The math student

N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor of Infosys

NR Narayana Murthy needs no introduction. What he’s accomplished at Infosys is folklore. What is not well known is that the Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor of Infosys loves math—its preciseness, its problems, its people... Even at 62, he’s a student, he tells Kunal N Talger

Four years ago, NR Narayana Murthy sat with son Rohan in a classroom at Cornell University. The Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies, who would later become a trustee of the academic institution in Ithaca, New York, was keen on a session of automata theory.

Very simply, automata theory is a mathematical study of machines and myriad information models that enable machines to function. On that day in 2003, renowned mathematics professor, Dexter Kozen, held forth as the class of 20-year-olds like Rohan kept up with the master. In no time, the students’ frenetic pace and elan in problem-solving were evident to Murthy Sr, as was the professor’s edge in the discipline.

The Infosys co-founder kept pace for a while, but was soon outrun. "Only about 10% of students take that honours course; the rest take the normal one. So, the standard was very high," he recalls. "The professor was moving fast, but these kids had no difficulty answering his questions, writing down and appreciating the details...I was completely lost." That, he says, is the beauty of mathematics.

The automata sojourn may not have been his finest moment, but the 62-year-old’s fetish for mathematics is undiminished. "It is the most precise, concise and unambiguous way of communicating ideas," Murthy asserts. "You write an equation—and everybody concerned understands the same stuff."

He is emphatic about the nature of his tastes. It is popular mathematics he thrives on, as opposed to the exclusive study undertaken by mathematicians who are dedicated to analyzing and solving the unsolved. He also likes to go deep and explore the lives of mathematicians. Murthy prefers to approach mathematical problems in a manner that laypersons can appreciate, understand and use in some form. One such area that has struck his fancy recently is ‘phynance,’ which basically combines physics and finance. This field has seen rocket scientists venture into the mathematical theory of finance and investment.

Lifelong passion

This Bangalorean’s initiation to the subject was no different from that of any school student’s acquaintance with math. Everybody begins from zero. But the love has lingered for the electrical engineer from Mysore University, through his post-graduation at IIT Kanpur, the experiences in IIM Ahmedabad to Europe, even after he married Sudha and started a family, the Infosys years—and now, in retirement.

Murthy calls himself an absolute novice, but there is a deep logic to his leanings toward mathematics. Think about what melody is to a musician, what timing is to a batsman, and character to a method actor. Mathematics is the same for an exceptional engineer: it is core apparatus. And so it has been with Murthy. "The good thing with engineers is they use branches of mathematics, physics and occasionally chemistry to solve real-life problems," notes Murthy. "You can apply game theory to create a strategy for handling a situation where there are many competitors. With simulations, you can analyze what an enterprise will be in different circumstances. With control theory, one can study the performance of any process using negative feedback."

It has also manifested in the value system of Infosys, an enterprise whose founders were engineers. ("In God we trust. Everybody else brings data to the table.") There is a spirit of finding solutions in every sense. In more tangible terms, Murthy still engages—through reading and problem solving—with the science and history of math. His bookshelves vouch for that, as does his quiet affection for the masters of the analytical craft.

The numbers game

If anything, the automata class at Cornell confirmed one of mathematics’ oldest truths: it is a pursuit for the young. This isn’t something Murthy disputes. History is replete with mathematicians eager to produce that great theorem and own works before they turn 30. "Artists become better as they age. Whether you look at Shakespeare or Beethoven, they became better as they grew older. On the other hand, there is a theory that most mathematicians and scientists did their seminal work when they were in their twenties and perhaps thirties," he observes.

Murthy cites the case of Evariste Galois, a French mathematician he admires and empathizes with in equal measure. "Such people brought unique insights at a pretty early age. Reading about their work is extremely inspiring. They also suffered a lot." Before Galois turned 20, his work paved the way for radical advances in abstract algebra. However, shortly after he crossed 20, he died in a duel—the cause of which had been his political leanings. The Galois Connection and the Galois Theory are his legacies.

"Whether you take French mathematicians like Descartes, Laplace, Galois and Legendre, or German ones like Hilbert and Cohn-Vossen, you can see how mathematics is at the foundation of the European conscience," avers Murthy, also pointing to how European immigrants carried the culture of science to America.

The Infoscion believes that the influences in one’s formative years, rather than larger geographic forces and heritage become the foundation of one’s passion for any subject. It is evident from his own school years in Mysore. He attributes part of it to nature, but mostly to the way he was nurtured. "There was an environment at home," he says. Coming from a family of teachers, Murthy’s father, N Rama Rao, taught mathematics, physics and English in a school. As a boy, Murthy drew heavily from his immediate surroundings. For one, there was western classical music on All India Radio, something that appealed to his father. And then, there were the conversations centered on math and science. "You just listened to him... in some way you absorbed by sitting at a distance, listening to conversations among his friends. I’d read his books when he was not at home."

Over the next few years, this zest extended to his peer group in school. "This was

Math is the most precise way of communicating ideas. You write an equation, and every- body sees it the same way

1961 Mysore—an old place nobody thought anything would come out from," he smiles. "But we didn’t do too badly." Murthy doesn’t name his peers, but one friend went on to head R&D at Halliburton, another became a famous biology professor in the US, a third became a smart investment banker, and he himself took meaningful strides in computer science a good decade before founding Infosys.

His beliefs on teaching and peer environment may have begun as bare thoughts in the early years, but he would revisit them during his stint in Paris in 1971. Murthy landed on those shores with the opportunity to build an operating system. This was on the back of a paper that he and Professor JG Krishnayya of IIM (A) authored on information retrieval for a conference in Italy. "The chairman of the conference session was a senior manager of the company that offered me a job. It came by telex," he laughs.

During this phase in the 1970s, Murthy taught math and physics to students. The youngsters were preparing for admission to the Grandes écoles (France’s higher-education establishments). They were a revelation. He remembers the high standards of school education there, and still holds them in great regard. "France has perhaps the finest baccalaureate system in the world. It has the most advanced high school and pre-college system in the world. These kids were extremely smart." That experience with the youngsters also turned out to be another sojourn with math.

"Once something becomes part of your nature—and in the case of mathematics, once you have developed a certain attitude of looking at data, modelling, using statistics, control theory—you behave in a natural manner," he says. "It becomes a part of you. I don’t need to make an effort."

Infynity and beyond

By all means, try this at home: say the multiplication tables aloud for all numbers up to 49. Narayana Murthy still reels them off without batting an eyelid. It is child-like, but never easy. "You simply had to know all the tables. There was nothing extraordinary. It is all practice—I wonder if school teachers have gone easy on it today," he smiles, after this writer stumbles at multiplication tables for 16.

The foundations for the Mysore 1961 batch were firm. Not surprisingly, Murthy and his classmates solved complex problems in the mind—by just looking at them. Combinatorics (permutations and combinations) were a personal favourite. What has been more satisfying for him is the leap in applying math in the Infosys years, and thereafter. "My interest today is in using well-established mathematics for corporate work," he says.

The personal philosophy in the Infosys context was simple. "In business, where time is the most precious resource we have, mathematics is a wonderful tool to effectively use time" Secondly, the creation of quantifiable key-performance indicators (KPI) lends itself to mathematical analysis. This enables an objective and measurable criteria to measure the success of an enterprise. "Comfort with numbers and the ability to express ideas using statistics and mathematics have come handy," he feels. It has fostered a positive culture, evident in say Infosys’ earnings call. After all, it falls in the realm of predictive analysis.

Beyond Infosys, mathematics has been Murthy’s means of mental fitness. "The human mind is very flexible. You can stretch it so much," he says. In some ways, it explains the stamina of India Inc’s marathon man. And given that math is something for young minds, it promises to also keep this man forever young.

Kunal N Talgeri

Courtesy: http://www.outlookbusiness.com/