A Body Is the Capital of Every Struggle

Shen Qi finally completed his paper, "A Solution for Three-Dimensional Hypercomplex Numbers," checked it over and found no problems, and then submitted it.

Where to throw it?

Of course, it couldn't be submitted to Ann-Math or Acta-Math; Shen Qi's paper was written in Chinese and hadn't been translated into English yet.

Even if translated into English, Ann-Math and Acta-Math would never accept Shen Qi's manuscript. Shen Qi himself is well aware that his current level of writing is not enough to impress top international mathematics journals.

So, let's submit to domestic mathematics journals first. Shen Qi has set his sights on the Journal of Mathematical Journal of Mathematical Research sponsored by Zhejiang University.

Shen Qi converted the LaTeX document "A Solution for Three-Dimensional Hypercomplex Numbers" into PDF format and emailed it to the editorial department of the Journal of Mathematical Research.

In the email body, Shen Qi briefly introduced his background and academic research achievements, "Dear editor, I am Shen Qi, a freshman in the Mathematics Department at Yenching University. I have published a paper in the * Mathematical Innovation Herald *, namely, the paper 'Some New Solutions to Second-Order Linear Non-Homogeneous Differential Equation with Constant Coefficients' published in Volume X, Issue X of the * Mathematical Innovation Herald *."

A few sentences of self-introduction are enough. Shen Qi has published papers, which is crucial. He has some academic capital and is not a blank slate.

Although the Mathematical Innovation Herald is not indexed by SCI, it doesn't matter. Shen Qi is currently a newcomer to academia. As long as he has published papers in domestic journals, even general ones, his resubmission will at least make the initial review editor take a second look.

The academic standing of the Journal of Mathematical Research is higher than that of the Mathematical Innovation Herald, at least the latter is a national core journal with an SCI impact factor of 0.302.

Is an IF of only 0.302 too low?

So what if it's low-quality? Mathematicians don't care about IF statements at all.

No mathematics journal in China has an impact factor (IF) exceeding 1; the highest is the * Journal of Mathematics * Chinese Academy of Sciences, with an IF of 0.578.

Globally, top journals such as Ann Math and Acta Math consistently maintain an impact factor (IF) between 2.5 and 4. The industry average is 1-5, encompassing journals in fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, as well as general journals.

Why are the impact factors (IFs) of mathematics journals so low?

Professor Shing-Tung Yau succinctly summarized it in one sentence. "Good mathematical papers are bound to be cited very little, because very few people can understand them."

According to the formula for calculating the Impact Factor (IF), the number of citations within three years determines the impact factor (IF) for that year.

Good math journals and truly insightful math papers are often incomprehensible to readers, so why would they be cited? That's why math journals generally have low impact factors (IF).

If your math paper is cited extensively, there's only one reason: it's too superficial and your writing is terrible.

The reason why Nature and Science are cited so frequently is because they are comprehensive academic journals. People from all walks of life, such as physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, can always find the information they need in Nature and Science.

The readership is so large that readers click on Nature and Science like crazy. These two journals have long occupied the top two spots on the click charts, with impact factors between 30 and 40, and at one point even soaring to nearly 50.

They absolutely did not inflate the data; this is real data. Nature and Science are popular science publications aimed at the general public, and even ordinary readers can understand some of their content.

The mathematics community is a small circle, so as I said before, mathematicians don't care about IF statements. You can take it or leave it, cite it or leave it, but stay away from me. Low IQ is contagious.

Shen Qi sent the PDF version of the paper to the Journal of Mathematical Research at Zhejiang University via email, and then waited.

If the PDF version passes the initial review, the editor will usually ask the author to provide a formattable LaTeX document, which will then proceed to peer review, final review by the editorial board, and other stages. The entire process will last 2-3 months, or even longer.

That's how it is; the peer review process for math papers takes that long, and the experts also have to carefully analyze and calculate the authors' work.

Unlike Natural Science, mathematics is not accompanied by a bunch of experimental data and pictures, where the truth is clear and whether something is right or wrong is obvious.

The verification and review of mathematical papers rely almost entirely on the experts' imagination. There have been many cases in the History of Mathematics where reviewers could not understand the authors' papers.

Some mathematical papers take more than a decade to complete the review process, and the authors have all passed away by the time the awards are presented, which is regrettable.

For example, Abel, who died at the young age of 27, never won a major award during his lifetime.

In the later stages of playing math games, it becomes a competition of who lives longer and is healthier.

This also demonstrates the importance of physical exercise; a healthy body is the foundation for all academic endeavors.

As evening fell, Zhou Yu'an returned to his dormitory and announced some data, "In the men's 5000-meter preliminary round, four people ran under 18 minutes. Shen Qi ranked fourth with a time of 17 minutes and 58 seconds. The first place went to a second-year student from the School of Engineering, who ran 17 minutes and 12 seconds."

Shen Qi was shocked. "Impossible, that guy is a sports scholarship student?"

"No, just like you, that guy is a top student, he gets almost perfect scores in every exam. Shen Qi, do you think you're the only one at Yanda University who's good at showing off?"

"This is quite challenging. My fastest time in the 5000 meters during practice is only 17 minutes and 28 seconds." Shen Qi fell into deep thought, feeling immense pressure.

"What, you want to win the championship?"

"Nonsense, why would I participate in a long-distance race if I don't win the championship?" Shen Qi couldn't sit still any longer. He rushed downstairs and started running.

Sports experience points +1

Sports experience points +1

After running 5 kilometers, Shen Qi's sports experience points increased by a few points, reaching Sports Level 3 (524/5000).

If you keep running like this for a year, your athletic level will automatically increase to level 4.

By comparing the upgrade process in mathematics and physics, and his personal experience of participating in math and physics competitions, Shen Qi believes that a Level 3 physical education subject is considered quite advanced among ordinary college students, while a Level 4 physical education subject is close to the level of a professional athlete, equivalent to a semi-professional level.

No sports-specialized students participated in the long-distance running festival on the Yenching University campus, so a Level 4 athlete should be unbeatable across the entire university—this only applies to amateur level athletes.

It's time to improve his physical fitness. Shen Qi used 4,476 points out of his 90,000+ academic points to upgrade his physical education to level 4.

System: "Host's physical fitness level has increased to level 4; the activity of red and white muscle fibers has significantly improved compared to the previous level."

"Ah! All meridians are severed... The Ren and Du meridians are being rebuilt..." Shen Qi rolled around on the lawn. The benefits of the sports upgrade were increased activity of red and white muscles.

Although there were no visible changes on his body's surface, and he couldn't feel any surge of blood within his body, Shen Qi still symbolically rolled around twice. This is what protagonists in martial arts novels do after leveling up, as it seems ritualistic.

Then Shen Qi went to the cafeteria to eat noodles to replenish carbohydrates, ate a banana to replenish trace elements to prevent cramps, and drank a carton of milk to ensure adequate protein intake.

After giving these foods and dairy products some time to digest and absorb, Shen Qi returned to his dormitory to draft his second paper, "A Class of Computational Methods for Vector Calculus".

Aside from eating and sleeping, Shen Qi didn't waste a single second. None of the ten system indicators had reached the maximum level of 15, which was unacceptable.

Shen Qi dared not waste time. When his body was exhausted, he let his brain rest, and when his brain was working, his body would recover its energy. A person must do something meaningful at all times while living. He was either showing off or on his way to showing off.

At midnight, Shen Qi had rested enough and his physical strength had recovered.

Taking advantage of the quiet of the night, Shen Qi went downstairs and ran another 5 kilometers, finishing in 16 minutes and 18 seconds.

Looking at the timer on his phone's running app, Shen Qi couldn't believe it. "Wow, that's amazing! 16 minutes and 18 seconds! After advancing to Level 4 in physical education, my 5000-meter personal best has decreased by more than a minute. This must be a fake time, right? Come on, let's run another 5 kilometers... Forget it, I can't run anymore. I'm going back to sleep. Whatever."

The next day was Sunday.

The stadium was packed with spectators, as the men's and women's 5000m and 10,000m finals were both taking place today.

In one corner of the stands, about a hundred faculty and students from the School of Mathematics gathered. The Vice Dean of the school had gone abroad for academic exchanges. An elderly man led the group, cheering on the long-distance runners from the school.

The old man, surnamed Long, was the head of the Mathematics Department. He said to a fat man next to him, "Young Sun, this Shen Qi is quite good. He's well-rounded in moral character, intelligence, and physical fitness, and could definitely be groomed as a new generation of academic leaders. By the way, I've already approved Shen Qi's application to complete 10 Advanced Algebra credits ahead of schedule."

Sun Erxiong laughed and said, "This kid has too much energy. It seems the questions I gave him weren't difficult enough."

Director Long looked towards the starting line and asked, "How many athletes from our college are participating in the men's 5000-meter final? I only know Shen Qi; I'm not very familiar with the others."

"Teacher Long, it's normal that you're not familiar with him. Shen Qi is the only student from our college who made it to the finals," Sun Erxiong said.

Director Long then asked, "I see. How many students from the School of Physics made it to the finals?"

"Two people."

"You professors shouldn't force students to study and do problems all the time. Health is the foundation of everything. We math students can't possibly be worse at sports than School of Physics, can we?"

"Professor Long, the School of Physics is not bad. Since I retired, the Mathematics Department has never beaten the School of Physics in basketball or soccer. Ball games and track and field are not the Mathematics Department's strong sports."

"What are the strengths of our college in sports?"

Go, chess, and bridge.

"..."

Shen Qi waited on the track for the starting gun to fire; the men's 5000-meter final was about to begin.

He spotted the group of family and friends from the School of Mathematics in a corner of the stands.

Director Long is here, Professor Sun is here, my roommates are here, almost all the students from the Mathematics Department are here, even Ou Ye, a reclusive homebody, came to the scene.

"Kangmu Weng! Kangmu Weng!" Shen Qi clenched his fist, raised his arm, and shouted towards the direction of the mathematics department's relatives and friends.

"Shen Xiaoqi is the most amazing!"

"Shen Xiaoqi, the most endurance!"

"Shen Xiaoqi, that's enough!"

The student cheering squad, led by Zhou Yu'an, chanted slogans rhythmically.

Director Long was delighted. "This year's freshmen in the School of Mathematical Sciences are very energetic, they're fantastic!"

Zhou Yu'an said to Ou Ye beside him, "Hey, Ou Ye, give a shout-out to your idol! Why aren't you shouting? You have to shout it out loud, don't you know how?"

Ou Ye: "Go."