10/12/2014 The Hindu : Common sense for math exercises

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Common sense for math exercises
"Intelligence needs to be nurtured by guiding the students and not by
solving the problems for them".

Diagram 1
MY CHILD Apoorva, unable to solve a math problem approached me.
The problem was "If the diagonal of a square is doubled, its area
becomes how many times?" Most naturally, I took out a piece of paper
to solve the problem for her, but was surprisingly stopped by my friend
Mr. Chandra Sekhar, who happened to be with us on the spot.
"What is the relationship between `side' and `diagonal' of the square?"
he asked Apoorva.
"Exactly here is where I get confused. Is it `a = d2' or `d = a2?"
"If you are confused, go to basics. Into how many right-angled triangles
can a square be divided?"
"Two, but in what way will that solve the problem?"
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10/12/2014 The Hindu : Common sense for math exercises
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Diagram 2
"Wait a moment. In a right-angled triangle, which one is greater,
diagonal or side?"
Apoorva thought for a while, and replied with a smile "diagonal", and
started explaining it with diagram 1.
"If side be `a' and is `1' unit, then according to the Pythagoras
theorem, d = a + a. Therefore, d =a+a.
We know that 2 = 1.41 units. As diagonal is 1.41 and a = 1, `d =
aa2' is correct but not `a = d2'. She could clear the bottleneck on
her own.
"Excellent! Now can you go ahead with solving the problem",
encouraged Mr. Chandra Sekhar, who is a cricketer too. Apoorva started
working on the problem.
"Let the side be `a'. Therefore, d = a2. And `a' = (d/2).
Area of the square is a = (d/2). = d/2.
Now the diagonal is doubled. Therefore, a = 2 d/2. New area = (2d/
2). =4d/2. Thus, area has become 4d/2 from d/2, which
means area has become four times", concluded Apoorva.

Diagram 3
"So far so good. Could you solve the problem without any mathematical
calculations, whatsoever? The clue is to think laterally, club common
sense with observation", asked Mr. Chandra Sekhar.
Apoorva started searching the surroundings and stopped looking at the
floor, which had square tiles.
"Uncle, look at the floor", said she and started explaining. "Observe the
tiles, this slant line is diagonal", and drew the diagram 2.
10/12/2014 The Hindu : Common sense for math exercises
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"If the diagonal is doubled, we get four squares", she said, while
drawing another diagram 3 to prove her point.
"Thearea has become four times" concluded Apoorva triumphantly.
Throughouttheinnings, I was a dumb slip fielder, for, Chandra Sekhar
pushed the ball for a perfect boundary through his square-cut, which
brought a paradigm change in me.
"Intelligenceneedsto be nurtured by guiding the students and not by
solving the problems for them".
K.GANESH
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