13 Feb Gonit Sora completes 100 posts
This is the 100th post in this website. And I thought it best that this be a non mathematical post. I would like to take this opportunity to say something about us and what we would like to do in the future. We started out as a small idea in April last year and as we are about to complete the 10th month of our existence, we are really happy to see the progress we have made so far.
It is never easy to survive in the web without good content. Fortunately for us, many people have spared time and effort for us by giving us some very excellent articles. Some of them were really very nice and even after months of being posted, people still visit them and read those. We are indeed thankful to each and every contributor of Gonit Sora. It is not possible to list them all here, but we are humbled and we promise to bring in more of such good quality pieces in our website in the time to come.
The idea of Gonit Sora had its germination when our Co-founder and Editor, Pankaj Jyoti Mahanta wanted to bring out a print magazine devoted entirely to mathematics. However, due to various reasons he was unable to do so. It was then that we decided to create a website in a blog format where we can post articles from time to time. It was a more lasting, cheaper and a more convenient way of creating what we dreamt of. We were and still are two mathematics students with a love for the subject that we are studying. Gonit Sora is our way of trying to do something for others, trying to show what mathematics is really about.
The main aims of Gonit Sora are described below:
- We are trying to bring forth the various fun aspects of mathematics which somehow gets hidden behind the drudgery of classroom teaching.
- We are trying to provide some content on Assamese about mathematics, which was previously not found in the web.
- In future, we also want to bring out many mathematical puzzles (xathors) and other treasures hidden in the Assamese language and culture to light for enjoyment of everybody.
- We are supportive of the Olympiad movement which till now has not been very successful in Assam. We are trying to educate and bring out students from Assam who can compete in these Olympiads at the national and even international levels.
- We want to give proper guidance to students who are trying to study mathematics and who would like to build up a career in mathematics.
- Our ultimate goal is to create a convivial atmosphere for the study of mathematics in the state.
Some of the future planning that we have in mind are:
- We are working hard on trying to digitize as much as we can of the Assamese literature on mathematics that is presently scattered in a variety of resources. With this in mind we have already started the work on trying to digitize a book written by Prof. Khanin Chandra Chowdhury first published in 1992.
- We are developing a forum where easy exchange of ideas will be possible among the students and teachers of Assam and North East in particular.
- We are trying to bring out e books on various aspects of mathematics. Currently work is going on to bring out two such books on Olympiad mathematics.
- We also have the hope that we will be someday able to bring out a print version of the website in some form.
- We plan to register as a Society.
Having said these, we are in no way complacent and we know that nothing great can be achieved without hard work. For this, we are ready and we hope that we can try to achieve at least some part of what we have dreamed of.
Before signing off, I would like to point out some things about Gonit Sora and thank some of the individuals who have been supportive of our cause. We have got the permission from the Assam Academy of Mathematics to digitize their entire archive of collection, which is quite large and consists of several books on popular mathematics and about 48 issues of their periodical ‘Ganit Bikash’. Work has already begun in this sector and we are currently doing the necessary editing to bring it out in a form suitable for the web. For this we are very thankful to Prof. Nanda Ram Das, President, Assam Academy of Mathematics. We have also got the permission to reprint the supplementary “Ramanujan@125” brought out by “The Hindu” on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Ramanujan on 26th of December, 2011 in its Chennai edition. We have already published two translations from that supplementary and are now working on the translations of the other articles. Once finished this will be another rich addition to the available literature in Assamese on mathematics. We are thankful to Prof. R. Sujatha (University of British Columbia, Canada), Prof. S. Kesavan (The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai) and Mr. N. Ram (Ex-Editor in Chief, The Hindu) for kind permission and other help.
The above steps are taken because we feel that digitizing this collection would help it make more accessible throughout the world. Thus, not only there will be an enormous amount of mathematical articles in Assamese on the web, but also the Assamese mathematics lovers will get a rare treat. Our interview series was also initiated with this aim in mind. We hope that through this we will get a clearer picture of what goes on in the minds of some of the greatest mathematicians of our age. It will not only inspire the younger generation but also create a bridge between the student and the giants of the subject.
At present the website gets about 300 unique visitors every day with average 6000 page views per day. Although statistics are not the true measure of something’s worth but still it feels good to see that in less than 10 months the site has got about 47000 unique visitors and almost 8.7 lac page views.
Finally I would like to express my gratitude to various individuals and organizations who have been quite supportive of our effort. First and foremost we are thankful to Dr. Dilip Kumar Sharma (Cotton College, Guwahati) without whose guidance we would not have been able to come this far. We are thankful to Prof. Nayandeep Deka Baruah, Dr. Palash Moni Saikia, Dr. Santonu Goswami and Rajen Barua, all of whom are members of our Advisory Board whose suggestions for the improvement of the website have kept us in good stead. We are thankful to Rupam Haloi, Salik Miskat Borbora, Madhurrya P. Talukdar and Manohar Prabhu, all members of our core team who have been quite supportive since the first day. We are thankful to Alipta Jena and Mani Padma for mentioning us in a good light in the media. We are thankful to numerous well wishers whose messages have inspired us to do more and more. Last but not the least, we are thankful to each and everyone of you, the readers of this website without whose support and love we would not have been able to do what we have done. On a personal note, I would like to thank Prof. Mangesh B. Rege for the help and motivation he has given to me in each and every step of my mathematical career.
Thank you.
Manjil P. Saikia,
Co-Founder, Editor
Head, Technical Staff
[P.S. Not to make this post too devoid of mathematics, we state a few interesting facts about the number 100.
- 100 is perhaps most important as the basis of percentages (literally “per hundred”), with 100% being a full amount
- 100 is the first number lexicographically if written in Roman numerals
- 100 is a Square, Abundant, Composite, Even, Happy, Odious, Powerful and Practical number.
We leave the explanations of the above type of numbers to another post.]
