My IIT Chronicles, Part 3 (A Year Has π Crore Seconds)

 

Prof. Ghosh, Once Again

 

Our Chemistry Professor, Mr. Ghosh, was in the class. We had been given some calculations to do, probably related to the half-life of some element.

 

Suddenly, Prof. Ghosh said, almost casually:

 

“There are π crore seconds in a year. Use that figure for ease.”

 

We were foxed. π crore seconds?

 

I asked, “But Sir, how does π come into this?”

 

Prof. Ghosh gave us that same enigmatic smile of his and said with a flourish of his hand, “The Earth is round, isn’t it? So we get π crore seconds in a year.” 

 

It made absolutely no sense.

 

While we were scratching our respective heads, he told us to take out our calculators and check for ourselves.

 

We did.

 

365 × 24 × 60 × 60 = 3,15,36,000 seconds

 

And π crore seconds would be approximately 3,14,16,000 seconds.

 

We were stumped. The two figures were remarkably close.

 

“See that?” he said. “Now what is the error if you use π crore instead of calculating the exact number every time?”

 

We calculated. The error was only about 0.38% percent.

 

So, for most practical calculations, π crore was good enough. And, more importantly, it was a number we would never forget. We were suitably impressed.

 

Then came the smile again.

 

“That is all there is to it,” he said. “It is just a coincidence. Don’t go about looking for science and mathematics in everything.” 

 

Then a pause.

“The Earth being round has absolutely nothing to do with it.”

 

And there was the lesson.

 

Sometimes a useful number is just a useful number. Not every coincidence has a scientific explanation. Not every pattern is a hidden law waiting to be discovered.

 

But  a professor can turn 3.15 crore seconds into π crore seconds, make you calculate the difference yourself, and make you remember it for the rest of your life.

 

Well, perhaps that is a little bit of science.

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