Did You Get an Offer from Princeton?

The day after Shen Qi received the Ford Prize, the IMU (International Mathematical Union) awarded this year's Ramanujan Prize.

The laureate is Iranian mathematician Anuz, 37, who was awarded the prize for his outstanding contributions to Abstract Algebra.

The Ramanujan Prize is awarded to mathematicians under the age of 45, and this prestigious award is often considered a prerequisite for the Fields Medal.

Next year is the year of the Fields Medal, Shen Qi knows there is a 99.99% or higher chance that he will miss out on it.

One effective way to win the Fields Medal is to solve world-class mathematical problems.

The verification process for world-class mathematical problems typically takes several years.

The validators are IMU and the world's top mathematics experts gathered by IMU.

After Perelman proved the Poincaré conjecture, it took the IMU four years to verify Perelman's results.

After Wiles proved Fermat's Last Theorem, IMU verified it for three years.

Bocherds conjectured and proved his own theory, spending several years developing his own "Monster-Group moonlight conjecture." IMU then spent another two years verifying his Monster-Group.

After several years of waiting, all three mathematicians finally received the Fields Medal.

Without a doubt, the Riemann Hypothesis is on par with the Poincaré conjecture and Fermat's Last Theorem.

Even if Shen Qi proves the Riemann Hypothesis unilaterally, the subsequent verification by the IMU will continue for several years.

Okay, math is improving, and IMUs are getting stronger. But for RH validation, it will probably take at least a year or two for the IMU to work.

Therefore, Shen Qi was quite impatient for a while. He was eager to prove RH immediately, give IMU one or two years to verify it, and then win the award next year.

If I miss next year's Fields Medal, I'll have to wait another four years.

"Let's wait then," Shen Qi had already come to terms with it. Five years from now, he would only be 26, still relatively young.

What needs to be done now is to continue accumulating academic capital and academic excellence points.

In July, Shen Qi's two Group Theory papers, "Study on the fundamental fields of higher-dimensional Fuchsian groups" and "Non-zero elements that converge to stable Homotopy Group," were published in the Pacific Journal of Mathematics and the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, respectively.

The impact factor (IF) of the * Pacific Journal of Mathematics * is 2.231, and that of the * Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society * is 1.875.

System: "New achievement! The host has published a paper in an internationally influential mathematics journal. The base reward is 25,000 Academic Excellence Points, which, multiplied by the IF value and the primary mathematical talent coefficient of 2.0, result in a final reward of 205,300 Academic Excellence Points. Remaining Academic Excellence Points: 1,224,110. Please confirm."

"Excellent, upgrade math to level 11."

Within the system's established framework, Shen Qi finally became a mathematical master.

Host, Shen Qi

Age: 21

Mathematics Level 11 (Master Level), 0/2 million

Physics Level 6, 932/150,000

Sports Level 5, 2910/50,000

English Level 5, 726/50,000

Chinese Language Level 5, 731/50,000

Politics Level 5, 472/50,000

Chemistry Level 3, 422/5000

Biology Level 3, 533/5000

History Level 2, 1129/3000

Geography Level 2, 679/3000

Remaining Academic Points: 24110 points

A week later, Princeton Mathematics Department awarded Shen Qi a master's degree.

Having been at Princeton for almost a year, Shen Qi has published three papers, all of which have been converted into academic credits.

The paper proving the Wash Conjecture, published in the Journal of the American Mathematical Society, earned the highest number of credits, reaching 70 credits.

The two recently published papers are worth 45 and 35 credits respectively.

Shen Qi earned 80 credits through coursework in his first semester of graduate school.

With all his credits added up, Shen Qi currently has 230 credits, which is 5 credits more than the minimum credit requirement of 225 for a master's degree in the Mathematics Department at Princeton University.

Princeton Mathematics Department does not have a master's thesis defense. Graduate students who have completed the minimum credit hours can choose to graduate and leave the university, or they can stay and continue to pursue a doctorate.

Nine out of ten graduate students in the Mathematics Department at Princeton University will choose to stay at the university to pursue a doctorate.

Shen Qi was one of them.

"In the end, I earned my master's degree in the Mathematics Department from Princeton University in just two semesters."

Shen Qi put on his master's gown and took a photo at the entrance of Princeton University to commemorate the occasion.

There were no large-scale ceremonial events or graduation ceremonies like those for undergraduate students.

The Mathematics Department Feierman, handed Shen Qi a master's degree certificate and said casually, "Take it, but don't get cocky. This is just a necessary step."

"Thank you." Shen Qi accepted his Master of Science degree in Mathematics from Princeton University.

At this simple handover ceremony, Shen Qi completed the first phase of his goals after arriving at Princeton.

System: "New achievement! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Master of Science degree in Mathematics from Princeton University, tying the fastest record in the school's history. The base reward is 400,000 Academic Excellence Points, multiplied by the Mathematics Talent Coefficient of 2.0, resulting in a final reward of 800,000 Academic Excellence Points. Remaining balance: 824,110 Academic Excellence Points. Please confirm."

"Having the certificate in hand really puts you at ease."

Shen Qi was in a good mood. He collected and categorized his Princeton Master of Science in Mathematics certificate.

Advanced Certificates: Princeton Master of Science in Mathematics Certificate, Ford Prize Certificate, Chern Prize in Mathematics Certificate

High-level journal article: <Journal of the American Mathematical Society> ×1

Intermediate-level journal articles: 1 in * Pacific Journal of Mathematics *, 1 in * Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society *

These are Shen Qi's spoils after arriving at Princeton. They are few in number, but worth archiving and collecting.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Qi added 3 points to his collection of intermediate-level journal articles.

During his undergraduate studies at Yenching University, he published a total of three SIC papers, which can be considered mid-level journal papers.

The remaining seven papers, along with a general journal paper from his high school years, were all categorized by Shen Qi as introductory-level journal articles.

The current statistics are as follows:

Advanced Certificates ×3

Intermediate Certificates ×5: Yenching University Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics, Yenching University Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics, Yenching University Outstanding Student Certificate, and 2 Capital University Track and Field Games Champion Certificates

Entry-level certificates x3: IMO Champion Certificate, CMO Champion Certificate, CPhO Champion Certificate

Political and Moral Character Certificate ×1: Provincial Model Student

1 high-level journal article

5 papers from intermediate journals

8 introductory-level journal articles

"It seems these past few years haven't been wasted." Shen Qi inspected his main spoils of war over the years, took a picture of his newly acquired master's degree certificate in the Mathematics Department from Princeton University, posted it on his WeChat Moments, and reported the news to his family and friends back home.

Zhou Yu'an was the first to like and comment. "Congratulations to Shen King of Show Offs for getting his master's degree from Princeton University in just one year! See you at Princeton University next January!"

Shen Qi made a phone call to Zhou Yu'an in China: "Did you receive an offer from Princeton University?"

"Yes, yes, hahaha, I just received it yesterday! In all of China, including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, I'm the only one who received an offer from the Graduate School of the Mathematics Department at Princeton University this season. There's only one spot available." Zhou Yu'an laughed heartily, sounding extremely happy.

"Then... what about Ou Ye?" Shen Qi thought to himself that this question was probably pointless. If what Zhou Yu'an said was true, there was only one offer from Princeton University's Mathematics Department this season, then Ou Ye would have to wait until next season, at the earliest next September, before she could come to Princeton to report for duty.