Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Manjil Saikia is an Assistant Professor in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences division of the School of Arts and Sciences at Ahmedabad University. He earned his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Vienna, Austria (2019). Before that, he got a postgraduate diploma from the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy (2015). His post-PhD experience includes a three-year postdoctoral position at Cardiff University, UK (2019-2022).

Professor Saikia enjoys research and teaching mathematics to students at all levels. He is particularly interested in mentoring undergraduate students in research. He has a very strong interest in mathematics outreach and has been an editor of the online bilingual magazine, Gonit Sora (https://gonitsora.com) (which he co-founded) since its inception in 2011. He has also been actively involved with the Assam Academy of Mathematics (AAM) since his student years and was an executive committee member of AAM (2020 - 2024) and is the Journal Manager of the Journal of AAM (https://jaam.aamonline.org.in). He likes to read books, mostly about history, politics, and science.

Since January 2024, Professor Saikia is an elected member of the Indian National Young Academy of Science (a part of the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi).

Professor Saikia is interested in combinatorics broadly, which also includes some amount of number theory and theoretical computer science.

In combinatorics, he works on enumerating alternating sign matrices and plane partitions. The enumeration problems are typically solved using techniques emerging from a variety of fields, including statistical physics and representation theory. As an offshoot of this work, he is also interested in tiling problems and matching theory. In addition, he is very interested in integer partitions and understanding various partition statistics and exploring their combinatorial structures.

In number theory, he is interested in understanding the odd perfect number problem and exploring various generalized perfect numbers.

In theoretical computer science, he is interested in understanding combinatorial algorithms. Additionally, he is interested in finding algorithms to understand the arithmetic properties of different classes of integer partitions.

Peer-reviewed Papers

• Manjil P. Saikia, Abhishek Sarma and James A. Sellers, Arithmetic Properties Modulo Powers of 2 for Overpartition k-Tuples with Odd Parts, Journal of the Ramanujan Mathematical Society, 40, 2, 2025, 107-123.
• Pankaj Jyoti Mahanta and Manjil P. Saikia, Combinatorial Proofs of Some Results of Andrews and El Bachraoui, The Ramanujan Journal, 66, 4, Article 77, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11139-025-01042-5
• Pankaj Jyoti Mahanta and Manjil P. Saikia, Extensions of some results of Jovovic and Dhar, Journal of the Ramanujan Mathematical Society, 39, 1, 2024, 349-358.
• Manjil P. Saikia, Some Missed Congruences modulo powers of 2 for t-colored overpartitions, Boletín de la Sociedad Matemática Mexicana, Springer, 29, 1, 2023, Article 15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40590-022-00487-8
• Pankaj Jyoti Mahanta and Manjil P. Saikia, Refinement of some partition identities of Merca and Yee, International Journal of Number Theory, World Scientific, 18, 5, 2022, 1131-1142, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793042122500592
• Pankaj Jyoti Mahanta and Manjil P. Saikia, Some New and Old Gibonacci Identities, Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics, Project Euclid, 52, 2, 2022, 645-665, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1216/rmj.2022.52.645
• Koustav Banerjee and Sreerupa Bhattacharjee and Manosij Ghosh Dastidar and Pankaj Jyoti Mahanta and Manjil P. Saikia, Parity Biases in Partitions and Restricted Partitions, European Journal of Combinatorics, Elsevier, 103, 2022, 103522, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejc.2022.103522
• Ilse Fischer and Manjil P. Saikia, Refined Enumeration of Symmetry Classes of Alternating Sign Matrices, Journal of Combinatorial Theory Series A, Elsevier, 178, 2021, 105350, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcta.2020.105350
• Pankaj Jyoti Mahanta and Manjil P. Saikia and Daniel Yaqubi, Some properties of Zumkeller numbers and k-layered numbers, Journal of Number Theory, Elsevier,  217, 2020, 218–236, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnt.2020.05.003
• Javier T. Akagi and Carlos F. Gaona and Fabricio Mendoza and Manjil P. Saikia and Marcos Villagra, Hard and Easy Instances of L-Tromino Tilings, Theoretical Computer Science, Elsevier, 815, 2020, 197-212, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcs.2020.02.025
• Manjil P. Saikia, Enumeration of Domino Tilings of an Aztec Rectangle with boundary defects, Advances in Applied Mathematics, Elsevier, 89, 2017, 41–66, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aam.2017.04.002
• Manjil P. Saikia and Jure Vogrinc, Binomial Symbols and Prime Moduli, Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society, Indian Mathematical Society, 79, 1-4, 2011, 137 - 143

Non peer-reviewed Articles/Papers

• Manjil P. Saikia, Is an Assamese-Medium Medical College Just a Poll Gimmick?, The Wire Science, 10 Feb 2021, Link: https://science.thewire.in/education/is-an-assamese-medium-medical-college-just-a-poll-gimmick/
• Manjil P. Saikia, The Remarkable Sequence 1, 2, 7, 42, 429, 7436, ..., Ganit Bikash, Vol. 67, Jul-Dec 2020, Link: https://aamonline.org.in/ganit-bikash/gb/volume-67/11-The-Remarkable-Sequence-Manjil-P-Saikia.pdf
• Madhurrya P. Talukdar and Manjil P. Saikia, The Perils of the Indian Education System, Pragyan, Tinisukia College Magazine, 2019, Link: https://manjilsaikia.in/publ/papers/Tinisukia_Education.pdf
• Manjil P. Saikia, Debate: The Case for Intellectual Colonialism, The Wire, 09 Dec 2017, Link: https://thewire.in/education/debate-case-intellectual-colonialism
• Manjil P. Saikia, John Forbes Nash Jr –- A Short Obituary, Asia Pacific Mathematics Newsletter, Vol. 5 No. 2, Sep 2015, Link: https://gonitsora.com/manjil/papers/john-nash.pdf
• Manjil P. Saikia, The Pythagoras Theorem, Asia Pacific Mathematics Newsletter, Vol. 5 No. 2, Sep 2015, Link: http://www.asiapacific-mathnews.com/05/0502/0005_0008.pdf
• Pankaj Jyoti Mahanta and Manjil P. Saikia, Gonit Sora: The Two Year Journey, Asia Pacific Mathematics Newsletter, Vol. 3 No. 4, Oct 2013, Link: https://manjilsaikia.in/publ/papers/gonit-sora-apmn.pdf

MAA Book Reviews

• International Congress of Mathematicians 2026 Travel Grant (Funded by Simons Foundation, International Mathematical Union, and American Mathematical Society)
• Enumeration Formulas for Tiling Planar Regions: Start-Up Grant (Ahmedabad University), INR 12,57,000 (November 2024 -- October 2027)

Bi-semester 2025-26

• MAT165 Gateway to Abstract Reasoning (1st year UG)

Monsoon 2025

• MAT215 Elementary Number Theory and Cryptography (UG)
• MAT730 Combinatorial Representation Theory (PhD)

Winter 2025

• MAT631 Algebraic Combinatorics (Masters/PhD)
• Foundation Programme: Environment and Climate Change studio, Module 3 (1st year UG)

Monsoon 2024

• MAT256 Differential Equations (UG)
• MAT315/515 Combinatorial Enumeration (UG/Masters)

Term Zero 2024

• MAT000 Mathematics for Business (1st year MBA)

Winter 2024

• MAT515 Combinatorial Enumeration (Reading Course for BS/PhD)
• MAT248 Applied Linear Algebra (2nd/3rd year UG)

Bi-semester 2023-24

• MAT142 Introductory Calculus (1st year UG)

Monsoon 2023

• CSC210 Introduction to Data Structures and Algorithms (2nd/3rd year UG)
• CSE525 Theory of Computing (4th year UG)
• Foundation Programme: Environment and Climate Change studio, Module 3 (1st year UG)

Term Zero 2023

• MAT000 Mathematics for Business (1st year MBA)

• Journal Manager, Journal of the Assam Academy of Mathematics (2022 - present)
• Editor, Ganit Bikash (2024 - present)
• Managing Editor, Gonit Sora (2011 - present)
• Deputy Editor, Ganit Bikash (2020 - 2024)

I am looking for motivated PhD students and postdocs to work in problems related to enumerative & algebraic combinatorics, and/or integer partitions & q-series.

If you are interested in joining as a PhD student then please email me with a CV and consult the Ahmedabad University PhD admission guidelines.

If you are interested in joining as a postdoc then please email me with your CV. At present, I do not have any funds for hiring a postdoc but I am open to supporting suitable applicants for external funding like NBHM and NPDF.