indianbanksassociation Chapter 573 Grothendieck’S Ghost
Chapter 573 Grothendieck’S Ghost
The last letter was from Catalina.
【Dear Song He：】
[You can’t imagine my leap. During this time, my understanding of mathematics has improved by leaps and bounds. I often see ghosts of mathematicians from past generations in my dreams. Each ghost has a distinct personality, comments on me, and teaches me something new. 】
[You may not believe it and think I am making a metaphor, but it is not true. My dreams can actually continue one night after another. This feeling is extremely strange, as if there really is something that relies on dreams and my Soul Dialogue]
[The night before yesterday, I was lying on the bed, learning how to calculate the trajectory of a rocket failure. There was silence everywhere, and I was learning. I was sleepy, and my consciousness was blurry. Suddenly I heard a "shush" sound, and then there was a cold feeling on my back. At first it was like a small ice cube sticking to my back, then the cold air spread on my back and became the size of a plate, and finally half of my body was frozen.]
[I looked under the bed and saw a skeleton with glasses under the bed, blowing air-conditioning on me. I was startled and rolled under the bed. The skeleton chuckled and said he was Grothendieck. Listen. It was said that a young mathematician appeared here and came here specially to take a look, but he was a little disappointed because I was not good enough to be his student. See you in the future]
[Then, Grothendieck’s skull slid on the ground, wiped off the dust and asked me a question, “Did I see clearly?” I said I could see clearly, and suddenly I woke up]
[After I woke up, I found that I had really rolled out of bed and was lying on the floor. I was afraid of forgetting, so I immediately got up and wrote down the question on the paper]
[It’s strange to say that Grothendieck didn’t teach me anything, but I picked up the book I read before going to bed and found that the questions I didn’t understand before suddenly became clear. It was as simple as a quadratic equation! I took first place in the exam the next day, beating a group of old mathematicians in our department. A week ago, my score couldn't even reach their insteps! 】
[But I haven’t been able to solve the problem that Grothendieck left for me. I wrote it on the back of the letter. Maybe you can try to solve it? 】
[I haven’t talked to you about mathematics in a long time. To be honest, I don’t believe you can solve it, because my mathematics level must have far surpassed yours. I have this confidence! 】
[If you can help figure it out, I will be very grateful! 】
Song He tensed up, thinking that Catalina is really giving you a hard time. She just asked a question, and she worked so hard to make up a ghost story. If she hadn't made it up, I would have eaten the letter on the spot!
He turned to the back of the letter and found a long math problem.
Long-term mathematical work has cultivated Song He's strong mathematical intuition. When he saw the question for the first time, a sense of discomfort immediately hit his body, as if an explorer encountered a strange colorful wild snake and knew it at a glance. Extremely toxic!
He sat down at the table, turned on his calculator, and was ready!
Stayed for a long time... didn't come out.
A bunch of restrictive conditions were added to the question. Whenever he found an idea to get to the question, he would immediately find that it was blocked by a restrictive condition, like a bunch of dark Go pieces blocking all the ways!
"As expected of the question given by Grothendieck, it's really difficult." Song He smiled bitterly.
"What question?" Xie Yuanxun on the other side suddenly raised his head.
"A young mathematician wrote to me to ask me a question. He made up a ghost story, saying that Grothendieck appeared and dropped the question in the middle of the night. I read it for a long time and couldn't find the entry point." Song He slapped the letter on the table. Push up.
Xie Yuanxun immediately threw down a pile of love letters and couldn't wait to sit down at the table. Obviously, he still didn't give up and was waiting for the opportunity to defeat his roommate and avenge his shame!
"How simple this is!" Xie Yuanxun glanced at it and started writing!
Song He was shocked, why was this guy suddenly so brave? Did he happen to have studied at the test site?
Looking closer, he was speechless. "Look at the third qualification."
Xie Yuanxun was writing on the scratch paper. When he heard the words and looked at the question, he looked embarrassed and stopped writing.
"Hey, it can be solved even if there are restrictions!" Xie Yuanxun suddenly said again, and started writing in a new line.
"Look at the fifth qualification." Song He sighed.
Xie Yuanxun stopped writing and started writing again after a moment of silence.
"Brother Xie, are you a little too impatient? Take a look at the third to last condition." Song He helplessly raised his forehead, "Can't we finish reading the question and then write it?"
"I'm anxious, aren't I?" Xie Yuanxun scratched his head, "Don't panic, the restrictions are like running a hurdle, there is always a way to get over them! Even small problems can be solved easily!"
"Step over and let me take a look." Song He stood aside with his arms crossed.
Xie Yuanxun's face was full of fighting spirit, he took a deep breath and calmed down, and looked at the question carefully.
A long silence.
The fighting spirit on Xie Yuanxun's face diminished inch by inch, turning into confusion and discomfort.
"This question... is it really fucking difficult?" Xie Yuanxun scratched his head.
Song He reached for the letter paper, Xie Yuanxun quickly held it down and copied the extremely long question on the scratch paper. He was obviously stuck on the question and was ready to fight to the death.
"Come and fight!" Xie Yuanxun said like a fighting cock.
Song He nodded and sat down, continuing to lie on the table staring at the back of the letter, thinking hard.
There was silence in the dormitory, only the rustle of the pen tip. The two of them wrote and drew on the paper from time to time, but in the end they all crossed out. The few lines of black words on the paper were like a cage, and the two trapped animals repeatedly hit the wall of the cage but could not break free.
In a blink of an eye, three full hours passed!
Xie Yuanxun was the first to collapse, "There's no way I can do it! I can't find the entry point, and I can't even get in! The question for my final exam for my master's degree is an elementary school oral arithmetic question!"
"Isn't it a prank? Are you bringing out unsolvable problems to make things difficult for you?" Xie Yuanxun asked curiously, "What is the identity of this mathematician?"
"A young Mao Mei mathematician, I have verified Sassoon's conjecture with her." Song He said, "The prank shouldn't happen. We are all adults and won't play such boring tricks. Oh... I also Not an adult."
"Mao Mei Mathematician? It can't be Catalina, right?" Xie Yuanxun said suddenly.
Song He was shocked, "How did you know?"
"It's really her!" Xie Yuanxun's expression changed, his eyes were filled with admiration and gossip, "Yes, Brother Song! She even wrote a letter asking you questions, what's the relationship between you two?"
"Don't think so wildly. It's normal for mathematicians to write letters and ask questions." Song He was confused and asked again, "How do you know her?"
"How could you not know this? The goddess of mathematics!" Xie Yuanxun was very interested.
"Isn't there a Geneva Mathematics Forum some time ago? The clip of Catalina receiving the award at the award ceremony went viral, almost in the groups of mathematics departments in universities all over the world! She is indeed so beautiful, a fairy like an oil painting!"
"When she received the award, she thanked a bunch of mathematicians and mentioned you. Just now you said she was Mao Mei, and I immediately thought of her."
Song He was stunned. He knew that Catalina made a stunning appearance during the award ceremony, but he didn't expect it to become so popular.
Do all the mathematics departments in universities around the world know each other? Are all the math department group chats spreading? What do these mathematicians do every day?
It’s understandable when you think about it. Mathematicians are mostly old men and weirdos. Once the door to IQ is opened, the door to appearance will most likely be closed. The whole circle is not very beautiful. There is no doubt that a beautiful woman will appear. Extraordinarily eye-catching.
"Brother Song, awesome!" Xie Yuanxun looked envious and gave a thumbs-up sign sincerely, "You hide your secrets and pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger, right? You also said that you envy me for receiving many love letters, but you turned out to be a math circle as soon as you took action. A circle of flowers?"
"Think too much, just academic exchange." Song He shook his head.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple, right? Why doesn't she ask others when she has a difficult problem? Doesn't she know a better math master? Doesn't she have a mentor or professor around her? Why does she want to write a letter across the ocean to ask you?" Xie Yuanxun smacked his lips, "You are too young, Brother Song!"
"I'm really overthinking it. She has a childhood sweetheart who is her classmate. She and I are having academic discussions." Song He held his chin in thought for a moment, then picked up the letter and looked at it, "But you reminded me, I'm afraid I have to submit this question. "