Fun with Maths

It's Exam time at home... My elder son currently doing his Prelims before his tenth standard board exams.... and the younger one in Grade Four. 

And as I opened up the Economic Times this morning, this article - Fun With Maths just jumped out at me....

Manjul Bhargava is the first person of Indian origin to have won the coveted Fields medal in Mathematics for this path-breaking work in Number Theory. This professor of Mathematics at Princeton University discusses various issues with the Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy.

When I asked the students of the MBA class I take about Mathematics the other day, only around 10% of them said they like it. Most of the others detested it. Years ago, I recall another MBA graduate in my office struggling with basic Arithmetic. Maths is an integral part of our everyday life. From waking up to the alarm clock... to train timings... to the price we pay for breakfast... it's all about Mathematics. We work with sheets and charts.... and get a salary at the end of the week or the month.... for which we need to know our numbers right... Yes indeed, That's Mathematics.

 

You liked that song by Tom Lehrer... we'll get him to give us a lesson a little later on. But first we'll do it very easy... ABC is as easy as One Two Three...

Well, the number 'three' reminds me of this song, a song my uncle Denzil used to sing... back in the day, Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris). 

That version did not have my favorite verse of the song.... the one about counting.... on fingers and toes...

Are you ready for the Maths lesson with Tom Lehrer.... on the New Math...

Didn't that song make Maths fun.... 

I put some thought into it... and recalled that I knew to read the time at age 5.... I learnt my tables in regular school.... and in class VI when I opened up a chapter on Bills and Receipts, I instead said Rec-i-pes, and had the entire class burst into laughter.... I was fairly good at Maths through school... though I slipped up when it came to Maths in college.... My Stats teacher in First Year B.Com was quite a terror and predicted based on past experience that more than half the class would end up struggling to Pass. I put my head down to it, and did extremely well. In B=School, I was actually coaching some of my weaker batchmates on Statistics... which made me one of my closest friends in the batch, that I'm still in active contact with. Working in data has been an absolute treat and the current trend of analytics absolutely amazes me.... 

I could go on and on.... which my stories on numbers.... but I'd rather just leave you with this song on advice for life... a sure formula to get the maximum out of life.... 

Acc-en-tu-ate the Positive. 

P.S. I've got another post on this blog on Maths... in fact the very first one.... Check out Music and Math

Woof, Meoow, Neigh.... Talk To The Animals

There's a day for everything... and October 4 is designated as World Animal Day. But why?

October 4 is the feast day of the St. Francis of Assisi - the patron saint of animals and ecology.

St. Francis of Assisi - Patron Saint of Animals

With the day dedicated to animals, it seems only fair to dedicate this post to them as well. 

Our association with animal songs go back to our earliest years with nursery rhymes. From Baa Baa Black Sheep to Mary Had A Little Lamb, Three Blind Mice to Old MacDonald Had A Farm, we learnt the names of most of the farm animals.

But the earliest song (not nursery rhyme) I recall with animals in it is this Golden Oldie - (How Much Is) That Doggie In The Window (Patti Page).

The innocence and faithfulness of dogs (or their young ones) lends itself to the love between very young couples - Puppy Love (Paul Anka).

Not all dogs are gentle. Some can be gruff...like the Hound Dog (Elvis).

From the dog we move to the other domestic animal almost as popular as the dog - that the cat.

The mention of the cats reminds me of CATS - the Musical. I attended a couple of auditions for The Best Of Broadway put up in Mumbai in the 1980s - directed by Celia Lobo with music by Leon D'Souza and including performers of the calibre of Shahriyar and Ella Atai among others.

The other cat song that comes straight to mind is Phoebe's favorite performance song from Friends - Smelly Cat.

Sometimes we use the names of animals to call people names like Alley Cat (Peggy Lee). 

Flip the gender around... and many years later... She could be a Maneater (Hall & Oates)

A big cat like the Tiger has a keen sense of vision and Rocky Balboa in the title song of the movie based on him Rocky is said to have the Eye Of The Tiger (Survivor).

Another animal that is close to man and take him places is the Horse With No Name (America).

While researching for this post, I found that lots of animals and even birds rock. Wanna dance the Crocodile Rock (Elton John).

Now its time for the birds. And the Rockin' Robin (Jackson 5).

Birds are better known for singing. And a questions for those on West End London, have you ever been there when The Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square (Manhattan Transfer).

Or have you heard the songs of the Blackbird (Paul McCartney).

We've been on the land and in the air... so let's take a trip Under The Sea (Sebastian The Crab - The Little Mermaid).

This post on World Animal Day would be incomplete if I don't mention one of the best animal movie series ever... Have you heard of Dr. Doolittle? He used to Talk To The Animals (Bobby Darin).

While he spoke to the dogs, cats, horses, birds, monkeys and elephants, I don't remember seeing any fox in the movie. That's because no one knows What Does The Fox Say (Ylvis).

There are so many more animal songs... Thank You to all those who responded to my post of Facebook and Twitter... I'm sure you can think of some more songs about animals... just share them in the comments. 

Parents Day and Musical Parents

While it is still yesterday in some parts of the world, I thought I'd quickly squeeze in this post relating to parents. 

Besides being Parents Day yesterday, it was the 88th birthday of a #MusicalParent 

Joe Jackson

Joe Jackson, possibly best known as the father of Michael Jackson, introduced his children to music and managed their talent promoting them as The Jackson Five comprising of Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. They made history in 1970 as the first recording act to have their first four singles to reach No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Just listen to the songs and you will know why...

ABC

I Want You Back

The Love You Save

I'll Be There

Since my earliest posts I've been commenting about the inspiration that my own dad has been in nurturing my musical talent and that of the rest of the family. Everyday I come across parents encouraging their children towards music - to sing or take up instruments. And it only reminds me that I would not even be on stage without the influence of Dad and encouragement of Mum. In my own turn, I'm lucky to be blessed with two talented sons who always step up to the opportunity to learn something new and explore new avenues of music. 

  

All about the Windows...

As soon as we stepped into the bus the other day for a family outing, the kids started looking for a window seat to sit at. I remember doing exactly the same when I was a kid. What about you. 

The first window I've known was the opening the wall of our house from where we looked out to see the people on the streets, rushing to their chores. Also the place where we looked out for our parents returning from work, and waited for that wave of recognition.

Lookin’ Through The Windows – The Jackson 5

While the Jacksons were looking out of the window, like I was, many others have been looking into them to see people, animals and things.

Patti Page saw a doggie there. 

And Bruno saw a lovely girl. 

Buildings have windows, though nowadays with glass claddings, we cannot make out where the windows are. The only windows we see are at the bottom of the building area or inside of buildings in the shopping area - all decorated to attract our attention and get us to walk in.

Window Shopping - Jackson 5

Having worked in the Direct Marketing industry, an important window was the one on the envelope. But growing in maturity, we need to constantly look out for the "window of opportunity". And getting philosophical and possibly religious, we need to look into the "Window to the soul"

Window To The Soul – The Kooks

Do you know of any other WINDOWS?

Windows in the Sky, perhaps...

Thirty years ago today, a new series of windows was introduced to the world. Windows in the world of computers and IT - Microsoft Windows. If you are a techie, you could well delve into InfoWorld's report on the Windows they've loved through the years. Even if you're not a techie, I'm sure we all are grateful to Bill Gates and the team at Microsoft for opening for us the windows that we spend most of our time glaring into - our computer screens. And kudos to all the other companies and their programmers and developers, who contribute to the constant evolution of IT and technology. 

From Windows 1.0 today in 1985 to the future...