Free Web NovelChapter 994: Chapter 498: Brother School! Brother Laboratory!_1
When Qiu Chengwen found Zhao Yi, he was reviewing students’ homework with Li Ning.
Perhaps it was the influence of Zhao Yi, or maybe the allure of the fifty thousand yuan prize, but there was an overwhelming number of student assignments. There were only three hundred students attending the lectures, yet over a thousand assignments were handed in.
Looking at the stacks of ’homework,’ Qiu Chengwen felt his head grow heavy.
"What’s the use of these?" Qiu Chengwen asked.
"Searching for inspiration!" Zhao Yi, after finishing reading an assignment, explained, "We need inspiration now. Students are very creative; they can come up with all sorts of fantastic ideas."
"Look!"
Zhao Yi took out an assignment; it was a half-written A4 paper, almost entirely composed of descriptive text, "This is from a junior in economics. He says that ion lattices might create a sort of magical space, breaking free from the constraints of three-dimensional space. If the rotation energy of ion lattices is large enough, it might be possible to summon higher-dimensional beings."
Qiu Chengwen forcefully tugged at the corner of his mouth, feeling that Zhao Yi’s thinking was a bit off, then he turned to look at Li Ning, "Professor Li, do you also think these are useful?"
"I don’t know."
Li Ning spread his hands and said, "I’m following Zhao Yi on this; he thinks it’s useful. To be honest, my understanding of particle mathematics is not profound, and I’m not adept at theoretical analysis of mathematical structures."
"Alright."
After hearing this, Qiu Chengwen started reading the assignments, finding that many were undergraduate work. Actually, they couldn’t really be considered homework, they were purely ’imaginations’ based on the superconducting antigravity problem, with no mathematical logic, purely written from imagination.
If all these were compiled together, perhaps a great fantasy epic could be written.
Qiu Chengwen shook his head vigorously, still interested in assignments ’with a mathematical basis.’ Assignments with mathematical foundations related to superconductivity were all written by graduate-level students or above; they had clearly done quite a bit of homework. Based on certain mathematical logic, they had made detailed analyses.
A few of them were very well-written. Despite errors within the mathematical framework, the fact that they could reach this level showed they were well-prepared and personally proficient in mathematics.
"These are talents."
Qiu Chengwen suddenly said, "Zhao Yi, are you doing this to scout for talent?"
"Ah?"
Zhao Yi was slightly confused.
"Look at these," Qiu Chengwen pointed out the assignments he had been reviewing, "Graduate and Ph.D. students, it’s impressive to have this level of skill. They are totally capable of conducting mathematical theoretical research."
"Is that so?"
Zhao Yi was unconvinced by what Qiu Chengwen said, "I don’t think so. These students are indeed not bad, but that’s just it—merely not bad. To achieve something in fundamental mathematical theory is nearly impossible in the short term. If they enter this field, they might spend decades, maybe a lifetime, and at most what they could prove would be a mathematical conjecture."
"..."
"..."
Qiu Chengwen and Li Ning exchanged glances, both showing a hint of confusion on their faces. Isn’t a lifetime spent proving a conjecture enough?
What else could they ask for?
Most of those involved in mathematical theoretical research couldn’t even prove one conjecture in their lifetimes.
However...
Such a statement coming from Zhao Yi left them with no room to argue.
Zhao Yi had solved both the Goldbach Conjecture and Fermat’s Last Theorem, and for him, even completing the Collatz Conjecture was ’not worth mentioning.’ freewebnσvel.cøm
They could only remain silent.
Zhao Yi continued to sift through the mountain of assignments, and Qiu Chengwen and Li Ning noticed that he seemed more interested in the ’fantasy’ written by undergraduate students. On the other hand, he quickly set aside the ’good assignments’ based on mathematical logic after a brief glance.
The interests of Qiu Chengwen and Li Ning, on the contrary, lay in ideas founded on mathematical logic.
Very soon,
Qiu Chengwen couldn’t help but ask, "Why don’t you take a look at those with mathematical logic?"
"It’s meaningless."
Zhao Yi said without even lifting his head, "Even if the mathematical logic is clear, there must be errors. Could they do better than me?"
"...That’s true!" freewebnσvel.cѳm
Qiu Chengwen thought and realized it made sense.
If it was an idea based on mathematical logic and the framework was exactly correct, it would be equivalent to solving the superconducting antigravity problem.
Is that possible?
Among them might be mathematical geniuses, but to be able to solve the problem of superconducting antigravity directly is virtually impossible. One only needs to look at the number of pages in the assignments to know. The mathematical analysis of superconducting antigravity requires dozens of pages of content, and a mathematical framework spanning merely a few pages could at best provide a basic description.
Qiu Chengwen, joined by Zhao Yi and Li Ning, kept reviewing for a while but very soon found it tedious. He spoke out, unable to help himself, "Do you really think you’ll find inspiration here?"
Zhao Yi retorted, "Is there any better method?"
"...No."
Qiu Chengwen discovered he had asked a rather foolish question, so he simply sighed, stood up, and said, "I’d better go check on Zhou Li."
"Sorry for the poor reception," Zhao Yi continued to review the material in his hands.
After Qiu Chengwen left the office, he turned back and shook his head; he felt like he had come in vain. He had meant to check the progress of superconducting antigravity research. Instead, he found Zhao Yi reviewing student homework?
And looking for inspiration?
What was the connection between the two?
Some of the students’ assignments had no logic at all, just pure imagination, contributing nothing to the research.
