Free Web NovelChapter 571: Chapter 334: I Don’t Understand Physics!
Each person in the dormitory had their own concerns.
Fan Lei winning a ten thousand dollar award made a big wave in the dormitory, but was negligible in the context of the laboratory and the research institute.
In comparison to the significant Vif gene research project under the AIDS research scope, the ten thousand dollar award seems irrelevant. The decision of the research institute to reward Fan Lei was simply due to his affiliation with Zhao Yi’s lab, not because Fan Lei had made any substantial contributions; him winning the amount was just a windfall.
Zhao Yi was indifferent to the matter. Upon hearing that the institute had awarded Fan Lei with the cash prize, he simply smiled, not paying it much heed.
He had his hands full with his own agenda, which was unrelated to the lab’s primary project.
The laboratory had undertaken a few AIDS research projects, with the main one being the virulence gene,Vif, which was critical. But the primary project, having completed and submitted its report, had delegated the remainder of the work to Ai Lixin, Zhang Wei, and others.
Whether it was to present the project report, or to engage in meetings, or to deliver speeches explaining the project, they could now take responsibility for such tasks.
While Zhao Yi was the lead of the project, his main responsibility was oriented towards research direction, and there was plenty of work that didn’t require his direct involvement.
Other minor projects could be worked on as an aside, exclusively kept in mind for the future.
In the research institute, such minor projects are usually handed out to deputy researchers and research assistants for skill enhancement. Unless significant discoveries are made, the superiors don’t usually show much interest.
Just as in hospitals where new doctors require hands-on practice, it is equally necessary in research work. To accumulate experience rapidly, one needs to attempt running independent projects.
Assisting a researcher with a project is quite similar to accompanying doctoral or master’s students in their studies. They are just allocated tasks, the only difference being that they gain more experience.
So, minor projects like these were assigned to Ai Lixin, while Zhang Wei, Liu Chengjie, and Yan Yi each took on different roles.
Leaving the laboratory research aside, Zhao Yi began to focus on his own research endeavors.
Fermat’s Last Theorem.
He had always wanted to study Fermat’s Last Theorem. Although the simplification of Fermat’s Last Theorem had been completed earlier, there was not a lucid thought process to go about proving it yet.
While discussing string theory and example energy problems with Edward-Witten, he came upon the idea of ’positivity-correlation’. Combining this with Wiles’ proof and some other material, he could find a direction of contemplation.
With all the other projects at completion, it was time to focus solely on Fermat’s Last Theorem.
The theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation a^n + b^n = c^n for any integer greater than two.
While the problem sounds simple, solving it is highly complex.
Zhao Yi considered many angles, only to find that, similar to the Goldbach conjecture, ’direct’ proofing is supremely challenging and nearly impossible to accomplish.
By ’direct’ it means to validate in an upright manner. Whether applying the construction function or graphical analysis, or even complex curve validation, the problem tends to become more complicated. Simplifying from there gets increasingly difficult.
This explains why Wiles’ proof paper ran over hundreds of pages.
Any ’direct’ approach to deciphering the problem tends to complicate it further. Doing logical reasoning then becomes a hurdle.
Zhao Yi’s inspiration was to prove it with a combination of ’positive’ and ’negative’. He thought of a method involving symmetric correlation, but when it comes to mathematics, his forte was not--
Topology.
Using the ’direct’ approach includes fixing the value of n to design three-dimensional curved diagrams.
This is the most basic method.
A lot of mathematicians would choose fixed n values and create a three-dimensional diagram correlating with Fermat’s theorem, proceeding with a series of analytics. However, the inferences are usually trivial. Once it involves a three-dimensional diagram, it becomes highly complex. A ’direct’ study of Fermat’s theorem often ends up in ’complex mode’. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Zhao Yi’s idea was to create a ’reverse’ symmetric figure, combined with the ’direct’ figure. This would form a new diagram with symmetric openings.
The new diagram would be very complex, difficult to illustrate, but certain fixed points can aid in the analyses of geometric topology.
This idea primarily involves creating a ’positive-negative’ combined figure, followed by a geometric topology analysis, maybe leading to new discoveries.
Zhao Yi was well aware that his idea wasn’t entirely thought through. But that’s how complex mathematical research works; it is unlikely for one to conceive all methods instantly. Research has to be taken step by step.
When it comes to topology, mathematics often tends to get complicated.
This was Zhao Yi’s primary concern. He simply had a basic understanding of topology and hadn’t really applied it yet.
Therefore, he would have to search for considerable material and study while contemplating his research endeavors.
Without any definite method of completion, he had to continue with his normal classes and learning. His life was not heavily influenced by his research; except, most of his time was spent contemplating Fermat’s theorem and topology.
Zhao Yi’s situation was soon discovered by others, mostly because he approached several professors at the School of Sciences with concerns about topology.
"I heard you were studying topology?" Qian Hong, unsure of where she received the information, asked Zhao Yi when she bumped into him in the dormitory.
