of creating small clusters of model schools in these cities that can be used to impact the mainstream education system.

We are proud to announce that The Vedic Maths forum India will be training the Maths Department at Aakanksha in Vedic Mathematics.We would also like to extend this training to other NGO's as well. So if you are reading this and know an NGO who can benefit from Vedic Mathematics please do let us know at gtekriwal@vedicmathsindia.org

Webcast: Live from TEDx EMWS Mumbai on 16th Feb 2013

Watch the idea of Vedic Maths being set free among other ideas at TEDx EMWS in Mumbai on 16th Feb 2013 from 9am onwards.Follow the event now!

Why India Should Be Proud Of Vedic Maths : Gaurav Tekriwal at TEDxGateway