Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Is there any other questions?”
Professor Deligne looked at the staff member.
“No…”
Embarrassed, the staff member smiled before he went back to the side.
He did not dare to oppose the big shot.
There were only 13 mathematicians that had won both the Fields Medal and Wolf Prizes. Only two who had won the Crayford Prize as well. One of them was Deligne, the other was Qiu Chengtong.
Even the chairman of the International Mathematics Union greatly respected Deligne, much less an ordinary conference staff member.
Lu Zhou would have thanked Deligne, but at this moment his attention was elsewhere.
He looked at the four fully written whiteboards and stopped writing.
The whiteboards contained the results from the past four days worth of research.
He had to solve the rest on the spot.
He still had half an hour of inspiration time left.
He had completely entered the state of concentration, and he had almost forgotten where he was.
He completely forgot about the audience.
He completely forgot about the hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at him.
As Lu Zhou looked at the lines of calculations on the whiteboard, he was calm as a millpond.
He picked up the marker.
[S(α)=Σane(nα);M,N∈ζ…]
Professor Deligne stared at the whiteboard with his sharp eyes. He suddenly asked his old friend who was sitting next to him, “Do you think he will succeed?”
Professor Zellberg stared at the formula on the whiteboard and smiled, “It’s hard to say, but I think we should look forward to it. Mathematics is the field of geniuses, and 70% of outstanding achievements are made by young mathematicians.”
“This is why you turned to study string theory?” asked Professor Deligne as he stopped writing on his notebook.
“Haha,” said Professor Zellberg. He smiled and said, “Maybe?”
The other side of the lecture hall…
Wei Wen stared at the whiteboard motionlessly as he watched his competitor challenging a world-class problem on stage. The calculations were beyond his knowledge, and he could barely keep up with what was going on.
Finally, he could not help but whisper.
“Professor.”
Professor Wang Yuping looked at the whiteboard and smiled, “What’s up?”
“Do you think… he can succeed?”
Professor Wang Yuping thought for a moment before he answered, “Hard to say. Number theory requires the most talent. If he succeeds, it’ll be a good story.”
Wei Wen immediately asked, “What if he fails?”
Professor Wang Yuping thought and said, “… If he fails, he would become the butt of the jokes at Princeton.”
Lu Zhou might be ridiculed by the media as well. The media could spin him as some arrogant idiot who was defeated by a world-class problem… Even though Lu Zhou had the correct researching spirit, society was not so forgiving.
The old gentleman could not help but think.
It’s still better to be young…
Only young people have this kind of courage and enthusiasm.
There were too many things to worry about at his age.
The older one was, the more stable one would be. The more stable one was, the harder it would be to improve.
It was not just about inspiration or the decline in concentration and brain degeneration.
It was also because it would be difficult for a professor to challenge a big conjecture. The professor could spend years trying to solve the problem and achieved nothing.
In contrast, Lu Zhou was an undergraduate student. He had no academic pressure, nor did he had to worry about his career or meetings. He could use his time to explore and achieve great results inspired by inspiration.
Even if Lu Zhou failed, it was fine.
However, if Lu Zhou succeeded…
The only person who could overcome Lu Zhou as a young mathematician was probably the guy that proposed the “PS theory”. The youngest W3 professor in Germany, Peter Schultz.
However, Lu Zhou might be stronger.
Schultz might be Lu Zhou’s biggest contender for the 2018 Fields Medal. And Brendle, also from Germany, was also a strong competitor. However, this year’s Ramanujan gold award was probably going to be awarded to the solver of the twin prime number conjecture.
As Professor Wang stared at Lu Zhou’s back, his face was full of praise.
Wei Wen who was seated next to him said nothing. He did not even know what to think…
On the stage…
Five fully written whiteboards.
It was already five minutes past the inspiration time.
The result was determined.
Lu Zhou looked at the staff dragging the sixth whiteboard and slowly spoke.
His lips twitched as he whispered in front of the five whiteboards.
“God threw a six-sided dice, but there were seven results.”
“Mr. Hilbert’s topological approach to the infinity prime numbers proves that there is a layer of inspiration.”
He faced the new whiteboard.
Once again, he lifted his right hand.
He started to write on the whiteboard.
[S(2)-(logkx)S(1)>0 is true for K≥2, acceptable array H=…]
[…]
[Therefore, there is an infinite number of twin prime pairs.]
In the crowd…
Professor Deligne’s eyes grew bigger and he suddenly smiled.
Professor Zellberg said, “When I used the topological method to supplement the screening theory, I thought that my work might provide ideas for future generations to solve the Goldbach conjecture. I didn’t think that this sword could be used to cut the K=1 form of the Polignac conjecture. It seems that he responded to our expectations.”
Professor Deligne put down his pen and took off his glasses before he rubbed his slightly sore eyes.
He only said one word.
“Yeah.”
The audience was quiet.
Only one person was on the stage.
Lu Zhou stepped back and looked at the six whiteboards.
The venue was so quiet that he could hear his heartbeat.
This should be fine…
Lu Zhou then took a deep breath before he turned around. He then walked to the podium and faced the audience as he spoke confidently.
“There are infinite twin pairs, and we’ve taken another big step toward the Polignac’s conjecture.”
“Sorry for delaying everyone’s time, but my proof process is over.”
It was like he was doing an exam, and he had finally handed his paper in.
There were mixed feelings in his heart.
Lu Zhou listened to his own heartbeat and gently placed the marker down on the podium.
The people’s heads moved under the fluorescent lights.
Everyone in the audience was a witness.
This proof was going to be presented to the entire world.
Lu Zhou faced the audience and bowed.
He then turned around and walked off the stage.