Author: Kishore Jonnalagedda

To point out the point

Introduction

During one of my recent sit-out with my kid she was looking at a number 10.12 and read it out loud as “ten point twelve”. I gave that startled dad look, and after some much needed breathing, settled down to explain her how to read it. But thinking out loud, this isn’t the first time I heard this. In-fact it is becoming more and more common to read a number like a sentence that I decided to blog about it. If you heard this and you had the jitters then you are one like me.

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Path to Chaos

One could argue what the problem is with “ten point twelve”. Well for starters it is a real number. And in the real number system you could write a number like 10.12 as :

10.12 or add an extra zero in the end and make it 10.120. How about another zero to make it 10.1200.

Which means :

10.12 = 10.120 = 10.1200 and so on.

Now if you read it like a sentence then you would have to say:

“ten point twelve equals ten point one hundred and twenty equals ten point twelve hundred” which implies

“twelve = one hundred and twenty = twelve hundred”. Which means …BRRR !!

Now imagine explaining this to the next generation.  sign-car-falling-off-cliff

The control

This is where the great mathematicians came up with a way of reading the real numbers.

10.12 is read as ten point one two and NOT “ten point twelve”.

Thats it ! Yep that’s  it! But if you think you can apply this for everything you gotta wait a min.

When you go to a gas station the price might be $3.49. Now you might read it as “three point forty nine”. And that’s ok.

Confused ? Well here the difference is that the three is measured in dollars and forty nine is measured in cents. That’s right they are two different units and hence the OK. Units do matter.

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Conclusion

Needless to say – what we say matter. But when we say it, it has to have a meaning. Next time when we read a number we should respect the science behind it or we jeopardize the very existence of the world. Thanks for reading and have a great day !

Prof Jonnalagedda Gopala Krishna

nanna

Prof. J.Gopala Krishna was a mathematical wizard of numbers right from infancy. It is a divine coincidence that Prof. Gopala Krishna was born on Krishna Astami day on 12th August 1933 in the village Pulla in West Godavari Dt. His parents were Dr Subbarao and Smt Lakshmikantham. His earlier education was done in Amalapuram, Rayavellore, Visakhapatnam and Kakinada. Prof Krishna was fortunate to have worked with the likes of Prof Meenakshi Sundaram, Prof T Venkatrayudu and Prof J L Doob.

He worked for his PhD supervised by the legendary professor V.Rama Swamy and did such good work that attracted the eyes of several analysts of great repute. He was invited by several universities, notably from USA, like Univerisity of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where his talent bloomed. He has taken up more difficult topics like “functions of several complex variables” in his stride and guided a brilliant student or many in these areas. The academic affection, Prof.J.Gopala Krishna showers on his students, is evidenced by the reverence and devotion shown by his student to him even decades after the tutelage ended.

Prof.Gopala Krishna`s research has been incisive and innovative; for example, he is amongst the foremost to use probabilistic techniques in complex analysis, and he did it with a great distinction. In spite of his great scholarship, he was never hesitant to learn new things from older teachers or younger students. Thus his room in the mathematics department was a buzz of activity right up to 8 or 9 p.m, with one seminar following another.

Prof. J.Gopala Krishna was the principal of college of science and technology of Andhra University between 1992 & 1993. He toured may countries, presented many papers, addressed many students abroad on mathematics. If mathematics is a night mare for many, it is play way toy for Prof. Jonnalagedda. He was second to none in his academic careers at every stage with top distinctions.

His popularity in India is phenomenal. He has travelled the length and breadth of the country attending conferences, lecturing at various platforms and honored at several others. He was a fellow of National Academy of Sciences.

The honors he received cannot be easily counted. His biodata can be a biography to be published and read by every mathematics student as they may find many inventive points for their own PhD’s.

He won innumerable awards and citations consistently. He was bestowed with Meritorious Teacher Award by the Govt of Andhra Pradesh in 1989 for his excellent service to the university student community.

 

Ugadi Purashkar – 2002 was a small token in recognition of his significant contribution to Indian Art and culture as a “Mathematician”.

He loved and lived mathematics. But he was also known for his love of inter disciplinary activities across various departments like Physics, Statistics, Computer Science etc. He was completely worked by an inswinging psychological factor that became the better half of him. Mrs Jayasri enabled Prof. Gopala Krishna to open a new field of research, the psychology of learner, teacher and user of mathematic. Prof.J.Gopala Krishna was so engrossed in this endeavor that he has started an institute exclusively for this purpose and put in every ounce of his Octogenarian energy into this. He was ably assisted by Mrs Jayasri and his students. He was the greatest example of person happy working, never disappointed with lack of success.