第3章 焦耳的学习方法

Li Dong was completely stunned by terms like parallel timelines, diverging technology trees, and the butterfly effect...

He had never imagined that merely showing off on a whim would cause the technology tree of a parallel universe to veer off course.

"This feeling... it was like I was God, casually plucking a string and making the entire world tremble."

Li Dong swallowed, then shifted his gaze to his attribute panel.

[Focus: 0.1]

"What the hell is 0.1 supposed to mean?"

Li Dong wore an expression like he was badly constipated. Attributes could have decimals? How was that supposed to work?

Then, a flash of insight struck him.

Wait!

The effect of the red packet Newton had just sent was [Focus +1].

If that red packet represented Newton's focus, then...

"Newton is 1, and I'm 0.1..."

Li Dong began to giggle foolishly.

"That's Newton! The absolute legend who invented calculus while calculating planetary orbits!"

"Even if I only have one-tenth of his ability... wouldn't I be unstoppable at Jiangcheng No. 7 High School?"

Still excited, Li Dong looked back at the group chat.

"Um... I already kicked open the doors to thermodynamics for you. Aren't you going to show some appreciation?"

Li Dong stared at the screen and waited for a long time.

The group was completely silent.

Forget red packets—even an emoji was nowhere to be seen.

"This Newton... he isn't some scumbag who tosses people aside after using them, is he?"

Just as Li Dong was about to ask for a red packet directly, someone finally spoke in the group.

[James Joule]: @Isaac Newton, Sir! Your experiment was simply astonishing! I followed the same line of thought, stirring water in a bucket with paddles and measuring the change in temperature. The results perfectly proved that heat was the motion of particles!

[James Joule]: During this process, mechanical work was converted into heat! This is truly God's handiwork! Oh, and the chemist John Dalton on our side seems to have mentioned a concept called "atoms." I believe that is what you meant by molecules?

[James Joule]: Thank you so much, Sir Newton! If not for you, I don't know how much longer I would have remained lost in the erroneous Caloric Theory!

Li Dong froze when he saw those lines.

Joule?

He was another big shot, a man whose name, like Newton's, had become a unit.

Newton replied quickly.

[Isaac Newton]: @James Joule, no, you are thanking the wrong person. I was merely guided by someone else.

[Isaac Newton]: The one who truly discovered all this was @Currently Grinding Senior-Year Problems. He showed me the correct path. You should thank him.

Look at that! Just look at that!

That was the bearing of a true big shot! Unlike certain advisors who... ahem...

Since all these big shots wanted to thank him, Li Dong naturally would not stand on ceremony.

"No need to be polite. Since we all know each other so well, how about sending a red packet as a token?"

[System Prompt: This action has been detected to be unrelated to "academic discussion." Please maintain a proper attitude toward learning.]

"Fuck!"

Li Dong raged impotently, but he quickly calmed down.

If he could not ask for red packets directly, he had to find another way.

Since material rewards were out of reach, he would have to fleece them for knowledge!

Everyone in this group possessed one of the greatest minds in human history. If they could give him some pointers on studying...

With that thought, Li Dong immediately took action.

[Currently Grinding Senior-Year Problems]: It was nothing, not worth mentioning. However... I have a small problem recently.

[Currently Grinding Senior-Year Problems]: I have a nephew who will soon be taking a very important exam, but he is rather slow-witted and has always struggled with mathematics.

I was explaining problems to him just now, but even after a long time, he still could not grasp them.

[Currently Grinding Senior-Year Problems]: Do any of you have any good study methods that might save my foolish nephew?

Li Dong's big-shot persona obviously could not fail to understand high school math, so he would ask on behalf of his "nephew"!

This trick proved quite effective. Newton replied almost immediately.

[Isaac Newton]: Since he is your nephew, his aptitude should not be too poor. Send the problem over and let me take a look.

Li Dong was overjoyed.

Newton as a private tutor? Zhang Xuefeng, could you do that?

Li Dong hurriedly opened his math test paper and found the final problem that had wiped out the entire class.

Li Dong replaced the "e" in the question with "the base of the natural logarithm," then replaced the concept of "derivatives," which Newton might not understand, with the Method of Fluxions that people in Newton's era could comprehend before sending it over.

[Currently Grinding Senior-Year Problems]: This is the problem. How can one determine the range of the constant in the rate of change of a fluxion?

Less than two seconds after the message was sent—

[Isaac Newton]: The answer is a≤1.

Li Dong waited for a while. He was still expecting Newton's derivation.

But a minute passed, and Newton did not say anything else.

Li Dong grew anxious and continued asking.

[Currently Grinding Senior-Year Problems]: Um... could you explain it in a little more detail? My nephew is rather slow. He cannot understand it just by looking at the answer. Is there a specific derivation process?

[Isaac Newton]: ???

[Isaac Newton]: A process? Isn't it obvious? What process is needed?

Li Dong suddenly realized that he had made a mistake.

He was asking Newton!

Who was Newton?

He was that freak among geniuses who, in his twenties, fled to the countryside to avoid the plague and, out of boredom, casually invented calculus, discovered universal gravitation, and developed spectral analysis!

It was like asking Usain Bolt how to run. Usain Bolt would say, "You hear the gun, then whoosh, you sprint to the finish line. Isn't that all there is to it?"

Ordinary people simply could not learn that!

Just as Li Dong felt that this attempt at fleecing knowledge was about to end in failure, the man named Joule appeared again.

[James Joule]: Ahem... Sir Newton, you may have overestimated the thinking speed of ordinary people.

[James Joule]: @Currently Grinding Senior-Year Problems, I can deeply relate to the problem your nephew has encountered.

My aptitude is poor, so I understand the pain of "not being able to wrap your head around something."

Li Dong's eyes lit up.

Right! Joule!

Joule came from a brewing family. He had received little formal higher education, and he had taught himself mathematics in order to solve physics problems.

A big shot from such an unconventional background definitely had a set of study methods suited to him!

Li Dong hurriedly said in the group.

"Mr. Joule! You are far too modest! Do you have any insights you could share?"

[James Joule]: If not for your line of thought, I would not have confirmed so quickly that heat is the motion of molecules.

Since your nephew is having trouble with his studies, I will share my own learning methods.

[James Joule]: Although these clumsy methods are not worth mentioning before Sir Newton, they may lay a solid foundation for those with weak basics.

Then he sent a document to the group.

Li Dong immediately opened it, and the contents of the document appeared in his mind.

The first point was: break it down and close the basics loop.

It meant breaking knowledge down into the smallest units and mastering them one unit at a time—memorizing definitions, deriving formulas, and doing ten problems of the same type correctly before moving on to the next knowledge point.

The second point was: review and quantify the causes of errors.

There were generally three reasons people got a problem wrong: they forgot a formula, made a calculation error, or had no idea how to approach it. If they got the same type of problem wrong twice, they had to stop and relearn that unit from the beginning, returning to the first point.

The third point was: make connections and transfer general methods.

The science subjects were interconnected. While studying, one should think more about whether a method could be applied to other subjects.

For example, finding maxima and minima in mathematics could be applied to kinematics in physics as well.

Conservation in chemistry was also the same principle as conservation of energy in physics.

Once one's thinking opened up, those difficult problems that once seemed impossible would naturally begin to reveal clues to their solution.

This method was not actually complicated. Ordinary people might not necessarily fail to think of it, but very few could truly put it into practice.

It was like a multiple-choice question.

If hard work might not bring rewards, would you still persist without hesitation? Most people would probably give up halfway.

But if someone told you that as long as you followed his method, you would definitely succeed, then many more people would be willing to grit their teeth and persevere.

Now that Joule had vouched for it, Li Dong had already made up his mind to follow this method step by step.

With this set of methods, plus the attribute bonuses he might gain at any time...

Li Dong felt like he was about to take off.

Just after Li Dong thanked Joule and said he would have his nephew give it a try—

The bell for evening self-study rang.

The classroom door was pushed open, and Old Yang walked in with the stack of test papers they had not finished going over tucked under his arm.

"Quiet down!"

"Take out your papers. We'll continue from this afternoon!"

"And Li Dong, stop hiding your phone under your book. Did you think I couldn't see it?"

Li Dong hurriedly stuffed his phone into his pocket.

The entire class burst into laughter.