"Gu Xiaodan, shut up." Shen Qi scolded Gu Xiaodan again, then asked Chen Xiaoting, "Since you have artistic talent, why don't you participate in the art exams? Give it a try, you might get accepted by the Beijing Film Academy, the Central Academy of Drama, or the Central Conservatory of Music. But it's too late now, the art exams are over."
"I'm just an ordinary person, I'd rather just go to a regular university." It seems Chen Xiaoting doesn't aspire to an artistic career.
"What works has Deldra created?" Shen Qi suddenly asked.
"Huh? Deldra?" Chen Xiaoting didn't react for a moment.
Shen Qi explained, "Deldra, a musician, what are his representative works?"
Chen Xiaoting said, "Deldra is most famous for 'Memorial' and 'Serenade,' which I practice often."
Shen Qi then asked, "Where is Ravel?"
Chen Xiaoting: "Ravel wrote many pieces, and the violin piece I often practice is the '<Zigeunerweisen>'."
"Oh, thank you." Shen Qi memorized the famous pieces by Deldra and Ravel. The system hadn't unlocked music subjects, so he didn't know anything about G major or G minor, but he could at least listen to them.
"Shen Qi, have you recently become interested in classical music?" In front of Shen Qi, Chen Xiaoting finally found a topic that allowed them to have an equal conversation, and Chen Xiaoting even had an advantage.
"To cultivate one's character," Shen Qi said. "Xiaoting, what was your ranking in the grade this monthly exam?"
"Not high, 558 points, 233rd in the grade." Chen Xiaoting was slightly disappointed. She could have chatted with Shen Qi about Debussy, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Paganini, but Shen Qi didn't want to talk to her about classical music.
Shen Qi: "Sure, passing the first-tier university entrance exam cutoff shouldn't be a problem. However, some provincial universities are now within the first-tier cutoff range, so it's best to aim for a higher score and try to get into a key university directly under the Ministry of Education."
"Does failing to get into a top university mean I'm not qualified to be your friend?" Gu Xiaodan couldn't help but turn around and ask.
"No, that's not it." Shen Qi stood up and left the classroom, ending his daily rounds.
"It's definitely true!" Gu Xiaodan felt immense pressure. He calculated, "Besides Peking University and Tsinghua University, the key universities in the capital include Renmin University of China, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing University of Science and Technology, Beihang University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing Normal University, China Agricultural University, China University of Geosciences, China Sun Yat-sen University of Finance and Economics, Communication University of China, China University of Political Science and Law, Central University of Finance and Economics, University of International Business and Economics..."
"Wow, the capital has so many top universities! Our province and the neighboring provinces combined can't compare to the capital city alone. No, not even Haidian District! I love Tiananmen Square in the capital! The sun rises over Tiananmen Square, the great capital! I will definitely go!"
"By the way, Chen Xiaoting, which university do you want to apply to? It's already March, don't you have any idea?" Gu Xiaodan asked Chen Xiaoting.
"None of your business?" Chen Xiaoting didn't want to talk to Gu Xiaodan.
Shen Qi was summoned home by his father, and good news came from the publishing industry.
After initial discussions with Shen Zhishan, Nangang Science and Technology Publishing House expressed interest in publishing Shen Qi's book on mathematical insights.
"The publisher is very interested in the content of your manuscript, but the editor wants you to revise your descriptive style. The editor says your writing is too colloquial and needs to be changed," Shen Zhishan said to Shen Qi.
"How should we change it?" Shen Qi asked.
Shen Zhishan said, "Later I'll take you to Nangang Science and Technology Publishing House to meet the editor. You can discuss the technical details with him yourself, but Shen Qi, don't say a word about the business aspects. I'm reminding you, Shen Qi, you're over 18, and you have to be responsible for what you say and sign. Although I'll handle the business and legal matters of the work contract, you'll ultimately be the one signing as the contractor."
"I know I don't know anything about business, and I'm not interested in talking about business. Anyway, I'm in charge of making money, and Dad is in charge of collecting the money."
"You really think you can make money by writing a book?"
"There's bound to be something, even if it's just a little something," Shen Qi said with a smile.
"I'm not expecting anything from you, as long as you're happy," Shen Zhishan said.
In the afternoon, Shen Qi met with the editor in charge of Nangang Science and Technology Publishing House.
"Olympic Math champion, a mathematical genius—seeing is believing, truly a young hero." The editor praised Shen Qi repeatedly upon meeting him in person.
"You flatter me, editor. Shall we get down to business?" Shen Qi to get the book publication done as soon as possible; he had many other business matters to attend to.
"Shen Qi, the core content of your manuscript is about mathematics, which is perfectly fine. When Terence Tao was your age, he was at about the same level."
"However, I cannot agree with the way you expressed yourself in the manuscript. What kitchen knife, how you chopped it down until it cried 'Dad,' how you wielded a Lagrange median sword to tower dive and kill... My mathematical genius, you are writing popular science articles, not online entertainment novels. Can you please be a little more rigorous and formal in your writing?"
The editor, after a brief exchange, added, "While my colleague doesn't approve of your diary-style writing, I think the diary format is fine. Just remove the internet slang and use simple diary language; it doesn't require sophisticated literary skills—a high school student's excellent essay level is sufficient. Also, don't include too much personal opinion; a little is fine. In short, Shen Qi, I hope the final draft will be a rigorous yet engaging and interesting work."
"I'll change it, I'll change it." Shen Qi accepted the editor's suggestion.
After returning home, Shen Qi added revision work to his daily schedule.
During the revision process, Shen Qi maintained communication with the editor and confirmed the book title as "<Olympic Math Champion Shen Qi's Math Techniques>".
It's a very formulaic book title, but the editor said it would boost sales.
In the preface to the final draft, Shen Qi wrote:
"My abilities are limited, and errors are inevitable in the writing process. I would like to express my special thanks to Mr. Zhang Wanbang from Nangang Second High School and Professor Sun Erxiong the Mathematics Department at Yenching University for their careful guidance."
With that, Shen Qi's task was complete. As for the business matters such as how the money would be split between Party A and Party B, the pricing, the initial print run, and the start date of printing, these would be handled entirely by Shen Zhishan, and this would take some time.
After submitting the manuscript, the CPhO national preliminary competition began at the end of March.
The national preliminary round only tests theoretical knowledge, with the Chinese Physics Association commissioned by the Ministry of Education to prepare the theoretical questions, and the exam papers are standardized nationwide.
Mu Rong led a group of more than ten people from the Nangang Second High School Physics Competition Team to the Municipal Experimental Middle School, where they participated in the preliminary rounds.
The preliminary round lasted 3 hours, from 9 a. m. to 12 p. m.
Before the team members entered the examination room, Mu Rong gave them a final pep talk. "Boys, I believe you can all pass the preliminary round. Good luck, I'll be waiting for your good news outside."
The dozen or so members of the Nangang Second High School Physics Competition Team were assigned to different examination rooms, with Shen Qi in examination room number 3.
At 8:55, the bell rang, signaling the start of the exam. The proctors began distributing the preliminary exam papers and scratch paper.
Contestants may bring pens, drawing tools, calculators without programming, logarithmic tables, and tables of physical constants into the venue.
A list of mathematical and physical formulas, as well as electronic devices with communication functions, are not allowed in the examination room.
At 9:00 AM sharp, the bell rang again, officially marking the start of this year's CPhO National Preliminary Competition.
Shen Qi received the preliminary exam paper and quickly scanned through all the questions.
"No problem." Shen Qi was confident and made his choice first.
There are 5 multiple-choice questions, each worth 6 points.
In each question, there are four options. Some questions have only one correct answer, while others have multiple correct answers.
6 points for selecting all correct answers, 3 points for selecting some but not all correct answers, and 0 points for selecting the wrong answer or not answering.
This means that these 5 multiple-choice questions include both single-choice and multiple-choice questions, but the preliminary exam paper did not specify which questions were single-choice and which were multiple-choice. Contestants needed to determine this themselves based on the question and the 4 options.
The first multiple-choice question in the preliminary round of the National High School Physics Competition had a line drawn on the paper, which represents the x-axis.
From left to right, there are three points in the upper left corner: O, P1, and P2.
The text description is:
A simple harmonic transverse wave propagates along the positive z-axis in a uniform medium. Two particles, P1 and P2, are at their equilibrium positions on the x-axis, 60 cm apart. When particle P1 moves upward from its equilibrium position, particle P2 is at the trough of the wave. If the wave propagation speed is 24 m/s, then the frequency of the wave could be:
A, 500HZ
B, 60Hz
C, 400HZ
D, 410HZ.
Does this even need thinking? It's so simple, a freebie, not worth wasting your brain cells on.
Shen Qi quickly wrote down two English letters: AD.
Each multiple-choice question takes an average of 30 seconds, and Shen Qi completed all five multiple-choice questions in just over two minutes.
Next are five fill-in-the-blank questions, each worth 10 points.
The fill-in-the-blank questions were slightly more difficult, and Shen Qi completed five questions in five minutes.
The CPhO preliminary exam has a maximum score of 200 points.
The total score for the 5 multiple-choice questions and 5 fill-in-the-blank questions is 80 points.
The calculation questions are worth 120 points and consist of 6 questions.
The first calculation question is worth 15 points, the sixth calculation question is worth 25 points, and the four middle calculation questions are worth 20 points each.
"No pressure at all, this is way easier than being a CMO."
Feeling incredibly bored, Shen Qi finished the first five calculation problems. It was 9:20 a. m., 20 minutes after the exam bell rang.
"Yawn..." Shen Qi was almost asleep. After being given 15 questions in a row, anyone would doze off.