Chennai: Students these days lack knowledge of basics, so, teachers must ensure that this gap is bridged for the good of the students’ future.

This appeal was made by UGC emeritus fellow and former director of Ramanujan Institute of Advanced Study in Mathematics, Ramajayam Sahadevan, while inaugurating a two-day national seminar of the Mathematics Department of Meenakshi College for Women on Tuesday.

“There is a general fear in the minds of students that Mathematics is a tough subject. But, in reality, it is a natural phenomenon written in the form of numbers and symbols,” he emphasised at the seminar, “Recent trends in graph theory and combinatorics”.

“Because nature is unpredictable, high skills are required to solve the problems nature poses. Only with the help of mathematics can we come to a logical and accurate conclusion,” he said, stating that mathematics is fondly called the queen of science.

Lauding the students who ventured into this challenging department, secretary of Meenakshi College for Women, K S Lakshmi, said, “This subject is challenging and I urge students to make use of this opportunity. Graphs have applications in all fields. Right from judging the activities of the brain to tracking the path of a website, graph theory has a wide application base.”

Professor of Mathematics Department, Anna University, G Sethuraman, delivered the keynote address and taught the students about a new concept called ‘Graceful graphs’.

The seminar included lectures by eminent mathematicians from West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu compered by Professor of Mathematics Department, Indira. A paper presentation competition was also held during the event and winners were awarded cash prizes.

Meenakshi College principal, Hemavathy Sekar, and head of the department, M S Malathy, were present during the event.