Mathematical Inception 2026

Mathematics becomes truly beautiful when students are encouraged to think, question, and discover on their own. Mr. Elanchearan is a Ph.D. scholar in the Department of Mathematics at Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He is a MTTS alumnus and I have met him for the first time in a workshop on Harmonic Analysis. Three years ago, he initiated a programme called Mathematical Inception, a one-week programme for students who had completed their 10th standard. This year, I was fortunate to be part of this programme as a mentor.

The effort put in by Elanchearan and his team to make this event successful is truly worth mentioning. This workshop was more about how to learn mathematics rather than what to learn. Every aspect of the programme was carefully planned and discussed by the speakers each day — from the way the content was delivered, to the shuffling of discussion groups, to the choice of examples that encouraged students to make their own observations and eventually prove them on their own. The following were the speakers for this year's programme:

The following were the mentors for this year's programme. 

Mr. Sajin Vincent A.W. (Research Scholar, IIT Indore)

Mr. Aniruddha Deshmukh (Research Scholar, IIT Indore)

Mr. Shubham Alte (Research Scholar, IIT Indore)

Mr. Ganapathy K. (Research Scholar, IIT Madras)

Mr. Harith

Every speaker ensured that all the students understood the concepts being discussed. After every two classes, the students were divided into groups of four and encouraged to discuss the topics among themselves. The speakers and mentors guided the students through hints instead of directly answering their doubts, which greatly encouraged independent and logical thinking. The students gradually began to come up with their own conjectures and were even able to prove them.

Another remarkable aspect of the programme was the continuous attention given to every student’s progress. At the end of each day, the progress of every student was carefully analysed to ensure that no one was left behind. By the end of the programme, a remarkable change could be seen in the students in terms of their confidence, logical thinking, and love for mathematics.