Editorial

It is a common observation that year after year, although the students score better in chemistry when compared to physics, the number of students who take up chemistry in colleges are much less.

Inorganic chemistry, organic and physical chemistry are rated in ascending order for the difficulty of the subjects even by students who take up premedical groups. Why then is a subject difficult? In physics, even in a topic like Newton's laws of motion, the possibilities of making problems combining various topics can be very large. However in physical chemistry, the questions are straight forward. It is the difficulty of calculations, even without the twists and turns as it is given in physics, that makes physical chemistry tough.

The basic problem is the handicap of not having taken mathematics as a subject. An introductory common co'-"se in calculus, statistics, etc., that is, mathematics for science students, as applied to physics and chemistry with plenty of examples from these subjects will change the situation.

After all there are books on mathematics for engineers, mathematics for economists or mathematics for MBA students. It is the way the examples are treated that is different. A course of applied mathematics with a totally different approach could be the solution if the potentialities of our chemistry students have to be developed. Basic mathematics should be the core subject for any branch of science.