There are probably no middle-aged or older KPI graduates who do not remember the textbooks, manuals, and reference books on mathematics written by Fedir Petrovych Yaremchuk. The collection of problems for applicants to higher educational institutions, which he prepared together with Shalva Gordeladze and Mykola Kukharchuk, was one of the standard reference books for several generations of applicants. Moreover, many of his former students still remember his brilliant lectures, as this outstanding mathematician and methodologist worked at KPI for many years. In his time, Fedir Yaremchuk took over the glorious mathematical traditions of Kyiv Polytechnic, established by its first teachers and staff, and not only carefully carried them through the years, but also multiplied them, raising a worthy scientific and pedagogical successor. He was one of those teachers and scientists thanks to whom the mathematical school of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” still enjoys high authority in Ukraine and around the world. Fedir Petrovych Yaremchuk (1920–2001) himself remained an outstanding scientist and methodologist in the field of mathematics in the history of KPI. This year he would have turned 100...
Fedir Petrovych was born on February 29, 1920, in the village of Velykyi Molodkiv in the Zhytomyr region into a peasant family. His father, Petro Maksymovych Yaremchuk, was a wise, kind, and hard-working man. He fought in World War I and was awarded two St. George's Crosses. His mother, Stepanida Korniivna, embodied the best qualities of a Ukrainian woman. The family faced many hardships – forced collectivization and the Holodomor famine of 1933, hard labor in a collective farm, his father's arrest in 1937...
From childhood, Fedir showed an aptitude for learning. In 1936, he graduated from the Velykomolodkivska seven-year school and enrolled in the Yarunska secondary school. After graduating, Fedir began working in 1939 as a mathematics teacher in grades five through seven at rural seven-year schools in the Yarun district. In 1940, he enrolled in the correspondence department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of the Berdychiv Teacher Training Institute.
However, his studies were interrupted by the war. While attending a session, he did not have time to evacuate. He was caught up in the occupation in the village of Gadzynka, Zhytomyr region, where he lived until October 1943. After the liberation of our territories, he moved to Kyiv, from where the military commissariat sent him to work as an accountant for the South-Western Railway. In July 1944, he was drafted into the Soviet Army. He fought in an anti-tank regiment. While performing combat missions, scout-artilleryman Fedir Yaremchuk showed exceptional intelligence, courage, and bravery. This was repeatedly noted by the command: among his combat awards are the Order of the Patriotic War II degree, two medals “For Courage,” the medal “For Combat Merit,” and others. And also – several letters of thanks from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. And all this in just six months of service!
After demobilization, he worked for a year as a teacher at the Hrebinkiv Railway School No. 4, and in 1946 he enrolled in the full-time department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of the M. Gorky Kyiv Pedagogical Institute (now the M.P. Dragomanov National Pedagogical University). He combined his studies with work at Kyiv Orphanage No. 1. His first teacher of higher mathematics and geometry at the institute was Mykhailo Kravchuk's student, Oleksandr Smogorzhevsky (who, incidentally, also taught at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, where he headed the Department of Higher Mathematics). "1946. For the first time, a diverse group of students came to the lecture hall: those who had gone through the war and those who were very young and had just graduated from high school. Oleksandr Stepanovych warmly welcomed us all. His lectures always impressed with their depth of thought and vividness of form," recalled Fedir Petrovych. Another of his teachers was the renowned Ukrainian mathematician and methodologist Professor Oleksandr Astryab, who in 1947 organized Ukraine's first department of elementary mathematics and mathematics methodology at the pedagogical institute. It was he who sparked the talented student's interest in mathematics teaching methodology and advanced pedagogical experience.
Fedir graduated from the institute with flying colors, receiving “excellent” grades in almost all subjects. Moreover, he had two recommendations for graduate school—from distinguished scientist Professor O. M. Astryab and corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR E. Ya. Remez. But they turned out to be useless – the son of an “enemy of the people”... So after graduating from the institute in 1950, he was sent to the Drohobych Department of Public Education. Here he was appointed head of the mathematics and physics department of the Drohobych Regional Institute for Teacher Training. At the same time, Fedir Yaremchuk taught mathematics to eighth and ninth graders. He also researched problems in the study of mathematics in school, in particular, improving the mathematical culture of students, the connection between theory and practice in the educational process, and so on.
While working in the Carpathian region, Fedir Petrovych did a great deal of work studying and disseminating best teaching practices. Gathering the region's best teachers around his office, he developed his first teaching materials and wrote his first scientific articles: “Oral Calculation in Secondary School” (1952), “On the State of Teaching and Student Achievement in Mathematics” (1953), “Analysis of Mathematics Tests of Students in the Drohobych Region” (1953), and “On the Mathematical Preparation of Secondary School Graduates” (1955).
At the same time, he did not give up his dreams of applying his knowledge as a scientist, believing that mathematics should serve to solve technical problems. So he applied to KPI, an institute that was rapidly developing at the time. Thanks to his own achievements and the favorable recommendations of his respected teachers from the pedagogical institute, which were heeded by the then head of the Department of Higher Mathematics at KPI, Mykhailo Kravchuk's student Valentin Zmorovich, he was accepted into the Department of Higher Mathematics. Thus, since 1954, Fedir Yaremchuk has been an employee of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Here he climbed all the steps of his teaching career, going from assistant to professor and head of the department.
The young scientist was fascinated by the post-war practice of constructing hydraulic engineering and hydromeliorative structures. Therefore, Fedir Petrovych immersed himself in the study of important issues of mathematical filtration theory. Without interrupting his work at the Department of Higher Mathematics, he studied in graduate school at the Department of Hydraulics under the guidance of Artashes Mkhitaryan, a renowned specialist in this field.
Fedir Yaremchuk's doctoral dissertation, “Application of the Method of Sequential Conformal Mappings to Solving Problems of Free Filtration from Open Channels,” had practical significance: it explored practical problems related to the filtration of water from channels and channels of arbitrary cross-section. The thesis was defended in 1962 at the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR.
Even then, Fedir Petrovych was actively involved in methodological work with teachers in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, as well as in the Methodological Council of the institute. In 1960–70, he repeatedly received certificates and letters of thanks for his active participation in lecturing at courses and seminars for teachers at the Kyiv City Institute for Teacher Training. "In May-July 1970, Comrade F.P. Yaremchuk gave 35 lectures on various topics of the new program: the coordinate method, functions and graphs, identical transformations, the modulus of a number, and other important topics of the new program. The course participants expressed great satisfaction with the lectures," as emphasized in a letter addressed to the rector of KPI, O.S. Plygunov (October 12, 1970), from the Kyiv Regional Institute for Teacher Training.
Fedir Yaremchuk constantly worked to improve his own professional level. He underwent training in teaching mathematics at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (1969) and mastered the latest developments in computer technology. For example, in 1975, at the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, he was engaged in modeling boundary problems of mathematical physics on the KMM-12 integrator. In this work, the integrator is used to solve several unstable heat conduction equations, including a parabolic equation with given boundary and initial conditions and an equation for the distribution of temperature in a metal bar heated to 500 °C.
He also devoted a lot of time to working on the admissions committee and organizing preparatory courses at KPI. He is the author of such works as “Mathematics. A textbook for students of preparatory departments of technical universities” and “Methodological guidelines for conducting entrance exams in mathematics and analyzing their results at universities in the Kyiv region for 1980.”
In addition, Fedir Yaremchuk constantly conducted research on issues related to higher education. In particular, he studied the main statistical characteristics of the educational process in higher education in order to identify its objective, stable elements.
The second half of the 20th century was a period of active development of the entire higher education system in the country. In the early 1970s, the Department of Higher Mathematics was reorganized by merging the staff of two mathematics departments. Its composition turned out to be very large. The number of employees exceeded the number of a traditional department many times over: in the 1976/77 academic year, it had 106 employees, including 5 professors. In terms of scientific and methodological potential, it was one of the most powerful teams at the institute. For convenience, the teachers were divided into sections assigned to individual faculties. The heads of the sections were members of the department council. It was this team of teachers that provided continuous mathematical training for engineers at KPI. From 1976 to 1982, this department was headed by F.P. Yaremchuk, who also taught at the Faculty of Control Systems. He contributed to the growth of the number of scientific staff at the department. Their number then increased from 40 to 70.
Another aspect of his work was the preparation and delivery of educational lectures on mathematics on national television, both for schoolchildren and part-time students. As an active member of the “Knowledge” society, he contributed to the dissemination of mathematical knowledge and gave lectures on elementary mathematics for university applicants. His articles were published in the magazines “Knowledge and Labor” and “Soviet School.” As head of the base department of technical universities of the Kyiv University Center, he contributed to the dissemination of advanced experience accumulated by the Department of Higher Mathematics of the KPI in technical universities of Ukraine.
This period was very fruitful in the activities of F.P. Yaremchuk. From 1977 to 1982 alone, he published nine scientific and methodological works, and the staff of his department published 31 methodological works under his general editorship. By decision of the Higher Attestation Commission under the Council of Ministers of the USSR on November 16, 1979, he was awarded the title of professor.
However, over time, the question of reorganizing the department arose. This was necessary to better organize the educational process and bring it closer to the needs of specialized and graduating departments. In April 1982, the Ministry of Higher Education of Ukraine issued an order on its reorganization and division. And from the 1982/1983 academic year, mathematics at KPI was taught by three departments of higher mathematics.
F.P. Yaremchuk headed the Department of Higher Mathematics No. 1. Under his leadership, improvements were introduced to intensify the educational process and create a comprehensive system of continuous mathematical education: a system of tests, semester written exams, typical calculations, and coursework. In the 1980s, F.P. Yaremchuk continued to lead the department's methodological seminar. Only in 1986 did Professor V.V. Buldygin take over the leadership of the department, while F.P. Yaremchuk continued to work as a professor in the department (until 1999).
Fedir Petrovych was respected by the department staff and greatly admired and loved by students. They felt his great humanity, kindness, and professionalism. His original decisions, unique solutions, consistency, wisdom, and appropriate humor interested students in mathematics.
Encouraging students to engage in practical work and complete tests, Fedir Petrovych compared the process of learning certain sections of mathematics to learning a song. These moments revealed the beauty of mathematics and showed the beauty of life in all its manifestations. His lectures were distinguished by their depth of scholarship, simplicity of presentation, conciseness, and informativeness, inspiring and memorable for a lifetime.
Fedir Yaremchuk published more than 120 scientific and methodological works, including 16 books, textbooks, and teaching aids. The most famous among them are Algebra and Elementary Functions. Reference Book (1971, 1976, 1987, jointly with P.A. Rudchenko), Higher Mathematics. Linear and Vector Algebra. Analytical Geometry. Introduction to Mathematical Analysis. Differential and Integral Calculus" (1987, together with P.F. Ovchinnikov, V.M. Mikhailenko). Also widely popular were “Reference Book on Elementary Mathematics” (1972, together with P.F. Filchakov, G.P. Bevz, K.I. Shvetsov) and "Collection of Competitive Problems in Mathematics. A Guide for University Applicants" (1973, 1977), co-authored with Sh.G. Gordeladze and M.M. Kukharchuk.
He was also a member of the Scientific and Methodological Commission on Mathematics at the Ministry of Higher Education of Ukraine (1959–1969), deputy chairman of this commission (1969–1988), and a member of the Methodological Council on Mathematics at the former Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR (1973–1979). It should be noted that the Scientific and Methodological Commission on Mathematics at the Ministry of Higher Education of Ukraine was created with the aim of unifying and improving the level of mathematics in engineering and technical universities of the Ukrainian SSR. Therefore, the work in it was very responsible. At the meetings, a common opinion on the teaching of mathematics was developed, i.e., the uniform standards that were sent to all technical universities. F.P. Yaremchuk was one of the regular speakers. He also participated in the preparation of republican methodological seminars on teaching mathematics in higher technical educational institutions, which were conducted by the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the Ukrainian SSR.
Fedir Petrovych's teaching skills remain the benchmark for excellence in teaching, according to his colleagues and former students. It is no coincidence that Nina Opanasivna Virchenko, currently the oldest professor of mathematics at KPI, once said of him: “He possessed great pedagogical skills. Even the highest I have seen in my life!”.