Mathematicians coming of age to become the most sought after professionals
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In
recent times, IBM Research has been using mathematics to investigate
some uniquely Indian problems like low-cost traffic speed analysis and
standardisation of addresses.
Sequencing
a person's genome is an expensive and complicated exercise, but the
benefits can be enormous if done well and quickly. You could calculate
the risk of getting major diseases, develop new drugs, or provide
targeted therapies. But because of the cost and difficulty, routine
gene-sequencing has not started in a big way in India. Strand Life Sciences,
a Bangalore-based life sciences company, decided recently to test the
waters with a pilot project. It has sequenced the genome of about 20
people, and hopes to start a commercial service soon.
Such a service would have been unthinkable even two years ago. To sequence a genome quickly, the DNA has to be chopped up into bits and the pieces sequenced separately. Assembling these pieces of information into a meaningful whole is difficult, and requires special resources and mathematical techniques.
Instrumentation technology has advanced rapidly in recent times, but some of the most dramatic improvements have been in mathematical techniques.
And these have resulted in a precipitous drop in the cost of gene sequencing, which is now set to make a high impact on our lives. "Genome data is very different from other data," says Ramesh Hariharan, chief technology officer, Strand Life Sciences. "But algorithms and special mathematical techniques to deal with it have improved rapidly in the last two years."
The Plus Factor
It is a quiet revolution happening away from public view, but it is going to transform technology and business. As mathematical techniques improve, many day-to-day problems are being solved mathematically, thereby helping companies and governments take better decisions and forecast trends more accurately. Some of it is led by big data analytics companies, but the trend is deeper and more widespread than big data. A data-rich world is infinitely interesting to applied mathematicians, as they look for beautiful patterns and striking correlations among the huge amounts of data being collected every day. Says Bernard Meyerson, vice-president, IBM Research: "The magic of mathematics is the only way to discover useful information from so much data."
In recent times, IBM Research has been using mathematics to investigate some uniquely Indian problems like low-cost traffic speed analysis and standardisation of addresses. Across the world, IBM employs arguably the largest pool of mathematicians in a private organisation. They look at the world in a distinctly mathematical way, breaking down conventional business problems into equations that can be solved by modern computers. IBM is representative of a larger trend in the technology world, as private companies use mathematics increasingly to solve a variety of problems from customer acquisition to predicting infant mortality.
In the last few years, IBM has invested $15 billion in companies with such capabilities. During this period, its engineers have applied this capability to a mindboggling variety of situations. They have used mathematics to predict failures in semiconductor plants, plan marketing campaigns, understand visitor behaviour on websites, manage public water supply, and spot infections in infants well before the symptoms manifest. Apart from core industrial areas, IBM also researches topics like astrophysics, genomics and climate change because its mathematicians have seen fascinating connections between natural phenomena and its core businesses.
Such a service would have been unthinkable even two years ago. To sequence a genome quickly, the DNA has to be chopped up into bits and the pieces sequenced separately. Assembling these pieces of information into a meaningful whole is difficult, and requires special resources and mathematical techniques.
Instrumentation technology has advanced rapidly in recent times, but some of the most dramatic improvements have been in mathematical techniques.
And these have resulted in a precipitous drop in the cost of gene sequencing, which is now set to make a high impact on our lives. "Genome data is very different from other data," says Ramesh Hariharan, chief technology officer, Strand Life Sciences. "But algorithms and special mathematical techniques to deal with it have improved rapidly in the last two years."
The Plus Factor
It is a quiet revolution happening away from public view, but it is going to transform technology and business. As mathematical techniques improve, many day-to-day problems are being solved mathematically, thereby helping companies and governments take better decisions and forecast trends more accurately. Some of it is led by big data analytics companies, but the trend is deeper and more widespread than big data. A data-rich world is infinitely interesting to applied mathematicians, as they look for beautiful patterns and striking correlations among the huge amounts of data being collected every day. Says Bernard Meyerson, vice-president, IBM Research: "The magic of mathematics is the only way to discover useful information from so much data."
In recent times, IBM Research has been using mathematics to investigate some uniquely Indian problems like low-cost traffic speed analysis and standardisation of addresses. Across the world, IBM employs arguably the largest pool of mathematicians in a private organisation. They look at the world in a distinctly mathematical way, breaking down conventional business problems into equations that can be solved by modern computers. IBM is representative of a larger trend in the technology world, as private companies use mathematics increasingly to solve a variety of problems from customer acquisition to predicting infant mortality.
In the last few years, IBM has invested $15 billion in companies with such capabilities. During this period, its engineers have applied this capability to a mindboggling variety of situations. They have used mathematics to predict failures in semiconductor plants, plan marketing campaigns, understand visitor behaviour on websites, manage public water supply, and spot infections in infants well before the symptoms manifest. Apart from core industrial areas, IBM also researches topics like astrophysics, genomics and climate change because its mathematicians have seen fascinating connections between natural phenomena and its core businesses.
