International Study Group on the Relations Between
HISTORY and PEDAGOGY of MATHEMATICS NEWSLETTER
An Affiliate of the International Commission on Mathematical
Instruction: No. 49,
March 2002
REPORT ON MATHEMATICS TEACHERS CONFERENCE IN INDIA
December 2001
The 36th annual conference of the Association of Mathematics
Teachers in India (AMTI) was held in Cochin, Kerala State on December 27 to
29, 2001. It was inaugurated by the Cochin University of Science and Technology
(CUSAT) vice-chancellor who pointed out the significant role played by mathematics
in the development of society and civilisation in this space era of science
and technology.
Prof. R. C. Gupta (AMTI President) whose lecture contained a survey of Some
new studies and findings regarding ancient Indian mathematics to about AD 1000
delivered the Presidential Address. After a short tea break, Prof. George G.
Joseph (University of Manchester, UK) gave the AMTI (R. C. Gupta) Endowment
Lecture on History of Mathematics. His theme was The Enormity of Zero. Two other
regularly held memorial lectures (named after past presidents of AMTI) were
as follows.
E. Krishman (University College, Trivandrum) delivered the A.
Narasinya Rao memorial lecture. He spoke on Some thoughts on the teaching of
geometry. He said that, historically, geometry started as a purely practical
science to aid land survey and slowly evolved into a theoretical science of
abstract shapes.
Anand Parthasarathy (former scientist, DRDO) gave the P. L.
Bhatnagar memorial lecture. His theme was Tapping the Internet: online resources
for mathematics research and technology. A sheet containing 20 useful web sites
in mathematics (from across the world) was made available to the audience.
Topics of some other lectures/papers were
o Some problems from number theory by V. K. Krushnan, St Thomas College, Trichur)
o Fascinating numbers by T. S. Ramakrishna, Ramanujan Mathematics Academy, Ramachandrapuram.
o Renovative and renaissant concepts in the teaching of mathematics by M. Kotiswara
Rao.
o Recreative mathematics by T. S. V. S. S. Murty.
There was a quiz session for students and a mathemagic show
by S. A. Rahim, director of the Mathemagic Society of India, Bangalore.
A printed souvenir of the conference was distributed. It contained
the programme, list of participants, Presidential Address, summaries of talks
and papers, and general information.
R. C. Gupta
Jhansi, India
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