January 22, 2002

IT has been tested and demonstrated through experiments that even small children are conscious of numbers and colours. According to psychologists children, though unable to communicate verbally, react with surprise and pleasure, if they are exposed to a large number of toys in different colours, shapes and sizes, which goes to prove beyond doubt how important digits and numbers are in the life of human beings.

The book under review Malka Huma ka karnama is a valuable asset for teaching children the basic knowledge of arithmetics or the science of numbers and that too in an indigenous language, Urdu. The writer Mohammed Asghar, who worked for the education corps of the Pakistan Air Force has done a laudable job by compiling the fundamental methods of identifying the integers. The National Book Foundation, due to the importance of the work, has also announced a prize for this book.

There are no two opinions about the importance of this book as it is equally valuable for seven-year-olds as well as those who are 70. It is a work worthy for son, father and grandfather. The author himself, holding a Masters degree in Aviation Electronics, is conscious of the need to train the young minds initially in the use of maths, which definitely helps in preparing them to further explore its various branches such as algebra, geometry, trigonometry, logarithm, statistics, etc.

His mission is to ingrain the basis of numbers through simple and easy ways into the tiny minds. An adult can also learn a lot too. The methodology of inventing the basics of simple addition and subtraction is unique with its own distinctive delivery.

The story revolves around princess Huma, who by the daunt of intelligence and wit succeeds in introducing the metric system or the decimal measuring system, originally devised in 1791 by the French Academy of Sciences who based their unity on a quadrant of the earth i.e., quarter of a circle round the earth through the North and the South Poles. One ten-millionth of this distance, as it was then measured was called a metric.

Multiples of the metres were designated by the Greek prefixes deca (10 times), hecto (100 times), kilo (1000 times) and the fractions were indicated by the Latin prefixes deci (one tenth), centi (one hundredth), and mili (one thousandth). The standard for capacity in this system is litre and that for weight is kilogram. The binary system too has been explained in a very simple form. The name of the kingdom and its rulers are synonymous to intelligence, brilliance and genius. The author, in true perspective, is a crusader of equality on the basis of gender as, in the whole exercise he chooses a woman to be the brain behind simplifying computation through the adoption of arithmetical progression.

The binary formula printed in the book is beyond the comprehension of ordinary knowledge of maths. To understand these indices one needs to have a pretty good knowledge of the subject and for children it is an impossible and out of question exercise to perform. It is advised that in the next edition a more simple formula should be adopted.

 

Malika Huma ka karnama

By Mohammed Asghar

Oxford University Press, 5 Bangalore Town, Sharae Faisal, Karachi-75350 Tel: 021-4529025

Email: ouppak@theoffice.net

ISBN 0-19-579665-9 36pp. Rs40

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