BENGALURU: For Indian-origin mathematician Manjul Bhargava , a professor at Princeton University, mathematics is an aesthetically satisfying pursuit akin to music and literature.But he does not forget its utilitarian nature as well, and the significance of math research to national development. “Throughout history, all great civilisations made great contributions to mathematics,” he said in an interview.“Both in ancient and modern times, countries that are doing well economically also have very strong fundamental research going on in mathematics and science.”Bhargava has been particularly busy after winning the Fields Medal last year, giving talks and interviews and interacting with students and mathematicians around the world. He has been touring India too, and is using the opportunity given by his sudden fame to excite students about the possibilities of learning math. He was in the country this week partly to release a series of books from the Murty Classical Library of India published by Harvard Press . But he didn’t miss the opportunity to talk about math and India’s great tradition in the subject.India was once a great civilisation and economic power, and ranked high among nations making fundamental contribution to math. “Perhaps the most influential contribution has been to the way we write numerals today,” he says.“And it’s not just the number system. There are fundamental contributions from India to the foundations of algebra, trigonometry and combinatorics,” says Bhargava, who is convinced that India can bounce back, both in economic development and math.He also believes that there is a deep connection between the two — math and economic growth. “(South) Korea has come up technologically in the past 10 years and look at how its mathematical research has come up proportionally,” he says. The pattern shows up in other countries as well, west or east, ancient or modern. “The same thing is happening in China Japan has a long history of being on top technologically — in the past 50 years — and look at its mathematical research.” Is there a connection between India’s economic decline over the centuries and its weak mathematical achievements? The link between math and economic development is not direct, but does exist. “There is a clear correlation,” says Bhargava. “The reason for the correlation is complicated, but the basic reason is that innovations happen when people think about basic science.” It is more than that. Thinking about science and math allows societies and countries to “put together a repertoire of tools and techniques of understanding”.These tools form the foundation of technological development. “When societal and technological needs arise, there is that repertoire of tools there ready to be applied. So, basic science is important for the long-term success of technology and innovation.”The idea is not rocket science, but probably much harder to accept than to understand for many contemporary societies.However, Bhargava offers additional insights that are less easy to appreciate, except for a thoroughbred researcher: it is not always possible to develop the tools just in time, that is, as and when they are needed.“All fundamental ideas are used at some point; sometimes immediately and sometimes after hundreds of years. But it was very hard for a person to have come up with an idea if he was thinking about the problem to which it would be applied later on. They came up with it because they were thinking freely without any attachment to an application.” The flow of ideas is particularly strong in this direction — math, science, engineering, technology, business. Reverse flows happen and are important, but the main current carries societies forward.Why did India’s world standing in mathematics decline? “It is clear that there is tremendous talent for mathematics in India,” says Bhargava.“In the past 50 years, the attitude has been that if a child is good in mathematics, or good in science, you have to send him to engineering and medicine. And it is understandable. There was a time, not too long ago, when if you wanted to go for pure science you could not support your family well. I think it is not true anymore.”It is not true because salaries have improved and jobs are available for good mathematicians and scientists. The Indian research establishment has grown rapidly in the past decade, and there is a short supply of such people. “There are plenty of positions for researchers. In fact, we are short staffed. But the old attitude persists and now is the time to change it.” And the way to change it? Stop teaching math in isolation.Look back to ancient Indian history, Bhargava suggests. Some of the best math happened in connection with language, poetry and music. “Panini was the founder of generative grammar,” says Bhargava.This ancient scholar made rules for syntactically correct sentences, and this is what modern generative grammar is all about, and it has applications in computer science and mathematical logic.Similarly, poetry and music inspired the creation of combinatorics, the art or science of combining numbers or other elements.Math teachers may have to approach the subject this way to inspire their students. “Mathematics should be taught in connection with science and humanities. That will help students appreciate mathematics more, and it will encourage more people to think mathematically,” says Bhargava.It is the way he teaches math in his class, combining it with poetry, music and magic. He is now on his way back to Princeton, ready to teach a new course to his students. It’s on the mathematics of magic.