mathematics

R. P. Paranjpye

R. P. Paranjpye is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand R. P. Paranjpye rather than just read about it. In short: Sir Raghunath Purushottam Paranjpye (16 February 1876 – 6 May 1966) also known as Wrangler Paranjpye was an Indian mathematician and diplomat who served as the 1st High Commissioner of India to Australia from 1945 to 1947. He became the first Indian to achieve the coveted title of Senior Wrangler at the University of Cambridge.

Key takeaways

R. P. Paranjpye belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect R. P. Paranjpye to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of R. P. Paranjpye from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sir Raghunath Purushottam Paranjpye (16 February 1876 – 6 May 1966) also known as Wrangler Paranjpye was an Indian mathematician and diplomat who served as the 1st High Commissioner of India to Australia from 1945 to 1947. He became the first Indian to achieve the coveted title of Senior Wrangler at the University of Cambridge. Later in life he also served as the Vice Chancellor of many Indian universities.

Early life and education Raghunath Paranjpye was born in Murdi near Dapoli on the coastal Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra to a Chitpavan Brahmin family. He was educated at Maratha high school, Bombay, Fergusson College, Pune and Bombay University before entering St John's College, Cambridge in 1896. He graduated B.A. as senior Wrangler in 1899. Paranjpye was elected a Fellow of St John's College in November 1901 and stayed as such until 1907, but returned to India to become a professor of mathematics at Fergusson College in 1902. One of the earliest Indian documentary film makers, H. S. Bhatavdekar, made silent documentary films, Return of Wrangler Paranjpye (1902) and Delhi Durbar of Lord Curzon (1903), featuring R. P.

Career In 1907, R. P. became the first librarian of the Indian Mathematical Society at Fergusson College. He became the college's principal, and stayed in that position for two decades, until 1926. Subsequently, he consecutively became the Vice-Chancellor of Bombay University and University of Lucknow In 1921, the University of Calcutta awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree. Sir Raghunath was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1912 representing the University of Bombay constituency. He was again elected to the enlarged Council as per the Government of India Act 1919. As part of Diarchy in Bombay Presidency, Paranjpye was appointed as the first Minister for Education and he served in the position till 1923. He was unable to get elected in the 1923 elections losing to M. R. Jayakar of the Swaraj Party. Paranjpye received a knighthood from the colonial government in 1942. In the three years (1944–1947) preceding India's independence from the British Raj, the British government appointed him India's High Commissioner to Australia. In the days of the British Raj, there was some criticism that R. P. had often appeared on the side of British authorities at a time of nationalist ferment in India. He was the founder of the Indian Rationalist Association in Chennai (then Madras) in 1949, and remained its President for many years. His autobiography, 84 Not Out, appeared in 1961. Acharya Atre has devoted one full chapter in his autobiography to Wrangler Paranjpye and has written about his fame all over the country and how because of him students from outside Maharashtra came to study at Ferguson College.

Family His younger brother, Hari Purushottam Paranjpye was a well known agriculturist of his time. In 1991, the Government of India awarded R. P.'s daughter Shakuntala Paranjpye a Padma Bhushan title in recognition of her work in the field of family planning. She was also a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha in the 1960s. In 2006, the Government of India awarded R. P.'s granddaughter Sai Paranjpye a Padma Bhushan title in recognition of her artistic talents. She is a film director and a scriptwriter.

Works Dhondo Keshav Karve: A Sketch, Poona, Arya Bhushan Press, 1915. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, The Aryabhushan Press, 1918. The Crux of the Indian Problem. Watts, 1931. The National Liberal Federation, Presidential address. Allahabad, 1939. Vithal Hari Barve, 1939. 84 Not Out, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 1961. Rationalism In Practice: The Kamala Lectures, Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2006. ISBN 1-4286-4446-6.

References

R.P. Paranjpye, 84 Not Out, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 1961. Autobiography. Wrangler Raghunath Purushottam Paranjpye by Dr Anant Deshmukh, 2011. Biography. John Kenneth Galbraith, Ambassador's Journal Publisher, Houghton Mifflin Company (1969) Language: English ISBN 0-241-01619-3 ISBN 978-0241016190

External links R. P. Paranjpye at IMDb First Indian Wrangler : Raghunath Purushottam Paranjape from Dapoli

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with R. P. Paranjpye

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what R. P. Paranjpye claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to R. P. Paranjpye before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about R. P. Paranjpye ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of R. P. Paranjpye

In research: R. P. Paranjpye appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses R. P. Paranjpye in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: R. P. Paranjpye is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1876 births, 1966 deaths, 19th-century Indian mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for R. P. Paranjpye outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study R. P. Paranjpye in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what R. P. Paranjpye means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain R. P. Paranjpye out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is R. P. Paranjpye in simple terms?

Why does R. P. Paranjpye matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study R. P. Paranjpye?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on R. P. Paranjpye.