 The little maths masters
 856x76 - can you come up with an accurate answer for this in 10 seconds? Nothing is impossible. Even before you digest the numbers, a seven-year-old comes up with the answer - 65056. This extraordinary display of talent was held by U C MAS students at the Chennai Trade Centre on Sunday, August 20. Children of the age group 4-12 years were seen solving complex arithmetic problems within a few seconds.
U C MAS uses the ancient tool of abacus to develop speed and accuracy which enables students to bring out better performance in academic subjects. The course helps children get over their fear of numbers by catching them young. The abacus method used, prepares children to be creative. When the children have acquired an astonishing calculation speed, it is actually only the end result of having developed the following mental abilities: concentration, observation, visualisation and imagination, and memory. “After the initial two levels (six months training), the students start using mental abacus," says Basheer Ahmed, MD, U C MAS. Basically, the children are taught to picture the abacus in their minds.
With more than 1,100 centres around the country, U C MAS has set a benchmark in developing programmes to unleash the hidden potential of tomorrow's whiz kids.
The event started at 8:15 a.m. and went on till 12.30 p.m. The chief guest was G U G Sastry, DIG of police, Coastal Security Group, Tamil Nadu, and M Vijayakumar, Chief Revenue Officer, Tamil Nadu Housing Board.
More than 2,400 children from 16 states across the country were present, some seen moving their fingers nimbly over the abacus, giving the answers before you can even say "jack rabbit". The proud parents patiently waited while their little geniuses played with complex numbers at their fingertips. The little stars sparkled with utmost brightness and charm.
To add to the excitement was a thrilling performance by John Britto's Dance Company which entertained the crowd with foot-tapping numbers. The highlight was Chennai singer Maya on stage with the dancing troupe.
All the children signed off singing and dancing to the popular number 'Dhoom'’. The entire venue was oozing with enthusiasm and intellect.
Faces lit up with joy while parents' eyes went moist once the winners' names were displayed. As for those who did not win, they were glad enough to cheer their
batchmates.
The champions of this event were Jayasuke from Virugambakkam (below 9 years age group), K Vignesh from Alwarthirunagar (9-11 years age group) and Rubesh M from Salem (above 11 years age group).
U C MAS took its roots in Malaysia and with its collaboration of Zhusuan Association, China, constantly rose with increased representation in different countries. U C MAS today boasts of presence in countries like Indonesia, Thailand, China, Brunei, Dubai, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kenya, US, Canada and New Zealand apart from India.
Meeting the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 certified in Malaysia and also in India, U C MAS is the only programme approved and certified by the two major mental arithmetic and abacus institutes of the world - namely the Chinese Utility Abacus Research Society and the Taiwan Mental Arithmetic Association.
R Rangaraj
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