| Username |
Post |
| Rajib Sharma |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 11:20 AM
Quality of IIT.
IIT professor makes prime mathematics breakthrough
Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow
Close on the heels of former IIT professor Sandeep Pandey, who won the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award last month, follows a phenomenal achievement by another IIT professor, though in mathematics.
Manindra Agarwal and two of his students at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, have found a quick way of solving a timeless problem: how to determine whether a given number is a prime number.
Research scholars have been working hard on this problem for the last three decades, but it was Agarwal's team that managed to do what many mathematicians had long regarded as impossible.
Agarwal told rediff.com on telephone that "the urge to work out this problem dates back to 1999, though I started working on it as late as in 2001".
His two junior colleagues, Neeraj Kayal and Nitin Saxena, both working on their doctoral theses under Agarwal's guidance, gave a boost to his efforts. "I must share this achievement with my two young colleagues," the professor confessed, "but of course I owe it all to IIT Kanpur, which has been my school, my lab and my home for several years."
Mathematicians have been burning the midnight oil to devise faster methods of determining whether a number is a prime number, because this is a key to solving other important mathematical problems. In this, it was Agarwal's novel approach that brought him success. "We tried a new approach; our initial success gave us the boost to go ahead and with God's grace we did it," he said.
The 36-year-old professor was born and schooled in Allahabad, after which he joined IIT Kanpur from where he did his graduation and post-graduation, before completing his doctoral thesis on the theory of complexities.
Agarwal then did a four-year stint at the Advanced Institute of Mathematics in Madras before bagging the Humboldt fellowship at the University of Ulm in Germany. He returned to IIT Kanpur as a member of the faculty in the department of computer science in 1997.
IIT Kanpur Director Sanjay Dhande was elated at the news that created headlines in The New York Times. "Agarwal has done proud not only the IITs but also the field of theoretical computer science and computational number theory," he told rediff.com
"This will be listed among one of the greatest achievements in the history of IITs in the country," Dhande exulted. He was confident about Agarwal getting nominated for the world's top honours in mathematics, considering his latest feat.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/aug/10prime.htm
|
| educated |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 06:35 PM
Yes! Go India and fellow Indians. It amazing to see this posted in a bloody Nepalese site where people have so much hatred towards Indians.
You Nepalese should keep away from Indians achievements. Go mind your own business..........bloody Nepalese. You have so much of inferiority complex therefore GOD has given you people inferior intellectual ability and inferior looks to Indians which is sad really. An there with such an attidue you will never be satified with anything that you people do.
I never had any problems with any of the nepalese but after reading the posting against Indians in this site, this "nepalese" word makes me sick.
|
| MmmBop |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 07:12 PM
Oh Please shut up, enough already
Nice article Rajib, I wish we have more intellectual postings like these. However, I was disappointed to not even have a slightest glimpse of what the method looks like. I guess that's why the last guy was angry, it looks like it was posted because it was an invention from an Indian, than because of its intellectual values.
|
| GeoGods |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 07:13 PM
Educated Indian writes : It amazing to see this posted in a bloody Nepalese site where people have so much hatred towards Indians.
--
Indians should learn to take things positively. Nepalis are different from Indian
and Pakistanis. Indian and Pakistani hate each other so much that they
lost what is good you have to take from someone who you like or dilike,
and reject things from anyone if its not useful to you. Typical Indian mentality
(e.g. your posting) is to force others to accept every garbage they produce.
By posting the article/news, Nepali has proved that they know what to take
and what not to take whether its from your good friend or bad friend. But,
you have successfully shown the other side of your own poor mentality too.
Indians should also learn to ake things positively, and avoid sarcastic word
against all good and bad things. Typical half educated Indians first throw
sarcastic comment, and then gradually come to positive ends, that was
probably because of thicho micho from British rule for generations, where
positive things were very rare. Indians lack positive thinking from the
very beginning of any issue and that gives wrong image on them. Ask
any westerners or east asians, "Indian = Sarcastic Peoples with
brillian mathematical brain". Thats why Indian biz. house needs westerners
in their management post whenever it comes to dealing with another
positive thinking "sarcastic thing hater" western management officer. This
is the reason, Indians are given top level technical positions but hardly
any top management positions where positive thinking is necessary
with zero sarcasm. The main reason behind peoples hate Indians is
their character or ability to first look everything extremely negative
aspect, and burst with sarcastic comments. Once people characterize you
as "sarcastic people", you will have to work very hard to correct that
you are different people, more generous and really a good guy when
you capabilities are fully drilled in. I am afraid how many peoples dare to
stay with you before you are able to correct your first wrong comment.
I wonder whether you know it. Some peoples who are tired of Indians
say Sarcastic (+negative) comments and Indians can not be separated.
My suggestion to him/her is you deduct "sarcastic comments" from Indians
then, they are good friendly people. How many will dare to neglect your
sarcastic comments to remain associate with you until being adopted with
your sarcastic comments. Mitra Indian, try to understand my perspective
on you. Let me know if I am wrong.
GeoGods
|
| Educated |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 08:28 PM
You Nepalese start you hulahoo again. Bloody hell...............Indian should have positive attitude.................excuse moah...............I think you nepalese should adopt proper attitude first and also why didn't you write anything about the abuse against Indians on your Website.
Excuse me you blody webmaster, stop coming around with different names and posting opinions. I know who you are.....................alright!
Just to let you guys know the person posting information with no ID down the bottom is usually the webmaster/moderator.
Get out of here you cheap website sucks..........................
|
| educated needs a kick |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 08:42 PM
in the arse!
|
| Educated |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 08:51 PM
Kick your arse bloody nepali..........
|
| Desh_Bhakta_Bhattarai |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 09:08 PM
Oh Stop it! Enough already!
Don't let this thread to be like some previous ones: propagandist
|
| Desh_Bhakta_Bhattarai |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 09:08 PM
Oh Stop it! Enough already!
Don't let this thread to be like some previous ones: propagandist
|
| NK |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 10:03 PM
Dear GeoGod,
You have done a great disservice. You are trying to negate a bad attitude and a bad posting with equally bad attitude. YOur posting is full of stereotyping and piegeonholing. You tell us Indians are negative thinkers; Indians are good mathmaticians, BUT, bad managers; they are sarcastic, there are not even a single Indian in management posts. These assertions are so baseless to say the least. It is like saying all Koreans are manicurist and pedicurists just by touring a day in New York Metropolis. First of all the "negative thinking" and sarcasm have as little connection to the British Raj as length of my hair to global warming. Your racially slanted posting matched "Educated" outbursts and wild guessing (regarding webmaster posting this and that. that was too funny).
Please look around top management firms in the US. MacKenzie, Accenture to name a few. And count the number of Indians who are partners and senior managers. You will be surprised. Also when you go around Middle America you will see how many Indians own motel business. Does that mean, most of the Indidans come with a motel gene?with
I think we have to be careful not to generalize with a swap of a hand. Otherwise we will all look like this "Educated."
|
| Nepe |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 10:26 PM
NK,
A good lecture for GeoGod and many other impatient fellas ! Biswo did not call you a kadaa Mastarni Didi for nothing. Hehehe. Nice job. I appreciate.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 12-Aug-02 06:11 AM
I agree with NK re: this stupid and infantile Indian-bashing that some of our Nepali brothers and sisters engage in from time to time.
That said, the above story is a good one, but an example of BAD journalism.
Here's why.
The whole thrust of the piece seems to be on, quite self-congratulatorily: "Isn't IIT great"? and NOT on how this particular discovery is a great one for mathematics
and mathematicians.
On a larger note, let's face it, it's RARE for mathematicians to announce earth-shattering discoveries through a distinctly one-sided and somewhat patriotic
newspaper-item.
As a reader, and a fan of mathematicians in general, I would have liked to read
whether this "great discovery" has been ACCEPTED for publication, let alone be published, in a major mathematical journal either in India or abroad.
Unless the discovery has been vetted by other mathematicians from around the
world and published -- NOT in rediff.com but -- in a journal of repute, the whole
thing remains, at best, at the level of a pleasant ego-massaging exercise and,
at worst, at the level of, well, more patriotic ego-massaging.
Not that there is anything wrong with ego-massaging!!
oohi
"demanding more from journalists who cover mathematics"
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| Gokul |
Posted
on 12-Aug-02 06:28 AM
Prime time:
For those who like to see the paper,
http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/news/primality.html
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 12-Aug-02 06:59 AM
Thanks Gokul for the link.
That was helpful to understand what the work is about, and also -- in light of additional infomation -- to modify my own earlier posting.
From NYT:
"Though their paper has not been published yet, they have distributed it to leading mathematicians, who expressed excitement at the finding.
"This was one of the big unsolved problems in theoretical computer science and computational number theory," said Shafi Goldwasser, a professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. "It's the best result I've heard in over 10 years."
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| Rajib Sharma |
Posted
on 12-Aug-02 06:44 PM
Read this once too.
It's official. The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, is the toughest management school in the world to get into, ahead of Harvard Business School, Columbia University, Spain's Instituto de Empressa and France's Insead, according to a survey by The Economist. There's more. In terms of course content, it comes in fifth after Yale, Harvard, IE and Paris' Haute Etudes Commerciales.
Established with the idea of equipping a fledgling India with good managers, there are now six IIMs-IIM-A in 1963 was followed by those in Kolkata, Bangalore, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode. The IIM graduates have gone on
to prove their mettle in leading India Inc and fairly impressive niche of World Inc. Sunil Alagh, managing director of Britannia, M.S. Banga, chairman, Hindustan Lever Ltd, and Sanjay Kumar, CEO of global major Computer Associates, have all passed through the IIM portals. The list goes on and so does IIMs' tradition of helping management trainees to become powerhouse managers. Even in times of crisis in the global job markets, the McKinseys,
JP Morgans and AT Kearneys of the world flock to recruit youngsters from the IIM campuses. They clock an average pay of Rs 21 lakh a year-a little less than half the starting average for graduates of Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Stanford. But you will agree that it's hardly shabby.
Rajib
|
| Biswo |
Posted
on 12-Aug-02 07:51 PM
I am a nobody, but I can tell one thing: this result is an absolutely important result,
and will be taught for people of first year college mathematics in future, and in
first year programming language classes if peers approve its validity in
years to come. What I don't believe is people have got enough time already
to test it. It takes more time to test it, of course.
A lot of algorithm, like RSA algorithm used for encryption in network security, are
based on prime numbers. It is not that prime numbers were undetectable, they
used to be of exponential complexity.(take a number, from two to
each number half it, test if it divides that number, if not, then it is prime number
used to be standard brute-force algorithm !)
And of course, when we talk about acadamics, it is better we don't talk about
petty jingoism.
|
| su.............gar |
Posted
on 13-Aug-02 12:06 PM
I am not sure whether it will be tought in first year or not. Even today people are not tought about Pollard-Strassen method to determine the prime factors. I guess it is fastest-known fully proven deterministic algorithm.
sangh
|
| Gokul |
Posted
on 13-Aug-02 12:34 PM
Kaha chhan hamra ganitagyaharu?
Nayaraj Pant wrote "Gopal Pande ra unko ghanamool bhitraune tarika" but I am not sure how original it is. Pant himself is a good mathematician but I don't know where he stands in the field of modern mathematics. I presume his works are traditional and may not withstand the rigor that is demanded in mathematics.
Bhadraman Tuladhar, Mitranath Devkota et al. - Are they just professors or have they also contributed something? Is there any mathematical society in Nepal? Does "Tathyanka Bibhag" just do "janaganana" and other survey stuffs? Does TU invite top mathematicians to deliver lecture? India and China do this. Paul Erods frequently visited India and Stephen Hawking is going to China this year.
|
| shanghai |
Posted
on 13-Aug-02 12:40 PM
Stephen Hawking was in Shanghai,china just some days before.
|
| search |
Posted
on 13-Aug-02 01:02 PM
some (prachin) research of nayaraj pant on mathematics ;go to link
http://www.nepalexpert.net/nayaraj.htm
|
| Biswo |
Posted
on 13-Aug-02 05:22 PM
Su..gar,
I don't know much about Polard-Strassen method, but we used to Rabin-Miller test
for primality in our Number Theory related topics.I think they use this widely rightnow.
|
| Diva_starz |
Posted
on 13-Aug-02 05:39 PM
Su....gar,
I, too have meagre idea about Pollard-Strassen method to determine the prime factors. We were taught the other methods here: Sieve of erastothenes, multiplicative sieve, prime number machine etc and the good 'ol Miller Rabin test for detecting larger primes.
Three cheers for the enduring effort of the indian scientists that they came up the great result of efficiently detecting prime numbers. As the use of prime numbers is crucial in encrypted communication these days (mainly use in public key cryptography), this method will surely play an important role esp in security measure over internet transactions.
peace
|
| paramendra |
Posted
on 13-Aug-02 10:26 PM
This is among the most amazing threads at Kurakani.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/08/science/08MATH.html
http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/news/primality.html
http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/news/toi-report.pdf
http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/news/primality.pdf
|
| su.............gar |
Posted
on 14-Aug-02 08:09 AM
Biswo & Diva_starz,
It has been long time when I used to work in that area. One of my friends sent me these references if you are interested in Pollard-Strassen Method.
Pomerance, C. "Fast, Rigorous Factorization and Discrete Logarithm Algorithms." In Discrete Algorithms and Complexity (Ed. D. S. Johnson, T. Nishizeki, A. Nozaki, and H. S. Wilf). New York: Academic Press, pp. 119-143, 1987.
Hardy, K.; Muskat, J. B.; and Williams, K. S. "A Deterministic Algorithm for Solving in Coprime Integers u and v." Math. Comput. 55, 327-343, 1990.
All the greatest and the best are not taught in first year of mathematics that is what I mean in my thread(Assuming if the Professors in IIT came up with the best algorithm, they won't be taught in first year). It is quite obvious too.
Sangh
|
| Diva_starz |
Posted
on 14-Aug-02 09:37 PM
Thanks Su...gar,
The references you gave seems to be helpful to me...thx again.
|
| math council |
Posted
on 31-Aug-02 02:39 PM
Maths council meet
KATHMANDU: Minister of state for education and sports Narayan Prakash Saud today inaugurated the second general meeting of the Mathematics Council. In his inaugural address, minister Saud said that the government is ready to further refine the curriculum in mathematics. He also lauded the council for its noticeable role in resolving the problems seen in this field by bringing all maths teachers under one umbrella . MP Ram Man Shrestha noted that as students who scored good marks in maths in school have been unsuccessful at university and attention should be given towards providing good teachers. RSS
|
