Most of the spectators knew who Lu Zhou was; otherwise, they wouldn’t have watched so carefully.
However, when Chen Yang heard the words “Lu Zhou”, he was totally astonished.
Over the past few weeks, the hyperelliptic curve analysis method he studied, as well as all of its applications, even the source of his inspiration, was all from Lu Zhou’s Annual Mathematics thesis.
He couldn’t believe the author was standing in front of him.
“Lu Zhou?”
Chen Yang wasn’t the only person who was astounded, the boy in the baseball cap reached out his right hand with his eyes wide open.
“Y-you are Lu Zhou? Academician Lu from Jinling?”
His chubby friend standing next to him tried to pull him back.
Lu Zhou felt like the guy in the baseball cap looked familiar.
Lu Zhou looked at him and smiled.
“Hey, have we met before?”
The guy in the baseball cap couldn’t believe Lu Zhou recognized him. He spoke excitedly.
“Yeah! On the plane!”
Plane?
Lu Zhou had a look of realization on his face.
Oh, that kid.
The guy’s face was bright red as he spoke with a stutter.
“M-my name is Li Mo. I’m your biggest fan!”
Lu Zhou: “…”
Fan?
Bullsh*t!
You didn’t even know what I looked like, how are you a fan?
Do you think I’m dumb?
The guy in the baseball cap continued to blabber, “I’ve read about your group structure method in a number theory textbook. It also talked about you proving Goldbach’s conjecture in the Princeton lecture hall… You’re amazing!”
“Bro, bro, let’s leave,” the chubby guy said as he awkwardly tried to pull his friend away.
Unfortunately, Academician Lu already turned away, completely ignoring the enthusiastic guy in the cap.
The guy in the baseball cap felt embarrassed.
Wang Shicheng finally finished reading the equations on the blackboard. He calmed down and clapped his hands with a smile.
“Wow, sensational.”
In fact, he didn’t know which part was sensational. Even though he was also in the algebraic geometry field, knot theory and the Hodge conjecture were two different areas of research.
If this was a couple of decades ago, he might have been able to keep up with Lu Zhou’s pace. But now, being able to comprehend Lu Zhou’s calculations at all was already difficult.
“Academician Wang, you’re too kind. It’s nothing sensational, just a simple application of a mathematical tool.”
Lu Zhou smiled and looked at Chen Yang as he said, “Your research is interesting. I’ve seen plenty of applications of the hyperelliptic curve analysis method on arXiv, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone improve it and use it to research nonsingular complex algebraic clusters and the polynomial equations that define the subclusters.”
“Oh, you’re too kind.” Chen Yang lowered his head and said, “I’m ashamed to say I’ve done less in six weeks than you did in an hour.”
Professor Yang Yongan couldn’t help but say, “Of course, do you really think you can compare with Academician Lu?”
“Hey, don’t say that. I’ve done a lot of research on the hyperelliptic curve analysis method, and after seeing Mr. Chen’s calculations, I was inspired.”
Lu Zhou looked at Chen Yang and continued, “The best way to polish a mathematical tool is to try and apply it to a problem through trial and error.
“This research pathway can prove that Hodge’s conjecture holds true for H^2; this at least shows that your idea has potential.”
Chen Yang pushed his glasses and pondered for a moment before saying in a serious tone, “Do you have any good suggestions?”
“Read more, think more, try more…” Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Mathematics requires talent. The deeper into research you go, you’ll realize that there aren’t any shortcuts. This is very similar to other disciplines; anything that looks spectacular is nothing but the result of countless trials and errors.”
Professor Yang Yongan had a thoughtful expression on his face.
The guy in the baseball cap looked at the ground and repeated the words to himself, “Read more, think more, try more… countless trials and errors… Is that how mathematics is?”
Academician Wang Shicheng stood in the crowd as he nodded with satisfaction.
Even though Lu Zhou’s advice was simple, very few people actually understood and applied it. It took Wang Shicheng ten years to realize this, and he spent the next ten years producing outstanding research in knot theory.
But today, when Lu Zhou took the words of wisdom right out of his mouth, Wang Shicheng couldn’t help but feel admiration.
He really is the best…
Even though he felt like Lu Zhou’s success was filled with luck, it seemed like luck didn’t play as big of a role as he had thought.
Lu Zhou looked around and spoke.
“No one here seems to understand your research.”
Chen Yang looked a little resentful as he nodded and replied, “I did choose an almost impossible research project.”
“Not necessarily…” Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “It’s too early to make that conclusion. In my opinion, you’re far from being stuck at a bottleneck. Just judging from the things you wrote on the blackboard, it’s obvious that your research ideas have potential. Even if you can’t solve it in the end, you might be able to produce amazing in-progress results.”
Although this guy’s personality was a bit weird, his mathematical ability was strong. What he lacked was experience.
If this guy stays at the mathematics center, forever being ignored, he would never achieve anything.
Lu Zhou didn’t care that Academician Wang Shicheng was standing right next to him, he reached out his hand and asked, “Have you thought about coming to Jinling?
“I can guarantee that you’ll find people to discuss your research with.”