Conducting a plenary session on “The past, present and future of Mathematics in China and India,” Dr Yau said, "Indian statisticians are among the best in the world and Chinese have also learnt from them."

He stressed that "role models have played a very important role in the growth of mathematics." Regarding the fear syndrome in Indian students for math Dr Yau said, "Teaching methodology should be more adaptive for students and should be supplemented with fun." He said that future challenges in mathematics lied in geometry, which is weak, and partial differential equations.

In his hour-long talk, Dr Yau dwelled at length into the history of mathematics in the two countries and said that the major interaction between Asian cultures happened between 300 BC to 200 AD among Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Indians and Chinese with Da Yeuhzi being the centre for such an exchange.

Referring to Vedic Literature and Upanishads Yau said that "people knew everything already and it is now found that one verse is equivalent to a thousand pages" he showed that the 'Falcon altar' and 'Apastamba Trapezoid altars' used then were proof of the people's knowledge of math. Tao said the first number system in India functioned without the number 9 which was advanced to the Brahmi system that appeared in the caves of Central India while the Chinese system operated without the number zero yet it was effective and non ambiguous.

Chinese mathematics, Yau said, depended on I-Ching: Book of changes that used symbols and created the concept of Yin and Yang that explained almost everything in daily life and magic squares. Stating that "numbers determine everything in life," Yau went on to explain the Chinese system of calculations using Ivory and bamboo sticks. Yau sadi, "Refining the calendar drove ancient Chinese to look into equations of undetermined type." Mentioning about modern India Yau said, "Ramunajan was the most original mathematician who changed our views on modular forms and many of his ideas still need to be explored further." He also mentioned the contributions of modern day mathematicians namely: S Minaksisundaram, Raghunathan, Narsimhan, Abhyankar, Kulkarni and others in shaping present day math.