Professor Hoshiyar Singh Dhami, a distinguished mathematician and V-C of Kumaon University, delivered a talk at the Doon School today on the relevance of Mathematics in the 21st century.
He said the first quarter of the new millennium is a good time to remember the past, consider the present and plan for the future. “If we study the developments on the basis of accomplishments, then it can be said that the 19th century was the century of superstitions. In the 20th century, science was at its supreme, but 21st century is considered as the century of uncertainty.”
Prof Dhami said uncertainties can be quantified only with the help of mathematics and therefore some of the most drastic changes have come in mathematics education. At the turn of last century, students studied arithmetic in elementary grades, but today they log on to the internet for information about fractals and Fibonacci numbers. He said Modern Mathematics is considered as “the science of space, number, quantity, and arrangement, whose methods involve logical reasoning and usually the use of symbolic notation, and which includes geometry, arithmetic, algebra and analysis; mathematical operations or calculations”.
Somewhat different ideas of the scope of mathematics had already emerged before the start of the 20th century. The sphere of mathematics has been extended, in accordance with the derivation of its name, to all demonstrative research, so as to include all knowledge strictly capable of dogmatic teaching.
“To be more specific, mathematics can be understood as a Science which makes invisible-visible. Its relevance can be understood in terms of applications of its offshoots like Computer Science, Information Technology, Chaos Mathematics, Mathematical Modeling, Discrete Mathematics and many more,” he said.
Dhami also said that ‘Dreaming big’ is a prerequisite for teachers in the 21st century. “Never before has so much been expected of us, and never before has so much depended upon us. The challenge for teachers and their students to ‘dream big’ is perhaps greatest in mathematics education.”
He gave some imperatives for being in step with new Mathematical literacy. These include becoming mathematical problem solvers, communicating knowledge, reasoning mathematically, learning to value mathematics and becoming confident in one’s ability to do mathematics.
Prof Dhami started his academic career in 1978 as a faculty in HNB Garhwal University. He left Garhwal in 1981 and joined SSJ Campus, Kumaun University, Nainital. Before taking over the post of Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dhami has worked as Head of Mathematics Department, Proctor, Dean of Students’ Welfare, Director of Almora Campus, Coordinator of IT Department, Controller of Examination and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Kumaun University.
Prof Dhami is on the Editorial board and on Reviewer’s panel of different national and international journals of Mathematics, Computer Science and Information Technology. He has received several awards and honours for his contribution to the field of education at national and international level.