Ever wondered how the search giant finds the best matches for what you are looking on the web? You might be knowing that it uses some sort of page ranking algorithm to rank content on the web, and finds you the highest ranked content that matches your search. But a little peek into the details of the algorithm would make you think how an idea could be so original and successful, although everything about it seems obvious after its proposed.
Google uses the PageRank algorithm, developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, to calculate the importance of pages on the web. The central idea of the algorithm is the fact that the number of pages that link to a particular page is in direct proportion to the conceived importance or rank of the page. Seems obvious, doesn't it? :)
Read this for a little more detail about the algorithm. The mathematical ideas are quite lucidly explained. If you do not want to go through the maths part, you can skip them happily; the ideas underlying the maths are discussed clearly and one is sure to understand the idea well.
Checkpagerank gives you an approximation of the PageRank of a URL, on a scale of 0-10, 10 being the highest. Type in a URL and have some fun.
Its pretty obvious which URL has a PageRank of 10. :)
Unfortunately, the present blog has a PageRank of zero. Folks, its time to unite and fight for a cause : link to my blog as much as you can !!!
Friday, December 8, 2006
Sunday, December 3, 2006
"My School"
Sorry readers, this post is not about my school. Its about a TV program aired on National Geographic in India. (I am not sure if the same program is aired by Nat Geo all round the world.)
In this series that covers schools of remote villages in India, each episode is a narration by a small child about his/her daily life - what the daily routine entails, about his/her family and friends, and about his/her school.
The first episode I saw, some days back, was about a child in a village located amidst the mountains of Garhwal. The boy started his day with brushing his teeth with the cool and clear water of the stream flowing near his house. In the cold morning weather, he gathers his school bag and bids his mother goodbye, who's sporting a toothy smile. On the way, he passes by his friend's house, calls out to her, and both of them walk up to the school which is some distance away. He loves his school. At school, the children start the day with a prayer. One can see some children wearing torn shoes but still smiling. The boy likes Mathematics and English - "Maths because it teaches him to count and English because it would enable him to communicate with the external world". He wants to become a teacher when he grows up.
Yesterday, I was surfing through channels on the TV when I came across another episode of the same Nat Geo series. It was about a girl in a remote village in the Gajapati district of Orissa. I had missed the first half of the episode. But in the rest of the episode, the girl was describing what they learnt at school, and I found it really great. The children learnt to identify the letters of the Oriya alphabet in quite an innovative manner. Archery is one skill thats been practised through generations in the tribe. The children use bows and arrows to shoot at a target, which has the letters of the Oriya alphabet written on it. The children stand in a line, and the teacher calls out the letter that the children have to shoot at. This way they learn archery as well as the Oriya alphabet, in one of the most innovative and fun ways possible. At school, the children are also taught about the market trade. Tribals and villages from remote places usually earn a size-able part of their living by selling food products and handicrafts at the nearest town market. So at school, the children play games that makes them learn how to trade stuff, which is again a fun way of imparting education. The girl also talks about her family - consisting of a loving father, a hard-working mother who "never went to school herself, but makes sure that the girl is educated", and a very young kid brother.
Though I have seen only two episodes of this Nat Geo series, I have to admit that I'm impressed by it. Commendable work done by the crew surely!
Its great to know that people in the most under-developed of places even have come to realize the necessity of education, and most importantly education for girls too. Its good to see how education could be imparted the fun way, as a result of which children love to go to school everyday; unlike the monotony of the system in city schools which makes children invent excuses to bunk school. And in my humble opinion, "inventing excuses" would not exactly be categorized as "exercise for the brain" !!!
In this series that covers schools of remote villages in India, each episode is a narration by a small child about his/her daily life - what the daily routine entails, about his/her family and friends, and about his/her school.
The first episode I saw, some days back, was about a child in a village located amidst the mountains of Garhwal. The boy started his day with brushing his teeth with the cool and clear water of the stream flowing near his house. In the cold morning weather, he gathers his school bag and bids his mother goodbye, who's sporting a toothy smile. On the way, he passes by his friend's house, calls out to her, and both of them walk up to the school which is some distance away. He loves his school. At school, the children start the day with a prayer. One can see some children wearing torn shoes but still smiling. The boy likes Mathematics and English - "Maths because it teaches him to count and English because it would enable him to communicate with the external world". He wants to become a teacher when he grows up.
Yesterday, I was surfing through channels on the TV when I came across another episode of the same Nat Geo series. It was about a girl in a remote village in the Gajapati district of Orissa. I had missed the first half of the episode. But in the rest of the episode, the girl was describing what they learnt at school, and I found it really great. The children learnt to identify the letters of the Oriya alphabet in quite an innovative manner. Archery is one skill thats been practised through generations in the tribe. The children use bows and arrows to shoot at a target, which has the letters of the Oriya alphabet written on it. The children stand in a line, and the teacher calls out the letter that the children have to shoot at. This way they learn archery as well as the Oriya alphabet, in one of the most innovative and fun ways possible. At school, the children are also taught about the market trade. Tribals and villages from remote places usually earn a size-able part of their living by selling food products and handicrafts at the nearest town market. So at school, the children play games that makes them learn how to trade stuff, which is again a fun way of imparting education. The girl also talks about her family - consisting of a loving father, a hard-working mother who "never went to school herself, but makes sure that the girl is educated", and a very young kid brother.
Though I have seen only two episodes of this Nat Geo series, I have to admit that I'm impressed by it. Commendable work done by the crew surely!
Its great to know that people in the most under-developed of places even have come to realize the necessity of education, and most importantly education for girls too. Its good to see how education could be imparted the fun way, as a result of which children love to go to school everyday; unlike the monotony of the system in city schools which makes children invent excuses to bunk school. And in my humble opinion, "inventing excuses" would not exactly be categorized as "exercise for the brain" !!!
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