12

VedicMathforKidsBlog
Project

VirinchiBalabhadrapatruni

I chose to create a blog for my senior project. Not just any blog, but a blog with
information about an ancient form of mathematics called Vedic Mathematics. The term Vedic
Mathematics is really a misnomer, because these do not come from the Vedas themselves.
Rather, these tips and tricks were created during the Vedic Era, the era during which the Vedas
were widely spread, which is why they are given the name Vedic Mathematics. I chose this
project for many reasons. The primary reason is that I like math and have always liked math.
Also, because engineering, my chosen major, requires a lot of math as well, I chose this project
to simplify math for me so that I could do college math faster without spending too much time
solving basic and the simpler math. The final reason I chose this project is because math runs in
my family and my genes. My grandfather, who is a retired professor of mathematics in India,
inspired me to do this project. The more I thought about it and researched about it, the more, I
liked the idea, and so I finally decided to embark on the journey of blog creation about Vedic
mathematics.
The first thing I did to start the project was to create the blog. I researched for some time
as to what the easiest and most powerful hosting site was to use. I zeroed in on and selected
Blogger, by Google, as the service of choice. I therefore created a Google Account,
vedicmathforkids, and used that account to manage my initial blog at
vedicmathforkids.blogspot.com. Then I did a lot of research on Vedic Mathematics, what does it
mean, where did it originate and how is it different from the current way of doing mathematics.
Using this research, I compiled an article, an introduction to the subject of Vedic Mathematics if
you will. I posted this article late at night on April 9
th
. Also during this research, I found a lot of
interesting and appealing tips and tricks that simplified math fundamentals, enabling me to
greatly reduce the time it took to solve these kinds of problems; these methods shaved off two-

thirds of the time needed for the traditional methods that we all know of. I posted these tips as
well on the same day. These tips involved easy ways to square a number ending in 5, two digit
and three digit multiplications, and easy addition and subtractions of fractions. These are usually
calculated mentally using some short cuts that are, once mastered, forever helpful.
I continued my research and compiled a lot of interesting facts and tips. The next week
or so, I planned, wrote scripts for, and recorded video tutorials of these tips, clearly explaining
the Vedic methods of doing a problem, compared to the traditional methods, and updated the
posts to include these videos. Ive included a comments and feedback section to my blog, and
sent out emails to my friends and family to take a look at the website and provide their valuable
input. Ive also asked several mathematicians and engineers that I know to write their own blog
posts and contribute to my site. After my parents looked at my blog, they were not impressed. I
guess they were imagining the Huffington Post of Vedic Mathematics from me and were
disappointed. But this inspired me to really think about ways to improve my blog, starting with
its appearance. So, I did some more research and found Wordpress.com. One of the
disadvantages of the previous hosting service, Blogger, is that creating multiple pages was not
very easy, and customization was also not convenient, So, I chose to move my blog to
vedicmathforkids.wordpress.com. This move enabled me to further customize the look and feel
of my blog with multiple pages, tabs and a nice format. I then deleted the old blog at
vedicmathforkids.blogspot.com. Even though I was focusing on my AP exams, I continued my
research and took notes. After AP exams, I posted five more tips, which slowly got more and
more complex. I had basic addition and subtractions to complex differential calculus and
simultaneous equations concepts also included on my site. Let me describe the details of some of
those tips.

To square a number ending in 5, take all the digits but the rightmost digit. Take this as a
new number. Add 1 to this new number to get a 2
nd
new number. Multiply the two new numbers
together, and then concatenate a 25 to it. And there you have it.
To multiply two digit numbers easily, use vertically and crosswise. Take the two
rightmost digits of both numbers and multiply them. Take the leftmost digits of both numbers
and multiply them. To get the middle digit, multiply the tens digit of the first number by the ones
digit of the 2
nd
number, and add that to the product of the tens digit of the 2
nd
number and the
ones digit of the 1
st
number. Carry any digits necessary to produce a final answer.
To easily add or subtract fractions, instead of finding a LCM, multiply the denominators
of the two fractions. Then cross multiply the fractions to get the two terms in the numerator.
Perform the operation and reduce. To do this to more than 2 fractions, group the fractions in
groups of two using parentheses.
One unique feature of my blog is that the Vedic math tips are presented in video format.
Most other resources have the tips in textual format, so a video really helps for understanding
these sometimes confusing tips. I personally always found a video describing a concept or theory
to be much more lucid and clearer than just reading through a text book for the same. I was
extremely impressed with the world famous Mr. Salman Khan of KhanAcademy.com, who used
video tutorials to explain easy to complex mathematics to people. They were so easy to
understand and implement. So, Ive painstakingly recorded many of these tips and added them
to my blog. It also combined my other interest, which is teaching, into my project. So, these
video snippets are my two passions combined into one, math and teaching. One these tips are

understood, the math associated with the tip becomes very easy. I recently posted five more tips
and will continue posting tips for a long time.
I didnt have many major difficulties during my project. However, the ones I did have I
had to make up for by doing extra research. The main difficulty I ran into was that most of the
resources I found had the same few tips as each other, with no unique tips. I had to carefully
wade through all those tips and all that information and compile what I can use and what would
be redundant or not so interesting. Then, I found http://blogannath.blogspot.com, an amazing
resource for Vedic Mathematics. It had both unique and non-unique tutorials. Ive read through
the entire material provided on this site and could gather a wealth of information to add to my
blog.
Another difficulty I ran into was finding enough material to post every day. Initially my
idea was to add a blog post with some new information or a new Vedic math tip for a problem
every day. But later I found that finding new, unique and easy ways to do simple math problems
was kind of difficult. I eventually just gave up on this idea and made it a weekly or biweekly
blog, rather than a daily blog. Some reasons for this are that I couldnt record videos in school
and had to do them all at home.
Another minor problem I ran into was that I wanted to add an interactive way for people
to do Vedic Math, and not just watch my videos, but practice as well. I tried to do this with a java
applet. I started implementing the java code needed for this, but could not resolve all the bugs in
the code and test it thoroughly. That task was becoming bigger than the actual blog posts and
tutorials. So I had to move on without the interactive feedback applet.
The results of my project are that I have a blog, vedicmathforkids.wordpress.com, with
multiple math problem solving tips created by Vedic mathematics, and two articles on Vedic

mathematics. I have also added other pages to my blog: an about page, a math jokes page
(because I cannot be all serious), and a page with links to my YouTube channel that I used to
host the videos I recorded, and a few general math related links I found, which I thought were
really useful for other math lovers. I also added ways for people to like and share my posts on
social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. I have learned that maintaining a blog,
magazine, or newspaper about anything is a very difficult thing. It requires lot of time, research,
organizational skills and the need to follow up with people. However, I also learned how to
properly maintain a smaller one, and how much fun it can be once you stay on top of your
commitments and keep the blog up to date. Some of the high points of this project include the
fact that in the process of researching and doing this project, Ive learned quite a lot about math,
both traditional and Vedic. Ive also refreshed my knowledge of all these math concepts that I
dont use often. Some low points were that I couldnt get any input from any of the math experts
I talked to except for my grandfather. I also couldnt get more information to the site and learn
even more on these tips.
If I were to reflect on my experiences while doing my project, I guess I couldve spent
more time studying for my AP exams before 4
th
term, so that I wouldnt have had to spend so
much time on AP practice tests and preparation during 4
th
term before AP exams, which took
some time away from my blog. But other than that, I immensely enjoyed working on my project,
not just because I liked getting out of my classes, but because I like math and definitely learned a
skill set that few people have. Vedic math has made a huge scene in ancient India, and is taking a
rebirth again. Why not try it here?
However fun doing this project may have been, it didnt persuade me to become a math
major. Doing a math-based project has only reinforced my decision to go for what is essentially a

game development major, combining either computer engineering or a double major of computer
science and electrical engineering with a physics minor. No matter which of these two I choose I
would be using mathematics heavily, and without math, I cannot hope to be a good game
developer in the future. There is practically no engineering major that would NOT require a
whole lot of Math. Every walk of life, every field of study requires some form or the other of
math. Math encompasses our lives. Therefore, this project, even though it doesnt change my
plans for next year and the years after that, is certainly going to enrich my math skills for the
future.
In conclusion, I have enjoyed working on my senior project. It was a very interesting and
enlightening experience as I created this blog about Vedic mathematics. As I reflect on it, this
project certainly gave me a chance to examine the misconceptions about Vedic math for what
they were and set it straight in my head. I was also able to teach others these skills and enable
them to do math much faster and much more easily. I love how these tutorials seem so simple yet
they replace a whole bucket load of complex math, from arithmetic to differential calculus. And
now, this is Virinchi from vedicmathforkids.wordpress.com signing out. Thank you and bye!