India is a land with a golden heritage. India has given to the world jewels such as Yoga (which is now a multi-billion dollar industry), Ayurveda (a multi-billion dollar industry too) and even Chicken Tikka (a trillion dollar taste!).
Indians are feted world-wide for their par excellence cricket and maths skills; after all it was us who invented ‘Sachin’, “Zero” and the “Decimal-System”.
Maths Sutras are apparently the secret through which ancient Indians performed their feats over 5000 years ago. This system was apparently hidden away down the ages and was rediscovered by a scholar in the forests in South India, fifty years ago. So you can say that it’s a recent 20th century phenomenon.
These Maths Sutras hold the power to speed up your calculations, give you confidence and make maths fun and interesting. The Maths Sutras will help you in studies just the same way the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali helps one to improve one’s health.
So what are these Sutras? Where do they actually come from? Let’s explore that a bit further.
Sutras basically mean an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic (concise) and memorable form. So Maths Sutras are basically short mathematical formulas dealing with Arithmetic and Algebra. And there are 16 of them which were rediscovered by Tirthaji, the scholar.
So in this age of technology how relevant are these Sutras?
With each passing year the scope of the Maths Sutras gets wider, as globally more and more students deal with maths. This has caused a full grown numeracy crisis. Here I present some surprising data.
Consider this…
75.2% of all children in Grade 5 in India can’t do Division (3 digits by 1-digit problems) – Source: ASER 2012 by Pratham.
73.7% of all children in Grade 3 in India can’t subtract (two digit problems with borrowing) – Source: ASER 2012 by Pratham.
Almost half of British Adults have the math skills of an 11-year old or worse. That’s 17 million adults in UK alone. Source: The Telegraph, UK
46.3% is the Maths pass rate in South Africa’s National Senior certificate examinations. Maths is a National disaster in the country.
Such is the havoc that maths has created across countries. Our children can’t do math.
This is where Vedic Maths fits in with its sheer simplicity and comfort and makes making a career possible in fields of Management, Engineering, Banking, Finance or Law by helping crack their respective examinations.
The Maths Sutras open up a world of possibilities for everyone. Problems which once seemed difficult and daunting seem like child’s play now. They seem magical and unbelievable in the beginning but they all have a logic and principle behind it.
Most of the sutras are very visual when you apply them. Take the ‘Vertically & Crosswise’ Sutra for example. The pattern can be extended to do large multiplications and even shortened to do smaller two digits by two digit multiplications. This visual pattern makes the sutras very easy to remember and practice.
I’ve had a fascinating journey in the field of Vedic Mathematics over the last 18 years. This journey has not only introduced me to some very interesting people but also made me travel across the length and breadth of the world – across seven seas.
And wherever I went right from meeting kids in the slums in Dharavi in Mumbai or into the grand casinos of Cape Town in South Africa or the Wall Street in New York there was one thread I saw binding them all – Vedic Mathematics.
To a kid in Dharavi, Mumbai Vedic Maths is like a survival skill because the child is expected to earn a livelihood at a very early age. The Casino Dealers have to be quick with calculations for obvious reasons and the stock market people need it for split second decisions.
People hate maths for one big reason. Lack of proper communication. If Maths is communicated properly and the concepts taught with passion there would be no phobia of it and Maths would be fun and interesting!
Our Courses are one step in that direction and all the ideas have been communicated clearly with enough examples to practice.
I sincerely hope that the power and influence of the Vedic Maths Sutras be upon you!
The Vedic Maths Sixteen Sutras
Below are the Vedic Maths Sixteen Sutras in details along with their Sanskrit names
S.No | Sutra | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
1 | Ekadhikena Purvena | By one more than the previous one |
2 | Nikhilam Navatashcaramam Dashatah | All from 9 and the last from 10 |
3 | Urdhva-Tiryagbyham | Vertically and crosswise |
4 | Paravartya Yojayet | Transpose and adjust |
5 | Shunyam Saamyasamuccaye | When the sum is the same that sum is zero |
6 | Anurupye Shunyamanyat | If one is in ratio, the other is zero |
7 | Sankalana-vyavakalanabhyam | By addition and by subtraction |
8 | Puranapuranabyham | By the completion or non-completion |
9 | Chalana-Kalanabyham | Differences and Similarities |
10 | Yavadunam | Whatever the extent of its deficiency |
11 | Vyashtisamasthi | Part and Whole |
12 | Shesanyankena Charamena | The remainders by the last digit |
13 | Sopaantyadvayamantyam | The ultimate and twice the penultimate |
14 | Ekanyunena Purvena | By one less than the previous one |
15 | Gunitasamuchyah | The product of the sum is equal to the sum of the product |
16 | Gunakasamuchyah | The factors of the sum is equal to the sum of the factors |