Vedic boosters for speedy programming

Publication: Times Of India Pune; Date: Apr 21, 2008; Section: Times City; Page: 4


-Laxmi Birajdar

Applying the simple calculation tricks of Vedic mathematics to computer coding is a novel attempt at smart number crunching. That’s what Ashish Joglekar, Ajinkya Kale and Shaunak Vaidya — undergraduate students from College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) — did to come up with an algorithm for implementation of effective coding commands on the computer.

Using the Paravartya Sutra from Vedic mathematics, the trio put across these calculations in their research paper, ‘A Novel Binary Division Algorithm Based on Vedic Mathematics and Applications to Polynomial Division’.

“We’ve used Vedic mathematics to decrease the time taken to execute programming commands on a computer,” explains Ashish.

This particular paper has been taken from their very first research effort at calculations through Vedic maths — “An Efficient Binary Multiplication Algorithm Based on Vedic Mathematics,” — a research paper they presented this March at NCTCT ’08 — a conference on the latest trends in computing technology in Chennai. Apparently, Shaunak and Ashish were the only undergraduate engineering students to have participated in this event, which comprised M Techs.

Vedic maths facilitates quick and easy mental calculations. But what mattered to these students was adapting the mathematical derivations to the computer language of binary system —comprising only two numbers, 0 and 1. “We’ve used Vedic maths to devise a dividend and a divisor, using constants and variables, to arrive upon quotients and remainders that further elucidate the algorithm for quicker computing,” says Ajinkya.

It is not surprising that the mathematical geniuses will show their research during a presentation at ‘The 2008 International Conference on Applied Computing’, which is a part of Worldcomp’ 08 — the World Congress on Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Applied Computing — that will be held in Las Vegas, USA, from July 14 to 17 this year.

Judged on a scale of one to 10 at Worldcomp’s screening, the paper has scored exceptionally well on originality, technical quality, readability and presentation. It has even been recommended as a publishable paper in journals.

Their 20-min presentation has also been included in the prestigious Regular Research Paper (RPR) category, usually meant for papers by PhDs. They were guided by their faculty, Professor A.A. Sawant, head of department of computer science at COEP and Professor Vinayak Joshi in finetuning this research paper.

The students’ exceptional command over mathematics should not come as a surprise. Having educated themselves in Vedic mathematics since childhood, these students value its benefits, especially for calculations in modern gadgetry. “Vedic mathematics calculations for certain programming commands are less complex and don’t require tables of numbers used,” says Ajinkya.

In future,they see themselves making a career in engineering research. “We want to come up with algorithms based on Vedic mathematics for dedicated chips,” Ashish says.



(L to R) Ashish, Shaunak, Ajinkya