A young businessman from Kolkata who held on to his love for mathematics has ranked 17th at the 36th Mathematical and Logical Games, an Olympiad conducted by the Indian Federation of Mathematical Games for the first time in India in association with FSJM (Fédération Suisse des Jeux Mathématiques).
The Olympiad is an open mathematical competition popular around the world, especially in Europe. Participants of all ages compete to solve entertaining and unconventional problems to qualify for the international grand final hosted in Lausanne, Switzerland. The federation has recently released a list of top 30 rank-holders, where Mustafa Kantawala of Ripon Street is at No. 17.
My Kolkata caught up with Mustafa to find out about his love for maths and more:
Maths my first love
When I was a child, my parents never entertained me with nursery rhymes or video games. Instead, they always encouraged me to solve brain-stimulating games such as jigsaw puzzles, Sudoku and Rubik’s cube. This created the base for logical thinking.
Throughout my academic life, I was an average student. I owe my knowledge of maths to my tutor Ibrahim Patel, who built my basics in mathematics and helped me understand the concepts clearly.
I was a student of St Augustine’s Day School, Mullickbazar. I remember I was in Class VII but he made me solve sums of Class IV so that my basics would be strong. It took more than a year for the results to be apparent. He taught me every single rule and concept which is very important to solve problems at any level.
The results showed when I stood first in Class IX from being an average student in Class VII.
Even in my friends’ circle, we all loved maths. We used to have competitions that helped us practice maths more.
Building the basics
The person who inspired me to pursue maths was Andrew Wiles, a Norwegian mathematician who solved Fermat’s last theorem 350 years after it was proposed.
He and his wife dedicated their lives and put an enormous amount of time, effort and sacrifices to solve that problem. That inspired the world and made me realise that there are so many things in maths that are truly worth exploring.
I wanted to pursue maths in graduation and started preparing for admission to ISI (Indian Statistical Institute). I never really took tuition in maths ever after Class X and always wanted to study on my own.
I was not able to clear the ISI entrance exam at the first attempt. So, I got admitted to The Bhawanipur Education Society College for a bachelor’s course in maths while simultaneously preparing for the ISI entrance exam.
Unfortunately, I could not make it to the ISI on my second try either. But the hours I spent preparing for the exam helped in my knowledge of maths. I would solve many questions from maths olympiads and sums from CMI (Chennai Mathematical Institute) and other such problems whenever I had time.
Kantawala ranked 17th out of the top 30 in the general category in the 36th Maths and Logical Games. Mustafa Kantawala
Practice continued even after college
Two failed attempts at the ISI entrance exam and an average performance in graduation made me think that maths was for geniuses and I was not one of them.
Though I joined my father’s business and did not continue with academics after graduation, I did not stop practising maths.
Sometimes, I come across math problems on social media or Reddit posts and I can’t leave the site without solving the same. I have learnt how to use a software called Desmos to make different types of artwork. I also dabble in animation.
Maths and business
We deal in mechanics. After joining the family business, I learnt how to use Excel and its advanced versions to understand complicated calculations and figure out our costing since the companies we work with have complex MoUs.
One of our most successful products has been manufacturing and selling pumps for acid flow, required in oxygen purification and filling oxygen tanks, that proved vital during the second wave of COVID-19. It was one of the many areas where the knowledge of maths, physics and chemistry was used in business and that gave us an upper hand.
My message to students who dread maths
Maths is something we use in our daily lives. It can’t be ignored no matter how much we wish to. It’s the language of the universe. Treat it like your out of the league girlfriend/boyfriend. (Remember no girlfriend/boyfriend is out of league) (laughs).
Understand it thoroughly. Give respect and time. Take care of it and give it utmost attention. Treat it like a close friend. Slowly and gradually that out of league task will seem doable. And putting in some more time and effort will make you fall in love. Maths will never leave you. It will stay with you forever. So, make it your friend.
If something seems difficult, take it as a challenge. If the school’s curriculum seems far ahead, don’t worry and study at your own pace. But never ignore the subject entirely. Study slowly and try to understand.
When not solving math problems or minding the business…
I love playing table tennis, making artwork on Desmos and singing even though I am a horrible singer (laughs). I do love to teach students. I used to teach maths at the Higher Secondary level and even for IIT-JEE. I especially enjoyed teaching kids in middle school who are poor in maths.
Life lessons from mathematics
It taught me to never get scared of an enormous problem. It taught me to look at each of them individually and tackle each of them separately.
In a high-pressure situation, always remain calm and never think ‘what is this problem that I cannot solve’.
If you cannot do it, just let it go for some time and focus on another problem and deal with it later. I learnt this lesson at the Olympiad. I took on a problem that was difficult to solve but I didn’t let it go. It took me a while and there was very little time left to solve other questions. But if I did let it go for later, I could have got a far better rank than 17th.