Sunday, April 20, 2003		Books

Tips from the Tendulkar of maths
Aditya Rishi

Mathability: Awaken the Math Genius in Your Child
by Shakuntala Devi, Orient Paperbacks. Pages 151. Rs 60

SHAKUNTLA Devi, mathematics wizard and ‘human calculator’, dons the mantle of a lawyer in this book and presents a case for not shying away from mathematics. She has a lot in common with Sachin Tendulkar. When she speaks on mathematics or when Sachin speaks on cricket, people listen. "Common sense, confidence, concentration and control" — you'd think Sachin was giving tips on batting to someone in the nets, but it is Shakuntala Devi teaching you how to improve your ‘mathability’.

"Many people think that they should do math only if they are planning to become mathematicians, engineers or technocrats. That is like saying you should exercise daily only if you want to take up sport professionally or become an athlete or a gymnast," she says. As judges and the accused, you can only agree with her views.

Did you know that yard was the distance from the tip of the nose of King Edgar to the tip of his middle finger as he held his arm and hand outstretched? You didn't, but, if you did, wouldn't you like to know more about the metric system of measurement? Indeed, you would. You concede another point to the lawyer, and before you know, the Sachin Tendulkar of mathematics is plundering your weak attack for runs. She recounts many such examples to make parents and teachers realise that there exist better, alternative methods of teaching and understanding mathematics, so that it no longer seems a dreaded subject to children.

Adults, who had a mathematically challenged childhood, can rediscover their ‘mathability’ at later age, when they have no tough-cop-like teacher staring them down with a stick in one hand and a clock in the other. An alternative title for this book could have been 'Maths for Dummies', but the author hasn’t talked down to her readers or insulted their intelligence. Like cricket comes easy to Sachin, mathematics comes easy to Shakuntala Devi, but not to others, and she realises that.

She despatches one ‘no ball’ after another to the fence, or, in other words, breaks all myths about mathematics and mathematicians, but you don't drop your shoulders like other bowlers. Rather, you feel unchained. Some of the myths that have been broken in this partnership between Sakuntala Devi and her publishers are that mathematicians don't have emotions, they are born and not created, women mathematicians are not feminine and non-maths men are not masculine, mathematics is all exactness, imagination and intuition have no role to play in mathematics and mathematicians are persons with quick answers and elephantine memory.

The lawyer rests her case; professors in the jury walk out bored and parents walk out wiser. What makes her unbeatable is that she comes to the crease like Donald Bradman and not Sachin, wearing no helmet that may prevent others from reading from her face what goes on inside her head. She is so approachable that you allow her to sit beside you and make you listen. Her mantra is: Believe in yourself. While Sachin is still to cross the line as coach, we are lucky that Shakuntala Devi has stepped out of that crease. There is life without ‘mathability’, but it's not even half as enjoyable.