Chapter 256: Geometric Langlands Program
Time quietly passed.
Since he had decided to study the Hailstone Conjecture, it naturally wasn't just empty talk.
From that day onward, Xiao Yi began devoting most of his energy to the Hailstone Conjecture.
Of course, perhaps because he hadn't studied pure mathematics problems in quite some time, Xiao Yi even felt slightly unaccustomed to it at first.
After all, although mathematical tools were indispensable in nuclear fusion research, the tools used for nuclear fusion were all "useful"—in other words, those mathematical tools themselves were prepared for practical applications.
The mathematical tools needed in pure mathematics research, on the other hand, were basically "useless." They might be highly useful for studying pure mathematics, but they had little practical application.
Thus, over the past few years, all the mathematical tools Xiao Yi had used were useful ones. Suddenly returning to these useless tools did indeed make him feel a little unaccustomed.
"Tsk, tsk. So this is what they mean by getting rusty."
In his office at the university, Xiao Yi sighed.
Still, it wasn't really a problem for him.
As the relevant mathematical knowledge gradually resurfaced in his mind, that unfamiliar feeling would slowly fade away.
"Still, this problem really does feel a little different."
After using just a few sheets of scratch paper and laying them out across the desk, Xiao Yi rubbed his chin, his brows lifting involuntarily.
Yes, it was indeed very different.
Those other mathematical conjectures involving prime numbers dealt with Analytic Number Theory, Algebraic Geometry, and the like. Yet the Hailstone Conjecture, also a conjecture in number theory, involved other areas of mathematics.
For example, dynamical systems.
Of course, this referred to dynamical systems in mathematics, not any other kind of dynamical system.
A system that uses functions to describe how