Mathivation Research Lab Where Mathematics meets Human Experience

THIS IS TOO MUCH! Part 18 - Tit for Tat: When the Reply Comes Back! Three Comebacks That Left the Original Comment Speechless Background Throughout my teaching journey and public life, I have heard hundreds of conversations. Some were inspiring. Some were philosophical. Some were completely meaningless. And some... were so unexpectedly clever that I remembered them for years! The three incidents in this episode belong to that last category. They share one common feature: Someone throws a verbal ball... and the other person returns it with interest! That's Tit for Tat! Not necessarily revenge. Sometimes it is simply a person's humorous way of saying: “If you can dish it out, be prepared to receive a reply.”   Case 1 - “Why Are You Barking?” During a school educational camp, I was sitting some distance away from a group of learners. There was a heated discussion going on. Voices were getting louder. One learner finally became irritated and told the other: ...

THIS IS TOO MUCH! Part 17 - “Will There Be Any Side Effect?” When One Question Gives Birth to Twenty More! Background Some people talk a lot. Some talk because they have something meaningful to say. Some talk because silence makes them uncomfortable. And some... simply cannot leave a question alone! 😂 They ask one question. The answer creates another question. That answer creates another. And before you realise it, the conversation has travelled from medicine to milk, from milk to goats, and finally from glass to bowl! This is one such light-hearted fictional comedy. Opening Thought There is nothing wrong with asking questions. In fact, good questions are the beginning of learning. But there is a difference between: Curiosity → useful questioning and Over-questioning → unnecessary complication. Sometimes the most difficult thing is not finding an answer. It is knowing when the answer is enough. 😄 🩺 The Case of the Endless Questions A patient entered the doct...

THIS IS TOO MUCH! Part 16 - The Homework Excuse That Completed a Full Circle! When One Excuse Needs Another Excuse to Survive “Sir, I couldn't do my homework.” Four words. Completely ordinary. But what happened next was anything but ordinary! Background Homework has been a legendary battlefield between teachers, learners and parents for generations. The teacher says: “Show me your homework.” The student suddenly discovers that the entire universe was against them. No electricity. No water. No candle. No matchbox. No bath. No time. No mood. Sometimes, apparently, no planet was properly aligned! 😂 Of course, not every student makes excuses. Many learners are sincere and responsible. But this particular case is a beautiful example of how one excuse can create another excuse until the explanation becomes more complicated than the homework itself. The Case of the Missing Homework The teacher entered the classroom. He looked around. Books opened. Students s...

THIS IS TOO MUCH! Part 15 - A Phone Is Replaceable. A Life Isn't. When a Family Argument Becomes Bigger Than It Ever Should A Different Part of the Series Until now, THIS IS TOO MUCH! has made us laugh. This time, I don't want to make you laugh. I want parents and children to stop for a moment. Because sometimes life gives us an incident that is not funny, not entertaining and not something we should simply scroll past. It is a warning. A very painful one. This Is Too Much. And we don't want another episode like this. Background On August 21, 2026 , a tragic incident at Khavdya Dongar near Tisgaon in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district resulted in the deaths of an 18-year-old young man and both his parents during a desperate attempt to prevent a fatal fall. Police, villagers and fire-brigade personnel reportedly spent hours trying to persuade the young man to move away from the edge. Early reports described the incident as arising from a dispute connected with...

MATHIVATION: Are We Raising Thinkers or Typists? The AI Paradox in Our Classrooms Seedhi Baat Now Friday Special  Not Against AI. For the Human Mind. “If you give a calculator to a child who doesn't know tables, the child may get the answer - but may never learn multiplication. AI presents us with the same question at a much larger scale.”   A Question From a Teacher Who Also Uses AI Let me begin with a confession. I am not against AI. In fact, I work with AI. I learn from AI. I teach with AI. You could call me an AI-augmented teacher. But I remain firmly FOR the human mind. But precisely because I use AI, I have one concern: Are we teaching children to use AI - or teaching AI to do the thinking for our children? Our students are not at fault. If we give a young learner a tool that makes homework faster, projects prettier, essays easier and answers instantly available, why wouldn't the learner use it? Parents are relieved: “Homework ho gaya.” Teachers may rec...

Attention Math Part 2: A Santacruz Case Study  A Santacruz Encounter: Donation, Deception, or the Mathematics of the Mind? A Mathivation Research Lab Initiative   " Sometimes the greatest mystery is not what happened before our eyes - but why we interpreted it the way we did." A Morning I Never Forgot It was the beginning of 2007 . I was walking through a quiet lane in Santacruz (West), Mumbai , on my way to complete some personal work. The street was unusually calm. In one corner sat an elderly man. He was not dressed like the stereotypical beggar. He appeared healthy, dignified, and neatly dressed in white. His white beard and moustache gave him the appearance of a wandering sage rather than someone asking for alms. Something about his eyes caught my attention. Without much thought, I decided to offer him ₹10 . At that very moment, I was speaking to my wife on the phone. The call remained connected throughout the encounter, making it easier for me to describe even...

Attention Math Part 1: Hypnotism When the Mind Changes the Equation A Mathivation Research Lab Initiative  "The greatest power is not controlling others. It is understanding how attention shapes our own reality." Introduction For centuries, hypnotism was surrounded by mystery. Some called it magic, while others dismissed it as an illusion. Today, neuroscience and psychology offer a more balanced understanding. Rather than supernatural power, hypnotism is increasingly viewed as a special state of focused attention in which suggestions may have a stronger influence on thoughts, feelings, or behaviour. At Mathivation Research Lab , we ask a different question: Can hypnotism be understood as a mathematical process of attention, belief, and suggestion? Instead of asking whether hypnosis is magical, let us observe the variables that influence human behaviour. A Curious Beginning Imagine your mind as a computer. Every second, thousands of thoughts compete for your attent...