Volume 1: Student Life Chapter 439: Handing in Homework
"Uh... should the other party be a worthy opponent?"
Chen Zhou thought about it over and over again, but still couldn't figure out how to reply to this email.
Chen Zhou actually wanted to tell the other party that he already knew who the winner was.
It is worth noting that the award committee of the Cole Number Theory Prize has not yet been officially announced.
And James Maynard should still hold out some hope.
Therefore, Chen Zhou felt a little bit reluctant.
If by any chance this news turns out to be a misunderstanding, he would be really embarrassed.
Finally, Chen Zhou started a business model of mutual promotion.
It is not wrong to say that both parties are worthy opponents.
James Maynard's results in Diophantus's approximation are indeed important enough.
It’s worth Chen Zhou’s commercial praise.
In addition, there is another point that Chen Zhou finds interesting about James Maynard.
James Maynard was born in a family with a strong humanistic atmosphere, but he had a special liking for mathematics.
In subsequent studies, I also behaved a bit "unsociable".
The media reported that in a physics test, if the calculation process was not given, even if all the answers were correct, they would only get one-third of the full score.
In protest, James Maynard only wrote the answers to all the questions.
And these answers are all correct.
However, he only scored less than half of the points.
This is true not only in learning, but also in academic research.
When faced with interesting questions, James Maynard's first response is "Why not try?"
Even those problems seem difficult to solve in academia.
But for him, it is not a reason to stumble.
When James Maynard was working on the proof of the twin prime conjecture, his mentor warned him: "I'm sure you can't solve this problem, so you don't have to go all out."
But this is exactly the opposite of James Maynard's life creed of "do it once and for all".
So, faced with his mentor's warning, the young rebellious mathematician simply shrugged his shoulders.
Then, devote yourself to mathematical research.
The final result was obviously completely beyond the "expectations" of mentor James Maynard.
This is what Chen Zhou finds interesting about this young mathematician.
Come to think of it, James Maynard and Chen Zhou himself are a bit similar.
That is, a plan that has been identified and made.
It will definitely be strictly enforced.
As for the voices from the outside world, they will be forgotten.
Therefore, an excellent mathematician needs to have a stubborn mind.
Thinking of this, Chen Zhou thought of Professor Zhang Yitang again.
This old man has been studying the twin prime conjecture for decades.
Then, he made a stunning debut and became a sweeping figure in the mathematics world.
After replying the business-promoting email to James Maynard, Chen Zhou logged out of his mailbox and began searching for the prize money for the Cole Prize in Number Theory.
In fact, Zhang Yitang has the most say in this.
But Chen Zhou didn't intend to ask so blatantly.
He would also look embarrassed.
But after Chen Zhou checked for a while, he found that the information on the Internet was really confusing.
Some say a lot, while others say very little.
Some are worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars, while others are worth more than 100,000 or 200,000 US dollars.
If there is less, it will be pitifully small.
The least is said to be only five thousand US dollars.
Chen Zhou automatically filtered this message.
How is it possible that such a big award, the Cole Prize in Number Theory, which is known as the highest award in number theory, has a prize money of only 5,000 US dollars?
This is just a joke...
If you live far away, you will have to go back and forth to collect the award, plus some expenses.
I'm afraid this $5,000 bonus won't even cover my expenses...
Anyway, Chen Zhou just doesn't believe it.
Chen Zhou thought, according to what Yao Tongtong said, the starting price should be at least 100,000, right?
Faced with such confusing information, Chen Zhou was unable to tell the truth from the false.
This is not like a math problem. Chen Zhou can figure it out by himself and it is easy to judge whether it is right or wrong.
Therefore, Chen Zhou simply stopped checking and remained patient, leaving himself some hope.
Otherwise, when the time comes to receive the award, everything will be too boring.
After closing the browser, Chen Zhou began to return to his own rhythm.
The Cole Prize in Number Theory and other awards are just some small surprises in life.
In other words, some small condiments.
For Chen Zhou, the essence of life is still learning.
So, Ge Guess’s research, the research on the rubber ball topic.
And the tasks assigned by Professor Ating this afternoon.
This is what Chen Zhou is mainly concerned about now.
I piled all the draft papers, collections of wrong answers and the materials given by Professor Atin on the desk.
Speaking of it, this is what graduate students generally learn or encounter in algebra.
The main ones are Galois theory and field theory, module theory and category theory, ring theory and representation theory, commutative algebra, and homological algebra.
And this is what Chen Zhou is reading now.
But, it’s different from ordinary graduate students.
Both Professor Ating's requirements for Chen Zhou and Chen Zhou's requirements for himself far exceed the depth of ordinary graduate students.
After this lecture, Chen Zhou felt that his time seemed to be even tighter.
After all, he was the one who fought for the content of algebraic geometry.
Time passes day by day.
Yang Yiyi has followed Professor Rainer Weiss to LIGO to participate in specific research projects.
Only Chen Zhou was left, living a self-disciplined and extremely fulfilling life at MIT.
A week later, it was the time Professor Atin requested.
Chen Zhou has to submit his research summary on non-commutative rings from a geometric perspective.
Chen Zhou glanced at the research summary he printed out and shook his head slightly. This was the first time he handed in an assignment since his freshman year.
After communicating the time and place with Professor Ating over the phone, Chen Zhou went out to find him with the research summary he had written.
Although Chen Zhou had only been to Professor Ating's office once, he was not unfamiliar with the location.
This is mainly due to the daily walk with Yang Yiyi after dinner.
The two of them walked around almost the entire MIT campus.
If there is a completely unfamiliar place, it is probably the inside of every building.
Anyway, Chen Zhou and Yang Yiyi were not unfamiliar with the roads outside.
Chen Zhou came to Professor Ating's office as if he was familiar with the place.
Chen Zhou knocked on the door politely, and after getting Professor Ating's permission, he pushed the door open and walked in.
Just like the first time we met, this old man with gray hair.
At this moment, I am working at my desk looking at some documents.
Hearing the noise, he raised his head slightly and looked at Chen Zhou who walked in.
Professor Atin smiled and held out his hand: "Give me a week to see how your homework is done."
Chen Zhou took out the printed research summary from his backpack and handed it to Professor Ating.
