We were into the last week of our summer holidays and little did our celebration moods realize that fun and laughter must obey all the rules. Neither did the wine glasses show any respect whatsoever for the Newton’s illustrious third law nor did the sound intensity levels to Bell’s decibel levels. The governing forces indeed originated from several non equillibrium body masses guided by transient brain centres. An entropy meter must have deflected to its peak reading!
“Back to studies yet again, why do we learn?”
I knew it was rather a philosophical question given the fact that only the last bottle in the case was up for grab. I had little doubt about any possibility of that interrogation breathing further. It was too late and people invariably showed signs of fatigue and the consciousness was completely lost. Such situations in the past had us enjoying a long sleep, never having to fill our stomach on the following morning!
Nevertheless, the question provided me with some interesting food for thought!
The frenzy mood slowly surpassed the sixth time constant discharge after a first order sleep and the lunch table next day had the complete attendance as if it was a bonus day in an office.
We badly needed a topic to continue!
Realizing that the group comprised of committed, sceptical and resistive people, I decided to give it a go on the last night afterthought.
“The country needs to balance its knowledge quotient”, one of the committed members was eager to thread the discussion.
“Sustainability”, the group seemed like having more committed members that day.
“We need job”, I did not get enough time to classify him into a specific category as I received the next bouncer,
“Social Status”, there were clear signs of frustration coming from that angle!
“Why is the country asking me to learn Taylor series?” a resonance was observed when a resistive member banged with a vehement denial. Resonance indeed produced the highest peak as he continued.
“I chose to study biotechnology and they need me to learn Taylor series?”
The discussion was over shadowed by a delicious lunch. The group unanimously agreed to go Dutch that day.
The researcher in me decided to come up with a model for a fruitful course outline. Mathematical models can explain a great deal of things about any process whatsoever. Phenomena that are otherwise complicated to visualize or explain can neatly be demonstrated using a set of mathematical identities.
So, where do we draw a baseline?
It was time for dinner and after the much needed food break my evergreen lust took control of my actions and the scientific thoughts had to wait then for a long time. I did not want to cut short even though it was back to work from next day.
Nothing was in place the next day and I somehow managed to be in the prescribed attire. Most of the participants in the class had had long faces as if the length of the vacation was not enough.
It was supposedly an introduction class on engineering mathematics. I knew that a poor introduction can cause a big deal in their morale and a good start is always half the job done. The story teller in me started to enact my research intuitions.
Ever since the human technology moved from stone to bronze to iron, people realized the importance of knowledge, umpteen researchers shifted from their usual observatory mode of work to a much more elaborate experimental mode of work. They started questioning everything around and the only path forward in front of them was to go deep inside the unknown territory.
Any residual signs of long vacation mood slowly started to disappear in them. Most of them had one of their hands married to their jaws. I distributed a 250 page course book. No sooner did they browse through the pages than they looked at me with utter despair unable to comprehend most of what they saw in it.
I sensed that an hour long discussion will be more than a blow for them to experience after a splendid vacation.
My previous stories about number system and complex number (reference: Two of my previous blogs) did convince them to an extent on why they needed to study some of the chapters in it. I stretched the number system further to reason basic variables and simple equations. It took little time, then, for them to develop an appreciation for first order, quadratic and higher order equations and trigonometry.
Newton’s story did the trick in convincing them about the need of differential equations, differentiation and integration. I continued to narrate stories on Faraday Vs Electromagnetism, Ohm VS current electricity, Fourier Vs Heat Transfer, Boyle, Charles, Pascal, Taylor so on and so forth. In most of the processes they experienced, only effects could be seen and not the originating causes which led to the usage of a culture called mathematics.
There was an overall agreement among us and it was time for conclusion. The story was indeed well heard by them. An 80dB alarm sound pierced through my sensitive diaphragm indicating a designated break.
That night again, I did not cut short on my ever propelling lusty desires.
