White-Hot Competition
Drinking alcohol to find inspiration is something many mathematicians do.
Shen Qi had done this before. He was quite inspired the first few times he drank, but after a few more times he became numb to it.
Burning papers to seek inspiration, pushing oneself to the brink of death to find a way out, a struggling junior researcher is instantly promoted to the Princeton Mathematics Department.
This was the first time Shen Qi had ever heard of such a mysterious sacrificial ritual.
Professor Wiles, such an authoritative figure, would never lie.
Professor Wiles, who spent ten years doing nothing but devoting all his energy to proving Fermat's Last Theorem, is definitely not a con artist.
Why would Wiles lie to Shen Qi? Wiles, a knighted by the Queen, a man of fame and status—what was he after?
Therefore, Shen Qi believed Wiles's mysterious ritual; people with genius minds cannot be judged by common sense.
A seasoned veteran must possess extraordinary skills.
Before returning to Princeton, Shen Qi received some exciting news: an official message from IMU.
IMU: "Dr. Shen Qi, regarding the report on 'Latest Research Progress of RT Third Expression,' due to time constraints, we have not yet fully grasped its essence."
"But we believe that your framework report is of great academic value."
"Therefore, we will adjust your presentation time at the International Congress of Mathematicians from 45 minutes to the highest level of 1 hour."
"I hope you can give a detailed report on the research progress of the 'RT Third Expression update' during the extra 15 minutes."
Please take note of the above notice.
"A formal invitation to the highest-level one-hour report will be sent to Princeton in one week."
There's hope!
The 45-minute interval has been changed to 1 hour.
In everyday life, you can't get much done in 15 minutes.
However, at the quadrennial International Congress of Mathematicians, the extra 15 minutes represented a certain indication.
These 15 minutes were earned by Shen Qi himself.
Shen Qi is getting closer and closer to the Fields Medal!
Everything is ready, except for the final push!
The day after Shen Qi returned to Princeton, it happened to be Wednesday, coffee time.
Professor Faltings has released the latest winning probability predictions for this year's Fields Medal:
1. Simon- Blund, 66.18% (65.76%);
2. Joseph Ayoub, 57.98% (57.35%);
3. Shen Qi, 50.87% (34.24%)
4. Pete Schultz, 49.67% (37.25%)
5. Jodie Williamson, 48.99% (48.03%)
6. Sofia Morel, 43.02% (44.18%)
7. Alessio Faltings, 25.44% (28.31%)
The data in parentheses represents the winning rate for the previous period.
Compared to the previous period, Simon Blund and Joseph Ayoub, who ranked first and second respectively, maintained their positions.
The biggest increase was seen in Shen Qi, who jumped from sixth to third.
Peter Schultz moved up one spot to the top four, trailing Shen Qi by a narrow margin and leading Jodie Williamson by a narrow margin.
According to the latest ranking predictions, among the top four candidates, two study Algebraic Geometry (Ayoub and Schultz), one studies Differential Geometry and Partial Differential Equations (Blund), and one has recently focused on number theory (Shen Qi).
This distribution of academic disciplines is balanced and reasonable.
There has been a precedent of two winners in a single Fields Medal for Algebraic Geometry.
After all, Algebraic Geometry is a popular field, and one-third of the Fields Medal have been awarded to mathematicians in the field of Algebraic Geometry.
"Wow, it seems you have a good chance," Professor Muller commented, then looked at Grader Faltings: "Hey, Grader, are your odds accurate?"
Faltings: "Hmm, this time it should be accurate. There have been some new developments in the Mathematics Community recently. Both Qi and Schultz have made effective fluctuations. Combining this with my calculation formula, it is reasonable to raise their winning probability, which is in line with the principles of Probability Statistics."
Shen Qi stared thoughtfully at the odds information on the blackboard. "The distribution area above 66.66% might be the safe zone, which means more than two-thirds of the judges cast their votes in favor."
Faltings said, "Qi, you're right, so no one is absolutely safe."
"Okay." Shen Qi shrugged and smiled. He couldn't completely believe Faltings' prediction, nor could he completely deny it.
After all, unofficial predictions don't count. If the IMU provided similar odds information, Shen Qi would be willing to believe it.
Logically and conventionally, there's no reason why a mathematician who proves the Riemann Hypothesis should be excluded from the Fields Medal.
In Hilbert's prediction, the Riemann Hypothesis was on par with Fermat's Last Theorem.
Wiles, who proved Fermat's Last Theorem, was exceptionally awarded the Fields Medal at the age of 45, demonstrating the enormous impact of this achievement.
Having proven the Riemann Hypothesis, Shen Qi is widely considered by the international Mathematics Community to have a 100% chance of winning the next Fields Medal.
Even at the next Fields Medal four years from now, Shen Qi will only be 26 years old.
To date, the youngest winner of the Fields Medal is 27 years old.
At this year's Fields Medal, 22-year-old Shen Qi is not considered by outsiders to have a 100% chance of winning.
This is also the view held within Princeton University's Mathematics Department.
None of the seven nominees for this year's Fields Medal are absolutely safe.
Back at the apartment, Shen Qi checked and integrated the team members' thesis materials.
"Jonas's work on the path of the function logζ(s) is progressing reasonably well."
"The progress on the fundamental theorem of prime numbers, which Mary is in charge of, is satisfactory."
"The path for the zero-point equation that Little Yezi was responsible for is also considered acceptable."
"It seems I'm the only one whose progress is delayed."
Shen Qi drank a bottle of whiskey and burned two pages of his thesis draft.
It's useless.
The effects of the mysterious ritual vary from person to person. Burning the thesis had a life-saving effect on Wiles, but it was temporarily ineffective on Shen Qi.
Perhaps the amount of alcohol wasn't sufficient, or perhaps the quantity of the papers used in the mysterious ritual was also inadequate?
Shen Qi drew the curtains, drank another bottle of whiskey, took a metal basin, and lit 20 pages of draft paper.
Then, under the influence of alcohol, Shen Qi fell asleep, failing to grasp the inspiration for the fourth approach to the RT Third Expression.
For the next period of time, Shen Qi studied the topic of the RT Third Expression during the day and performed mysterious rituals at night.
Shen Qi still needs to prepare lessons; he is about to become a lecturer in the Princeton Mathematics Department, where he will be responsible for teaching undergraduate mathematics courses.
Actually, Shen Qi had a good mindset. He knew he would definitely win the Fields Medal in his lifetime; it was just a matter of time.
Of course, it would be best if he could win an award this year. Shen Qi is currently full of passion, and striking while the iron is hot would be very effective.
At the end of August, another major piece of news came from Europe.
Williamson, an Australian mathematician at the University of Freiburg, claims that he and his team have derived a 498-dimensional mathematical structure based on Lie theory.
The Mathematics Community was in an uproar; Williamson's popularity surpassed that of Shen Qi and Schultz overnight.
Faltings raised Williamson's odds of winning the Fields Medal overnight.
With his groundbreaking research on the "498-dimensional mathematical structure," Williamson has returned to third place on the "Fields Medal prediction list," surpassing Shen Qi by 1.8 percentage points in winning probability.
Lie is the Norwegian mathematician whose main achievements are Lie groups and Lie Algebra, also known as Lie theory.
You may not be aware of what it means to obtain a 498-dimensional mathematical structure based on Lie theory.
However, if you can imagine that the universe we live in is only three-dimensional, then you should be able to guess how enormous the workload is to complete a 498-dimensional mathematical structure.
There are still two full months until the Fields Medal draw.
Williamson's release of his three years of research during this special period demonstrates his considerable effort.
In the Fields Medal prediction list, Blund and Ayoub firmly hold the top two spots.
Preliminary findings on the Hodge conjecture, latest research progress on the RT Third Expression, and a 498-dimensional mathematical structure based on Lie theory.
Schultz, Shen Qi, Williamson took turns unleashing their big moves within a month, one after another.
The competition for this year's Fields Medal has entered a fierce stage, with a complex and unpredictable situation.
Which four companies will ultimately win?
Mathematicians and enthusiasts worldwide are eagerly awaiting the outcome.
(Tomorrow is the National College Entrance Examination. Wishing all candidates the best of luck.)
I'll save the extra chapter for after the college entrance exam. Focus on your exams and don't read novels these next few days.
Success in the imperial examination is assured!