The lawn outside Azaenn Castle.
Laplace’s eyes were aflame: "I’ll let you see just how powerful this ’mere’ skill to enhance thinking can be!"
It was Laplace’s turn to ask Lin Ke a question.
He didn’t know why, but seeing Lin Ke so effortlessly solve a problem that had been vexing him made him very angry and furious!
Why?! On what grounds?!
He worked so hard, put in so much effort.
Every day his study time exceeded six hours!
He put aside his [Knight] training, reducing his original two hours of daily knight training to just one hour.
Every day he got up at six o’clock, and after having breakfast and brunch, he began studying and exploring.
He even gave up becoming the rapidly growing [Scholar] to directly become a [Mathematician].
Because he genuinely loved math!
He liked interacting with numbers, enjoying the feedback the world gave him after solving a math problem.
He liked the Enjoy reading on NovelHub - your free online novel platform.
But none of this attracted him more than math itself.
He really loved math!
Because of this, Laplace’s anger was growing even stronger.
He was the only son of the Marquis of Ice.
He was the one whom the marquis had high hopes for and into whom a lot of gold coins had been invested.
He used the best and most comfortable parchment, and the pen he used for writing was enchanted by a [Secret Text Master] to clear the mind and focus attention.
His teacher was a disciple of Mathematician Juli River, a level-ten [Mathematician].
But what about Lin Ke?
He was merely the heir of a small viscount family from the countryside!
He just used his cuteness and handsomeness to flatter and pander to Her Highness Rica, the lecherous one!
He... he’s not worthy of doing math problems!
He must have been able to answer the math problems only because of that High-tier Professional.
It must be a coincidence, yes, a coincidence!
Because the previous questions he asked, that High-tier Professional had also asked Lin Ke and explained the solutions to him.
Yes, that must be it!
Then I’ll have to come up with some modified questions, not just the original ones copied over...
Laplace’s eyes were bloodshot, and with equations swirling over his head, he blurted out without hesitation: "If we walk towards each other, 120 kilometers apart, my speed is 40 km/h, yours is 20 km/h, how long until we meet?"
In Naseng, units of time and distance are standardized.
This was a modified question by Laplace, with changes in numbers and the problem.
Once everyone heard it, they started brainstorming immediately, thinking this kind of intellectual duel was quite interesting.
Of course, Rica, Fulon, and other underachievers didn’t think so.
Rica was only interested in the first question, and then lost interest, eating sour fruit cakes one after another.
She and Fulon, who was next to her, were chatting excitedly about some novel plots, like those written by Lin Ke, as well as ones Fulon had read before.
Eventually, even Antova joined their discussion, and the three women were clearly enjoying the conversation.
The other men, however, were attentively watching the scholarly duel between Lin Ke and Laplace.
Men and women naturally have different interests.
Upon hearing Laplace’s question, Lin Ke shook his head and almost instantly replied, "Two hours."
At the same time, he couldn’t help but be thankful for his twelve years of general education in his previous life, which kept him from being too specialized, while his university education allowed him to refine his knowledge.
In both depth and breadth, he had a bit of each.
Although not extremely broad or deep, it was sufficient to handle this situation.
However, in Laplace’s eyes, this was somewhat terrifying.
"This is impossible!" Laplace exclaimed in disbelief as he saw Lin Ke giving the answer without much thought.
Why could this Lin Ke answer such questions so quickly!
Lin Ke was too lazy now to let this so-called "noble duel," which was essentially a farce of rivalry, continue.
In his eyes, what did a primary schooler like Laplace know about jealousy?
Either he’s being used and doesn’t know it, or it’s just a child’s competitiveness.
Lin Ke had noticed that among the crowd, there were clearly some nobles who were old rivals of the Azanen Family.
Just then, paper and pen arrived courtesy of Butler Billy.
The surrounding nobles immediately turned their attention to the paper, curious and intrigued, though noble etiquette kept them from asking too many questions.
It was now the duel time!
Lin Ke received the paper and pen, spread them out on a small table, and began to write and draw.
First, he drew an xy-coordinate axis, marked it with arrows, and then drew a parabola.
Given that y=ax²+bx+c (a≠0), and the vertex of this equation lies on the line y=-1/2x-1, passing through point A (4,0).
(1) Find the equation of the parabola.
(2) Suppose the vertex of the parabola is P. Is there a point B on the parabola such that quadrilateral OPAB is a trapezoid? If it exists, find the coordinates of point B; if not, prove why.
(3) Suppose point C is (1,-3). Determine point D on the axis of symmetry of the parabola, making the value of |AD-CD| maximum, and write down the coordinates of point D.
After thinking it over, Lin Ke only wrote down three questions, ensuring they were at a middle school level and wouldn’t reach high school level, with nothing as difficult as calculus.
After all, here, math was a hobby for Lin Ke, and everyone only knew Lin Ke was smart, not that he was also good at math.