Lucknow trip was a joyous one. We went on bus to Lucknow. In Lucknow, we visited imam bada and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar park. The places were beautiful and gave us fresh memories to remember. We were amazed by some of the facts about these places. Many of us took sel­fies in Lucknow. Through these pics, we could re-live the good moments we spent in Lucknow. We also could not forget the delicious food we had in Lucknow. So, it was a nice experience going to Lucknow!!!

Consider S = 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8…..

Ok. If the answer is not infinity which may be by some invisible hand, atleast the sum should be positive. See ‘S’; all terms are positive. So the sum is positive. Right? Again a ‘no’.

How a double ‘no’???Are we being played by number theorists? Is this some pseudo-science? It can’t be negative. Never negative!! So let’s leave this sum which looks too tricky. Let me write something else. I always revered Ramanujan as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. The sheer genius of Ramanujan in number theory always fascinated me. The great man often ignored proofs for many of the derivations. It’s like this; a genius looks at a problem, the path looks obvious, so he skips the steps, reaches the solution, but the mathematicians are still pondering on the left conjectures. So yes Ramanujan also did interesting mathematics in the field of infinite summation and the next statement shocks me!!! Ramanujan’s method for summation of numbers, points to the fact ‘S’= -1/12. Ramanujan? Did he not study basic formula n(n+1)/2? Or those divergent series stuff? But one more eminent mathematician’s work went into proving ‘S’=-1/12. This was “Riemann”. Yes he is well known for zeta functions and reputed as one of the best mathematicians of recent times; but -1/12??

With such great minds saying ‘S’=-1/12, I am now skeptical. Can the sum be -1/12? Can we try a method to prove this?

Let S = 1+2+3+4+5+6+7

Consider S1= 1-1+1-1+1-1+1-1…..

Now, this sum should be 0 or 1 based on number of natural numbers taken. If infinite numbers are even, S1=0, if odd S1=1. But, Riemann zeta function gives it a value of ½. Mathematical community too agrees that the sum is ½. How? At first instance, it feels like the whole community of mathematicians are playing a prank. It is like celebrating April fools day! But yes, serious mathematical work went into the proof. If you are interested to know, please go through Ramanujan’s summation principles and zeta function. Let me try a simple proof avoiding all the complexity.

S1=1-1+1-1+1-1+1…..

1-S1=1-(1-1+1-1+1-1+1…)

1-S1=1-1+1-1+1-1+1…..

1-S1=S1

So, S1=1/2

Several objections can be put like why not the alternative solution of 0 or 1? But as stated before, we need much powerful tools in mathematics like zeta functions to come to unique solution of ½. For now, we could agree S1=1/2.

Let S2=1-2+3-4+5-6+7…..

So, S2=1-2+3-4+5-6+7-8+9…..

S2=    1-2+3-4+5-6+7-8……. I have shifted RHS by a unit position

+ 2S2=1-1+1-1+1-1+1…..

Hence, 2S2=S1

Therefore, S2=1/4

Let’s come back to our sum of infinite numbers.

S=1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9…..

S2=1-2+3-4+5-6+7-8+9….

So, S-S2=4+8+12+16+20…..

Hence, S-S2=4(1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8….)

S-S2=4S

So, -S2=3S

And, S=-S2/3=-1/12

Amazing!!! Our sum is negative! It looks like god plays with numbers in a bizarre way. This shocking result is not known to many non-mathematicians. Number-theorists call it “One of the most remarkable formulae in science”. This summation is a secret of mathematics kept away from layman. Further, it is interesting to know ‘S’=-1/12 has been used to derive the equations in “string theory”, quantum field theory and in some complex analytics.

So now you know sum of positives can be negative. We knew much less during schooling about summation of numbers.  The result teaches how universe can be more complicated than we think and how we need to keep an open mind to learn more.

By: K Prakash Raju

For all those who are not mindful of what 3D printing is, here is an elaboration. 3-D printer is an electronic device which can be used to build up anything and everything; from pizzas to cookies and cakes, from shoes to coffee mugs, from kid’s toys to the keys of our house, simply everything. This technology has been widely used in prosthetics, and it turns out to produce more efficient and reasonable mechanical limbs for
the physically disabled compared to the traditional manufacturing methods. Dubai is planning to 3-D print an entire office building, and almost everything inside it. Isn’t it MAGICAL? Actually,there’s much more! All you require is a 3-D printer along with the design code of the product you want to build, which is widely available on the web or can be designed on different software available online.

In my view, 3-D printing is plausibly the next ‘BIG THING’. Lately, this technology has started penetrating different areas of business. It’s already perceived to be a $3 billion industry and has been growing rapidly. 3-D printing technology has its own share of opportunities
and obstacles.It has the power to revolutionize the manufacturing industry as a whole. t has profound business prospects, but at the same time, some of them seem to be threatening.

The opportunities posed by 3-D printing are conspicuous while the obstacles presented by this idea are equally appalling. Just imagine, a layman would have the power to manufacture a working gun at his home. It’s difficult to imagine the consequences. The crime rate might shoot
up exponentially. Another major flaw being discussed as a barrier to the business prospects of 3-D printers is the violation of the IP powers and the licensing deals; recently, the 3-D Systems acquired Gentle Giant Ltd., which owned the licensing rights to toy franchise such as Hobble, The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, Alien, and Star Wars. It’s predicted that these companies may lose as much as $100 billion to licensing or IP powers, with the popularity of 3-D printers. This might generate an uncontrolled black market, compared to the way the internet challenged the movie and music industry for copyrights, trademarks and illegal downloads. In the pharmaceutical industry, a researcher at the University
of Glasgow is developing a 3-D printer which will enable patients to print their own medicines, with the help of a chemical blueprint that they’ll get from the pharmacy or on the web. But this too has a darker side, as this technology can lead to the printing of some real fatal drugs, anything from cocaine to ricin, without any government control.

Any innovation comes up with its own set of whites and blacks just as 3-D printing. In my opinion, we should tap the potential business prospects of 3-D printing, also keeping in mind its darker ramifications.

———

Kartik Bajaj

MBA 2015-17

New day, new hopes, and a new company (a startup); DeliveryChef.in.

You are told a day before your internship begins to decide the venue for the first meeting with your colleague. GIP mall it is. You reach the place well in advance so as not to leave a bad impression on the very first day of your internship. Well, life as they say, has some different plans for you. You keep waiting for an hour for your colleague and of course your boss or your manager I should say. Aditya, my colleague; is pursuing his MBA from DOMS, IIT Roorkee. Oh, before that I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Ketan Bagga, an MBA student at IIT Kanpur having a prior experience of around a year in the IT industry, obviously as a software engineer. Coming back to the story, Aditya greets me with a smile and a handshake, which is the first pleasing thing of my day. And bangs me with this huge surprise when he says that no one else is going to join us now and we are going to do this internship with all the coordination and communication on phone calls with the company’s only office located in Mumbai.

Expectations Vs Reality

“He must be kidding”, was my first reaction at that time. But, unfortunately not, which I realized when his phone rang (with the idea’s official ringtone) and I was praying inside, “Oh God, aap humein ullu mat banao” (Oh God, don’t fool us around). Anyway, on the other side of the phone, was Mr. Sachin Kinny, The Business Manager, welcoming both of us with his warm wishes straight from his heart. Wait, “straight from his heart”? No! straight from the Head Office in Mumbai, I should say!

The phone call lasted for an hour and by the end of it, the profile of Marketing and Business Development was turned into Core Sales, the office hours were replaced by convenient timings, the office building was replaced by the entire Delhi/NCR and last but not the least, the expectations of sitting in an AC were instantly replaced by the rigorous travelling in the summers of Delhi. And on the top of that, it was announced that there will be no travelling allowances or any other amenities be provided to such excellent interns (at least one of them was excellent).  But that is fair enough from a startup’s perspective, I believe now.

Initial Struggle

So the initial few days went in hustle and bustle while we had no clue what exactly we were doing except exploring different restaurants and their cuisines in Delhi. I’d be honest in confessing something here, that I faced almost 40-50 failures in a row in the first week itself. Some restaurants owners won’t even ask you for a glass of water, while others would candidly say that they are too busy for a salesman like you. At times you’ve to talk to the waiters and convince them for a meeting with the manager, and mostly they’ll hand over to you a visiting card of their restaurant (which is good for nothing, I realized later on). Soon, I figured out that if you got to sell an idea, or a service concept, then the first thing would be to believe in it yourself. Thereafter, present it as if you were the one who is behind it. As if, it is the next big thing which is going to transform the industry. And last but not the least; generate a trust with the help of your own credentials alongside your other reputed clients you added already.

Learning to Adapt

The next phase comprised of preparing a database from the existing competitors, then calling the restaurant owners randomly, asking them for their mail ids, try scheduling a meeting and fortunately if you get their time, make sure that it’s worth it for both of you. The process of following up your clients, almost every single day till they are convinced or they seriously block your number; is very important from the sales perspective. You ought to pitch in at the right time, to the right person. While the negotiation power lies with your client, the negotiation skills must lie at your side; only then would you be able to crack the appropriate deals.

Targets in Sales

Last but not the least, let’s talk about targets! Sales without targets would be like sky without the stars; incomplete. Meeting these targets is never an easy task (you usually realize this reality a little late), especially for a novice intern in a new domain. Yes, it’ll be frustrating sometimes, but might be exciting the very next moment, depending on the deals you make or break. All you need with you is domain knowledge, the analysis of competitors’ strategies, the never say die attitude, and a little bit of luck on your side. However, all this would work only after you keep your ego aside. People would shut doors on your face, they would disconnect your calls without listening to your name, they won’t trust you(unless you’re working for a big brand), they would literally be cruel while negotiating for commissions (or sharing of profits), they won’t value your time and it doesn’t matter to them where you come from. The only thing which they mean is pure business, and how much money you can bring to them in the shortest period of time.

The Saga Ends

Summing it all up, I’d say that an MBA in Marketing would be incomplete without getting your hands dirty in real time sales. At the end of 2 months as a summer intern, neither do I have a big brand name to boast of, nor do I have a highly reputed niche profile with some financial services which most of the MBA students would dream of. But I’d still admit that working for a startup is an exciting task to take up and I enjoyed the work I did during my internship. There is surely a lot of learning involved which can be termed as “self-management” and you get to see a completely different side of the business by not sitting in an air-conditioned office, rather grilling yourself on field. I’m sure my experience would help me in more than one way in the upcoming years. And after the completion of this different kind of internship, I surely feel open towards working in different domains and ready to take up a challenging profile which offers me more of freedom than money!

–

Ketan Bagga

M.B.A. 2013-2015