Journey into the Mathworld

I have always been a very dramatic and expressive person. My being a talented and a trained Kathak dancer might have some bearing on that aspect of my personality. Some compliment my nature saying I am lively and cheerful, others see me as an exaggerated and restless soul. I see myself as a person eager to live every bit that each moment in life has to offer. I like laughing often, I like to enjoy and I like to have fun in whatever task I am engaged in. That is the way I like to live life and that is the way I like to teach Maths.
Even as a novice teacher my philosophy was to  engage my students in the everyday classroom discussions. Over the years that I have spent under the roof of the school as a teacher, I have motivated all my students to speak in the Maths class. My classroom is always abuzz with noise, activity and is full of life.  I encourage my students to communicate mathematically, talk Maths, discuss about Math concepts even act Maths! But I enjoy doing things in a grand way! Its your Life! Make it Large!

So one of those years, I was left wondering why should I just sing a song in the Math class! Why should I let just my 40 students enjoy Maths! Why shouldn’t I try to impress upon a larger population who boast of ignorance in Mathematics?  These  is what inspired me to take on mathematics in the School Assembly, where I could pass on my infectious love and passion for enjoying and loving Mathematics to all those I get in touch with.

My first attempt towards this endeavour was one inspired from many math videos and animations from the Internet. What I would like to take credit for is the fact that I was able to put those bright ideas in a simple dialogue form which was enacted out beautifully by my best students. Mind you,  my best students haven’t been maths geniuses. Many of them have not even taken up Mathematics in their class XI and XII. But what made them best for me was the fact that they shared my passion, appreciated the innate value of the subject and empathize with their shortcomings and misconceptions in Mathematics.

Here, I share the Math Assembly script in the unedited dialogue form with all my valued readers. Hope you love it as much as I do and hope you will enjoy putting it up as much as me and my students have done...

SCENE ONE

The scene opens with two friends (Advaita and Pratibha : A and P for short) chatting with each other after their summer vacations are over.

Advita: Hi! Pratibha! U won’t believe what I dreamt of yesterday.

P: What? U won the IIFA award for the best actress!

A: No stupid! Something much more exciting and out of this world!

P: What? Aliens? Did u meet Jaadu?

A: No No! Forget about your Hindi movies. C’mon I bet you can’t get close on this one. I was in a world not of human beings but some other creatures.

P: Really? Ok. Let me think. Were u in a world of animals like in Madagascar?

A: No!

P: hmm.. were u in a world of toys as in Toy Story?

A: (twitch) Naa. What is this, Pratibha? U seem to have spent all your vacation in watching movies. Forget it, I can’t keep it anymore. I saw the math world.

P: The What?

A: U heard it right. I saw the math world. I was in a place inhabited by mathematical creatures. They were all around the place roaming, talking, and shopping!

P:  Mathematical creatures all around (makes disgusting faces) Oh no! Just looking at them lying dead in the maths books gives me all the chills, I am sure they will all factorize me into my infinite elements and gorge on me, if they were alive!

OMG! Maths tortures me like hell! And it does the same to everybody else I know, even to those who get A1! 

Don’t u agree?

A: I used to... (says slowly) but now I don’t (says with great force and gusto)

P: What do mean now u don’t!

A: I mean just imagine the other side of this story..

P: The other side? (Getting angry) I can see this mathematical nightmare has done some chemical locha with your brain. (Sounding impatient)

A: U don’t believe me? Let me take u to the math world as I saw it in my dreams.

P: (making strange angry and impatient faces)   

SCENE 2                THE MATH WORLD

 The stage shows mathematical creatures, numbers, shapes, symbols, equations all roaming around, chatting, cracking jokes and shopping!

SCENE 3

A & P move further. The number i (iota) and e (Euler’s constant) appear on stage, shouting and probably fighting.. look sad and unhappy)

P: Look! Somebody’s coming. They are two!

A: No, look carefully. They are the Euler’s constant number e and the imaginary number i, iota

e : Its time you get real and stop acting so impractical and imaginary. You look like a fool!

i : You call me a fool! You insane, illogical, irrational being!

(seem to get angrier at each other and move towards each other to hit, while shouting, you call me irrational! you call me imaginary)

(At that moment Number One police Inspector comes to their rescue)

No 1: Well well! What’s the problem, guys? You matured numbers! C’mon, what’s t problem?

e: He’s t problem! An imaginary problem!

i: See! You are sounding irrational now!

No 1: (again interrupting the fight) Wait ! Wait! You people seem to be quite frustrated with each other.

e : I m frustrated with everything! Even with myself!

i : You think I live in the happy world of humans! I live in pain too!

No 1: Oh no! Don’t sound so glum. You can’t be negative!    Tell me why are u people feeling like this! C’mon, u can share your feelings with me.. after all I am number 1 in Mathworld!

e : What can I say? I face ridicule and hurt everyday everywhere. People call me stupid and insane. They laugh at me because I am irrational. Nobody understands my irrationality.

i : I don’t get any love or acceptance either. I deal with greater rejection and ridicule! Nobody accepts my existence because I am imaginary. People don’t understand that though I am imaginary, I do exist. Everybody in the human world treats me as invisible.

No 1: Hmm.. I do understand your feelings. But you people need to accept each other and yourself with all of your properties – irrationality and imaginary nature. Look at me, I am just one – a unique number, neither a part of the primes nor of the composites. I am always alone. But I accept my Oneness and take pride in it. That’s how our God infinity wants us numbers to live. We need to do our duty for the humans and not expect anything in return. Don’t lose hope.  I am sure during our infinite lifetime, some gifted teacher and her talented students would show our pain to the human world and rid us of our sorrows and miseries.

( all three look hopeful, look towards the sky as a gesture of prayer and walk away)

A : (looking at P) I can see you are already feeling their pain.

                I m sure at least now u and me will understand  e & i for what they truly are when we meet them in our maths textbook.

P: I can’t wait to go back and help my friends see the other side of the story.

A: Wait! Where are you rushing? There’s more. Come let us meet the Doctor of numbers.

P: I m ready…

SCENE 4

In the doctor Henceproved’s clinic…

0 : Mr. Hence Proved. I am 0. U must have heard about me in the news. Last week I tried to commit suicide, but number one saved me and advised that I should come and see u.

Doc: Yes! I know all about that incident. So, tell me Mr.0 how are you feeling now?

0: As null as I ever was. You don’t know what it’s like to be me. I am nobody. I am nothing.. When I try to add myself to a group, they just end up leaving me behind, alone. When I try to get close to somebody, they just disappear, vanish! I have got 0 friends. 0 Rs. in my bank balance. And 0 reasons to live. The humans don’t even treat me as a number in my own right. They just think I am a placeholder. They make fun of me when they divide somebody by me. They don’t understand that I do not like to divide anything or for that matter anybody. They place me anywhere along with the decimal point without realizing that 0.5, 0.05 and 5.0 are different numbers. Everybody in numberville hates me because of this.  I might as well don’t exist.

Dr. Henceproved:    Technically, you don’t exist. But, you are not nobody. You are just the absence of somebody. That’s nothing to be ashamed of! You feel you have it all wrong. Huh! Some numbers are simply negative, others are irrational. Some are downright odd! And you..you mean something!  It is because of you that big numbers could take birth. It is because of you that negative numbers could exist. Without u, X-axis and Y-axis would never intersect. It is because of you that  decimal numbers came into existence. Without u, life would b pointless, life would be unimaginable in Numberville.. not just in Numberville but in Mathville. Even in the real world, people love you! Their fashionable polka dots celebrate you! POLO – their favorite mint has a 0 in it! In tennis, they call you Love!

We are unique in our own different ways. Each mathematical character in the Mathworld has its own identity, its own properties. We should accept, appreciate and love all of that. In fact, we should try and ensure that the human world learns the life skill of self awareness and self esteem from us, apart from the other vital life lessons that they can possibly learn by understanding Mathematics and its inherent nature.

So always be mathefied!