Here's how you can learn Mathematical concept in under a minute

Does your child want to learn about a Mathematical concept, be it Pythagoras Theorem or any geometrical concept, in under one minute? Look no further. At Visvesvaraya Industrial Technological Museum (VITM), a three-day Innovation Festival is underway that began on Thursday.

Students of all ages can learn from various do-it-yourself workshops, especially one popular 'Mathematics through Origami' workshop by VSS Sastry. He believes children should never be forced to learn. His innovative teaching techniques even caught the attention of Dr Saragur M Srinidhi, President of Advanced Computing and Communication Society from Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Saragur was the chief guest invited to inaugurate the festival.

The festival is a part of VITM's innovation hub to provide an opportunity for innovators from all over the state to showcase their innovation on any scientific aspect irrespective of age. It comprises demonstrations, competitions and lectures on various topics of science and technology. It will be open to public from 10 am to 5 pm.

Saragur in his address to students with inspiring stories and anecdotes told students that innovations are simple that can solve societal problems and need not be a fancy vehicle that takes one to the Moon. He asked teachers to make learning more innovative. He gave the example of Karl Petersen who had done the best demographic study of London till date, a statistical distribution of people with their height, weight, parameters etc

When nobody would publish his paper, he sold it to a launderers' association, which is today Arrow Shirt company. "If you go to any shirt company, you won't get a shirt more than 40s be it any company. Be it Germany, US or UK, no demographic study has been done since. Whole world requires 40-45 size, which is the most popular, but in India it is 38-40. Peterson found a way to sell his work. He even started his own journal," Saragur said.

On Friday, a workshop with the theme, 'Fun with Gliders' will be held from 11 am to 1 pm, and on Saturday a workshop on Hydroponics will be held for school students from 11 am to 1 pm. Those interested can hear Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms, and Vijay Simha, Member, Advisory Committee, Lemelson Foundation, USA, speak.

Highlights at Innovation Festival

-- Jalodbust, Frugal Mechanised Scavenger: a portable, battery powered agitator sanitary sludge handling device. An estimated 0.2 million manual scavengers work because available heavy machines can't reach narrow lanes inside buildings and remote locations. Inexpensive decentralised mechanisation can eradicate manual scavenging

-- Rospace Aerotech, a company set up by 22-year-old student Rohit Dey has as many as 50 unmanned aerial vehicles displayed at the festival including drones, fuel and battery powered planes. The lightest aircraft made by him weighs 5 g. Can be used in surveillance, agriculture, disaster management or for aero-modelling