Life of pi over?

‘Tau’ may set calculations aright

London: The humble “pi” may have had its day. Mathematicians are campaigning for the most important number in the world to be replaced with alternate value “tau”. They are claiming that the number — the constant which references the circumference of a circle to its diameter — is wrong and it should be replaced with tau, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
The mathematicians have said that while 3.14159265, the number’s value, is not incorrect, it is the wrong figure to be associated with the properties of a circle as a matter of course. Tau has a value twice that of pi of 6.28.
“For all these years, we have been looking at the wrong number when we have been looking at pi. Pi simply isn’t the most natural number that we should associate with a circle. The proper number is 2pi, or tau,” Kevin Houston at the University of Leeds told ‘TheTimes’ newspaper. The number has long been seen as being essential to many mathematical formulae as well as being vital to equations in science and engineering.
It is used when calculating the circumference of a circle by multiplying the diameter by the value of pi, while its area can be deduced by multiplying pi by the square of its radius. However, mathematicians campaigning for its replacement argue that since so many formulae require the use of tau that may be used as the main circle constant instead.
“Mathematicians don’t measure angles in degrees, we measure them in radians, and there are 2pi radians in a circle. That leads to all sorts of unnecessary confusion. If you take a quarter of a circle, it has a quarter of 2pi radians, or half pi. “For the number of radians in three quarters of a circle, you have to think about it. It doesn’t come naturally. How much simpler it’d be if we just used tau instead of pi. The circle would have tau radians, a semicircle would have half tau, a quarter of a circle a quarter tau, and so on. You don’t have to think,” Dr Houston said.
Pi was first given its name in 1706 by mathematician William Jones. Ancient Egyptians and Babylonians are believed to have known approximate value of pi. PTI

VALUE JUDGMENT?

PRIVATE EDU

Govt plans law for self-financed schools in state

Yogita Rao TNN

Mumbai: The government is in the process of formulating a Self-Financed Schools Bill, opening a window for organizations to set up private schools in the state.

The bill aims to give private organizations permission tostartschoolson a self-financed basis. The bill, which may be tabled during the monsoon session, will lay down norms that such schools will have to follow. These institutions will never get any grants from the government.

The need to formulate such an actstemmedfrom the fact that private organizations seek permission from the state to set up new schools. Though they agree on the criteria of not getting grants from the government, they later apply for the same. The state had been, in the past, dragged to court for denying grants to such schools. As a result, the school education department wants an act to be formulated, which will ensure that such cases do not come up every year.

If the private organizations agreetothe norms,then the state will help provide them recognition and affiliation. School education minister Rajendra Darda said, “The government has done a mapping of the state to find out the areas where there are no schools. We will ensure that every area in the state has at least one school. After the condition is fulfilled, if there are any parties interested in setting up schools in addition to the existing ones, they will have complete access. The actwilllaydown the norms to run such schools.”

Darda said: “The private unaided schools at some point or the other come to the state seeking grants. Last year, one of the associations dragged the department to court for using the word ‘permanent’ unaided for them. We are hoping the new bill will ensure that such schoolsdo notseek grants at a later stage.”

New species

STUNNING DISCOVERIES: More than 1,000 new species have recently been found on the Melanesian island of New Guinea. Among these are (clockwise from top) a large green tree-dwelling frog, a monitor lizard, a rainbowfish and a blue-eyed spotted Cuscus

Primary school to be extended up to Std V

Hemali Chhapia TNN

Mumbai: For a long time, schools stuffed our children with more than they could digest. Suddenly, there is a feeling that chapters from history and maps of the world were introduced a year too early for generations of kids.

The Union human resources development ministry has now decided to take a massive correctional step. Indian schools will extend the primary class to include standard V. And elementary schooling will stretch for an additional year, instead of closing at class VII. This translates to more than just an internal rejig within the two school units—primary and secondary. For one, social studies will now be introduced in class VI. Ditto with science and environmental sciences.

“School subjects have evolved through their own complicated histories. However,educationists the world over believe that learning in the first five years of schooling should be integrated without subject-specific compartmentalization, and teaching children to study concepts at earlier ages in an attempt to prepare them to ‘compete’ in the world is counterproductive,” said a note from the HRD ministry.

Education ministers have been asked to shift from a seven (4+3) to an eight year (5+3) elementary education cycle by the next academic year. “It is important to provide agerelevant curricula and learning systems to our children,” said ministry officials.

LEARNING THEIR LESSONS

• Elementary education cycle will shift from 4+3 to 5+3 from next year

• Social studies will now be introduced at standard VI, as also the subjects of science and environmental sciences

• State governments will add class VIII to their elementary schools, allowing students to avail of free education for one more year

‘Govt is dumbing down edu’
Mumbai:Several states have entry-age school admissions in class I at age 5, rather than age 6. “Children in these states thus face the double burden of ‘heavy’ curriculum on account of early entry into the schooling system, as well as introduction of upper primary subjects at class V itself,” said a note from the Union HRD ministry.

The ministry feels it has an implication on the learning quality; and the faulty architecture often sees a high failure rate, adding to the pile of students who drop out.

Most teachers felt that the government was dumbing down education in the guise of easing pressure. “We introduce social studies at the third standard. And in the current method, the system is running smoothly. Children need to have their bearings in place—they need to know the north from the south and the local history,” said a principal of a private Mumbai school.

For a lot of state government schools, an additional class in the elementary cycle will mean expanding their overall infrastructure. Just as in Maharashtra, state governments have invested heavily on elementary schools (currently till class VII); there are not as many public schools at the secondary level, forcing many children to join private institutes.

“Close to 90% of the madhyamik schools are in the private sector. Bringing class VIII to the elementary system will mean not just adding classrooms, but recruiting teachers and providing mid-day meals,” said V Radha, state acting school education secretary.