options. however, in view of the numerous applications of mathematics, students have to identify their areas of interest and develop domain knowledge in that particular area. while a career in mathematics research could be pursued by those with a passion for it, others need to focus on building up specialized expertise in their chosen area of application of mathematics. 33. while concluding, i would always want you to be like the mathematician in the story that i am going to tell you : a mathematician, a physicist, and an engineer were traveling through scotland when they saw a black sheep through the window of the train. “ aha ”, says the engineer, “ i see that scottish sheep are black ”. “ hmm ”, says the physicist, “ you mean that some scottish sheep are black ”. “ no ”, says the mathematician, “ all we know is that there is at least one sheep in scotland, and that at least one side of that one sheep is black! ” 34. i would end by once again thanking the organizers for inviting me to this forum which, i am sure, will generate valuable awareness and insight about the prospects for mathematics and mathematicians. i have told you so much about maths, its applicability in central banking and problems with numbers that i encounter in my day to day work at the rbi, i hope that all of you will study mathematics, make a name and a great career for yourself. i wish you all a bright future and the conference all success! thank you. select references 1. weisstein, eric w. “ hardy - ramanujan number ”. from mathworld – a wolfram web resource. http : / / mathworld. wolfram. com / hardy - ramanujannumber. html 2. statistics and truth ( 1989 ) by prof. c. r. rao, csir, new delhi 3. http : / / www. ams. jhu. edu / financial % 20math / masters. html 4. http : / / www. popmath. org. uk / centre / pagescpm / imahob95. html 5. swami vivekananda ( 1900 ) : the powers of the mind, talk delivered at los angeles on january 8, 1900. 6. laplace : hogben ’ s mathematics for the million, london, 1942, as available in the discovery of india, jawaharlal nehru, mathematics in ancient india. bis central bankers ’ speeches

mysteries. why have the seekers of knowledge been attracted to mathematics from time immemorial? i feel the primary charm of mathematics is that it is both interesting and, if you can crack its intricacies, enjoyable. people like its challenge, its clarity, and the fact that in solving problems of mathematics you know when you are right. the study of mathematics can satisfy a wide range of interests and abilities. it helps develop one ’ s imagination and aids in building a clear and logical thought process. 6. let me share with you an example to illustrate the charm of mathematics. it is a well - known story about ramanujan and his mentor, another famous mathematician, prof. g. h. hardy, who recognized his immense talent and took him to england. at one point of time, ramanujan was unwell and lying in an england hospital where hardy had gone to visit him. hardy told him that he came in a taxi, the number plate of which had a most uninteresting number 1729. ramanujan was very quick in his reply. he said it was one of the most interesting numbers that one came across. it is the smallest positive integer, which can be written as the sum of two cubes in two different ways, viz., ( 12 ) 3 + ( 1 ) 3 and ( 10 ) 3 + ( 9 ) 3. 7. prof. c. r. rao, one of the most outstanding mathematicians in the world, once said, “ all sciences are, in the abstract, mathematics ”, which aptly captures the immense contribution of mathematics towards the development of other sciences. perhaps, recognizing this centuries ago, gauss termed mathematics as the “ queen of all sciences ”. why study mathematics? 8. just type the words “ why study mathematics ” in a google search and you will get around 67 million results – these many people, institutes or articles trying to see the benefits of studying mathematics. study of mathematics is extremely important for many reasons. maths surrounds us in many ways as we go about our everyday life. let me now tell you why you should study mathematics : a. mathematics makes life simple by quantification. numbers, units and dimensions help in comprehending things better and lead to precision and certainty in measurement and expression. b. it helps formulate as well as establish measurement standards in respect of observable phenomena. 9. take some simple examples : bis central bankers ’ speeches a. “ ajay is tall