MATH LAB Innovator

Annaswamy Ranganath Rao

100 yrs old

His book listing math puzzles - Brain Teasers.

Set up Math Labs in schools. that was innovative.

TimesofIndia - July28

When the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) made it mandatory for schools across India to have a laboratory for mathematics in 2006, many considered it an innovative move. In the 100-mark maths question paper, the practical lab exam now gets 20 marks in CBSE schools. 

   This has put one man in Ahmedabad on top of the world. He is 100-year-old mathematics professor, Annaswamy Ranganath Rao, who pioneered the concept of maths labs, which CBSE took up 32 years later. He even set up one at Vikram Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VSCSC) in Ahmedabad in 1974. “I taught maths for 33 years; I realised the method of teaching the subject in schools was defective. Maths, like philosophy, is an abstract subject. Unlike physics, chemistry or biology, one does not learn maths in a lab and this makes it difficult,” says Rao. 

   Born in Jakkasamudram in Salem district of Tamil Nadu and educated in Wilson College in Mumbai, Rao came to Bahauddin College in Junagadh in 1933 where he spent 27 years. In 1974, eight years after retiring as principal of a Bhavnagar college, he made it his mission to popularise maths and make its learning a playful and enjoyable experience. 

   “For a maths lab, I had to create physical models that explained various theorems and equations. This meant I had to innovate,” says Rao, who has created over 200 models, teaching aids and puzzles that make the otherwise incomprehensible Pythogoras Theorem, Gaussian Curve, quadratic equations, Ramanujan’s number and other aspects of geometry, easy to understand. 

   Models and puzzles, he feels, make a student think. “It is important that the brain is used as an activity room, not just a store-room,” says Rao. At home, he is constantly seen creating puzzles and problems using a slate and pen. But he is not satisfied getting just one solution, and keeps working till he finds seven or eight solutions to a single problem. He has compiled all these puzzles in a book, ‘Brain Sharpeners’. 

   At 100, he is pursuing his mission with the same zeal. Everyday, he takes an autorickshaw to VSCSC where his students, mostly maths teachers in schools and colleges, eagerly await him. He does not remember how many people have learnt this method of teaching maths but he does keep track of the number of schools and colleges that have introduced the concept of mathematics labs. 

   “The maths laboratory has been Rao saheb’s most important contribution to mathematics in India. People across India were impressed by this concept; he has ben invited to Chennai and Shillong and NCERT headquarters in Delhi to instruct local mathematicians in setting up such laboratories,” says Arun Vaidya, a retired professor of mathematics in Ahmedabad who still sees himself as a disciple of Rao. 

   Rao still traverses the length and breadth of the state to deliver lectures on maths at various conferences and workshops. His perseverance has been recognised by the Indian government’s department of science and technology, which has decided to nominate him for UNESCO’s prestigious Kalinga Prize for popularising science. If he bags it, Rao will be in the same league as Bertrand Russell, David Attenborough, Arthur C Clarke and others who have won this prize. 

Setting up LAMP for Joomla 1.5.x

Tried installing XAMPP. No use. refuses to run.
Installed Apache 2.2.11 from http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi
Its a tar file (compressed). Saved it on disk. Open up a terminal and fired the command
tar -xvvzf downloaded-tar-filename
This uncompressed the file into a folder X. cd to that folder
Type ./configure --enable-so
After this type make
After this it is advised to use checkinstall tool for making a package for easy management though it did not work for me. For more information about chekinstall visit https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CheckInstall

Frustrated, typed the command being in the X directory, sudo make install
This installed the apache server in /usr/local/apache2. Releaved!!
Try testing localhost right away, it wont work.
Starting server with the command sudo /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start
throws the error, httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName .

For this u need to edit the httpd.conf file in /usr/loca/apache2/conf
Write a line ServerName 127.0.0.1 in the file below the commented line saying ServerName www.example.domain

Now starting the apache server works fine.
To stop, fire sudo /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl stop


To show the error message about checkinstall tool, i issued the same command in the X directory, sudo chekinstall.
This time it worked fine and at the end it displayed the following message.

**********************************************************************

Done. The new package has been installed and saved to

/home/tom/httpd-2.2.11/httpd_2.2.11-1_i386.deb

You can remove it from your system anytime using:

dpkg -r httpd

**********************************************************************

tom@TomLappy:~/httpd-2.2.11$


----- The END

Dolphin Issues

Error on hovering mouse over an HTML file in File Explorer Dolphin.

As soon as I select a file to preview or open its context menu, I get the following error message twice:

The desktop entry file
/usr/share/apps/d3lphin/servicemenus/amarok_addaspodcast.desktop
has an invalid menu entry
addAsPodcast.

This is a known bug in Kubuntu 3.5. To fix this problem temporary, one solution is to just copy the service menu:

sudo cp /usr/share/apps/konqueror/servicemenus/amarok_addaspodcast.desktop /usr/share/ apps/d3lphin/servicemenus/amarok_addaspodcast.desktop

One more solution could be :-
1> Edit and fix the file /usr/share/

apps/d3lphin/servicemenus/amarok_addaspodcast.desktop, i use kate to edit

sudo kate /usr/share/apps/d3lphin/servicemenus/amarok_addaspodcast.desktop

2 > The editor opens and you must add the line

Exec=dcop amarok playlistbrowser addPodcast %u

3> Save the file and maybe restart delpin.

Broadband Speed Hack

My system is a dual boot of Windows Vista and KUbuntu 3.5
I am using BSNL Broadband connection (India). During the speedTest which i took in both the operating systems, i found that Vista was showing a speed of 144 kbps and Kubuntu was showing 52 kbps. The downloads were pathetic in Kubuntu which made me switch to Vista for all internet activities.
Well, i was on a hunt to find an answer which i found was this :-
Open /etc/sysctl.conf as root user.
At the end of the file paste the following lines :-

# Tweaks for faster broadband...
net.core.rmem_default = 32768
net.core.rmem_max = 32768
net.core.wmem_default = 32768
net.core.wmem_max = 32768
net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 32768 32768
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 32768 32768
net.ipv4.tcp_mem = 32768 32768 32768
net.ipv4.tcp_rfc1337 = 1
net.ipv4.ip_no_pmtu_disc = 0
net.ipv4.tcp_sack = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_fack = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_timestamps = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_ecn = 0
net.ipv4.route.flush = 1

Save the file and fire up the Terminal to type sudo sysctl.conf -p to reload the above kernel parameters OR just restart the system for the tweak to take effect.

To my surprise when i retook the speed tests, it showed an amazing result of 1.47 Mbps !!!!
I checked my previous google search time which showed google took 0.29 seconds. I just refreshed the same page. Google showed up the same data in 0.08 seconds. Impressive speed!!!!

/etc/sysctl.conf - is a Configuration file for setting system variables. Hence open with care!
You might have to tweak the value 32768 (all occurrences in the following) to any power of 2 that works perfectly fine for you.Although this fix was tried out in KUbuntu it is possible that this might work for other distros with comparable kernels. It looks like the DSL routers and connections are optimized for the default values used in windows. So just tweak the values used in GNU/Linux to match the router - simple.

Evolution and Microsoft Outlook WebAccess

• Skype, the free voice over IP phone. Simply go to Skype webpage, select download and download the package. Then make sure that the adept manager is closed and using right-click select the downloaded file. Select the Kubuntu packages install, approve the required password and that's it. You'll find the Skype installed and ready in your internet menu entries.
• Picasa, the pictures album manager, from Google. Use this link to select the download. When the file is ready, simply do as written above for Skype.
  

Evolution and exchange. I guess that you are using some kind of exchange server, probably in work. You may have exchange over the web access, but you hate the way it is managed by Firefox. The solution is named Evolution, from Novell, but it is a bit tricky to configure and run. Do the following:

• First, in adept search for evolution, select evolution and its exchange plug-in.
• Now, evolution is a bit tricky sometimes to run in the first time. Try to run it from the Kmenu->Internet menu. If does not load, open a Konsole using Kmenu->System->Konsole.
• In the Konsole write "evolution" and press enter. If the last line is "segmentation fault (core dumped) run: "evolution --disable-eplugin" instead. Most probably that you are able to run evolution. In evolution window, use "edit-preferences" and add an e-mail account. It does not matter which one of your accounts you add.
  
• Now, close evolution, exit the Konsole and open evolution from the regular Kmenu.
• In evolution, add your exchange account. When selecting server type, select Microsoft Exchange.
  
• Enter your user name. Note that user name is not email address. User name is the one you use to log in to the network.
  
• Enter your over the web access URL. It would probably look like: https:\\owa.company.com\ecxhange\
• Authenticate it using your login password and now you have a window of properties.
• In "identity" tab enter your required information.
  
• In "receiving mail" tab make sure everything is correct.
• In "receiving options" tab you configure how often to check for mail in the server and other staff. Select whatever you like. The most important thing is "Global Catalog server name". This is where the server saves the global directory of email addresses. Look in your outlook address book settings in MS-Outlook to find that out.
• Defaults tab usually needs no adjustments.
• In "exchange settings" you can add "out of the office" auto-reply or set passwords.
• In "security" tab I have nothing crossed, so probably everything is not required there.

Ubuntu Keyboard Shortcuts

Alt-Ctrl-L Locks the screen.
Alt-F1 opens the Applications menu, then use the arrow keys to navigate the submenus.
Alt-F2 opens the Run Application dialog box.
Alt-F3 opens the Deskbar Applet (F3 opens the search bar at the bottom of the window).
Alt-F4 closes the current window.
Alt-F5 unmaximizes the current window (if it's maximized, of course).
Alt-F7, followed by arrow keys or mouse movement, adjusts the current window's position.
Alt-F8 resizes the current window.
Alt-F9 minimizes the current window.
Alt-F10 maximizes the current window.
Alt-spacebar opens the window menu.
Alt-Tab moves between open windows.
Ctrl-Alt-Tab moves between open panels on the desktop.
Ctrl-W closes the current window.
Ctrl-Q closes the current application.

Some keyboard shortcuts in the Terminal window:
Ctrl-C kills the current process.
Ctrl-Z sends the current process to the background.
Ctrl-D logs you out.
Ctrl-R finds the last command matching the entered letters.
Tab followed by entered letters lists the available commands beginning with those letters.
Ctrl-U deletes the current line.
Ctrl-K deletes from the cursor right.
Ctrl-W deletes the word before the cursor.
Ctrl-L clears the terminal output.
Shift-Insert pastes the contents of the clipboard.
Alt-F moves forward one word.
Alt-B moves backward one word.


Adjust your keyboard shortcuts: Ubuntu makes it easy to customize your shortcuts. Click System > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts, select one of the shortcuts in the list, and enter your preferred keystroke combination. You can also alter your keyboard accessibility options by clicking System > Preferences > Universal Access > Keyboard Accessibility. Here you can enable and adjust the timing for sticky keys, repeat keys, slow keys, bounce keys, toggle keys, and mouse keys (these convert your numeric keypad into mouse controls).

Experiencing Kubuntu on Dell Inspiron 1525

Ordered Kubuntu live CD from Canonical (sister site of Ubuntu.org) which reached my home in 6 weeks.
Have Dell Inspiron 1525 purchased in April 2008. Pre-installed Windows Vista.
Partitioned it into 9 drives.

• 1 Root for ubuntu
• 1 swap partition for ubuntu
• 1 Fat32 partition (Vista)
  
• Rest all NTFS partition (Vista)

I really had tough time configuring Internet connection. Well, at the end i understood that i have goofed up on my username and password.
Well, for first time users this is how to configure ur broadband connection. Mine is a BSNL broadband line. (India)

1. When in Kubuntu, fire up the Terminal.
2. Type in sudo pppoeconf
3. Keep on pressing Enter key for all the questions being asked.
4. Enter the Username and Password when asked. This should be the one given by the ISP(here BSNL) and which u use in Windows to connect to Internet during dial up as by default the BSNL modem works in Bridge mode.
5. Again continue pressing Enter key till the end.
6. Now fire up a browser and check for any site. It will be working.

This above steps has to be done only once. The next time when you open up Kubuntu, you can fire up any website without a hitch.
To stop the net connection, type sudo poff or sudo poff dsl-provider in the Terminal window.

Clock related issue
A problem occured when i installed Ubuntu. The clock was set to a time ahead of the current time.
To solve this changed the time from GUI. But when i fire any sudo commands in the Terminal, i get the following error.
sudo: timestamp too far in the future: Oct 27 22:45:45 2008
To solve this type sudo -k (Clears the timestamp)

Big list of Security Tools available in Ubuntu
ubuntugeek.com/list-of-security-tools-available-in-ubuntu.html

Which version of Ubuntu, type lsb_release -a
Which Kernel Release, type uname -r
Machine's Processor architecture, type uname -m
Hostname, type uname -n
Check out man page of uname, its for displaying System information

Amarok Mp3 Issues
Amarok player does not support mp3 right away. Hence when i clicked on an mp3 file, it asked me for the mp3 codecs. All i had to do was switch on my net connection and click on the download button.
Everything else was taken care of. It not only allowed me to play mp3 but avi files to in Kaffeine.
But when i logged in to the system again later, to my dismay, no sound files were being played. That is it visually appeared as if its playing the file but NO SOUND output.
Well the fix was to open up kMix in the Volume Settings and in the output tab fiddle with the first 3 scroll settings. This also increased my onboard laptop speaker sound output too, since the PCM parameter in kMix was very low. Also changed the Output Plugin to alsa as mentioned in many forums.

WebCam in Kopete IM
Having an Yahoo Account, i just saw my friend online, started to chat. When i clicked on the Invite my WebCam button, it showed me an error saying jasper was not present to show images. A quick search on the net for this informed me that i need to install JasPer program for my webcam to work.
As per the web, installed the program from http://www.ece.uvic.ca/~mdadams/jasper/ . It was a Source Code in a Zip file.
Compiling and Making an executable
Extract all the files from the Zip to say, Desktop
Fire up the Terminal.
Navigate to the Jasper folder inside Desktop folder in the Terminal with the cd command.
Type ./configure
I got the following error in the Terminal.
checking for C compiler default output file name... configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details.
For this i was asked to install the libc6-dev package. For this package go to System -> Adept Manager and type the package name to filter. Just select the package and Click on Request Install button. Rest all is taken care off by ubuntu.
Now, go back to the terminal, and type the same command, ./config
When you get back the command prompt, type make
When you again get back the command prompt, type sudo make install
Give the root password, and wait to get back the command prompt.
This should solve your problem of viewing WebCam in Kopete IM.