Looking at this scene, Principal Qiu smiled slightly and returned the microphone to the host teacher.

The host teacher smiled and said, "Since everyone agreed, then there is no problem." Then, everyone asks questions, but you have to maintain the discipline of the auditorium, one by one. Otherwise, I'm worried about your problem, and I will suddenly confuse Chen Zhou, who solved the hail conjecture problem. ”

Hearing the words of the host teacher, everyone will smile, but the basic discipline can be regarded as settled.

"Next, hand over the stage to our classmate Chen Zhou. ”

After speaking, the host teacher stuffed the microphone to Chen Zhou, pushed Chen Zhou to the front of the stage, and quietly told him by the way, who do you want to listen to, just "point someone".

Chen Zhou nodded silently in understanding.

Although I was extremely reluctant, I finally came to a "press conference".

Chen Zhou, who was thinking like this, saw the reporters in the audience, all holding their hands high, waiting for Chen Zhou to flop.

Chen Zhou glanced around and found a female reporter with a cute face, and the female reporter started the Q&A.

The female reporter who was flopped looked excited, obviously not expecting that she would be the first.

She took a deep breath, questions flashing through her mind.

There is only one chance, let alone the opening.

Without coming up with a question that would be enough to steal the headlines of tomorrow, she felt like she was wasting her chance.

"Please!" Chen Zhou asked politely again.

The female reporter was brought back by Chen Zhou's voice, she organized her language a little, and then asked: "We know that the hail conjecture was recently proved by you, but before you proved this conjecture, it had existed for more than 70 years. ”

In the past 70 years, countless mathematicians have studied it and tried to solve it. As a result, it has not been proven by you until today. I am also sure that you must have spent a lot of time and energy to finally solve this world-class problem. ”

"So, I think many people like me want to ask you, what exactly is a conjecture, is it really worth spending so much time and energy to prove a conjecture, what's the point?"

The foreshadowing in front of this female reporter is only for this last question.

Admittedly, in the eyes of people who do not understand mathematics, there will be such a problem.

That's why study mathematical conjecture so hard?

The results of research are often nothing, and a lot of time and energy is wasted.

Wouldn't it be nice to spend this time and energy on other things?

Moreover, even if the math problem is solved, it does not necessarily have any impact on the world, right?

On the contrary, in today's society, a mobile phone and a software can affect the world.

Chen Zhou glanced at the female reporter, stared at him, and said slowly: "Maybe in your opinion, mathematical symbols or numbers have no meaning, but you don't know that it is a tool to promote human development. ”

Speaking of this, Chen Zhou slowly glanced at everyone in the audience: "I believe you all know that Toy Story is a powerful tool for Apple to open a new era of mobile, but what you may not know is. To make Toy Story, Apple summoned a large number of mathematicians who had nothing to do with animation production. ”

"Why are mathematicians being summoned?"

Chen Zhou asked.

But none of the reporters could answer.

At this time, in the entire auditorium, everyone's eyes were focused on Chen Zhou.

President Qiu, who sat in the audience again, and Dean Sun and Dean Zhou of the School of Mathematics, and other leaders of Yan University, also collectively looked at Chen Zhou.

"Because mathematicians are the key to Toy Story's success!" says Chen, "The makers applied their mathematical knowledge and used sophisticated mathematical formulas to create a number of animated characters that are more lifelike than hand-drawn." ”

As a result, mathematicians have developed new technologies using mathematically based computer graphics, or CG, as we often call it. The mathematical symbols and numbers that you find meaningless are used here, including geometry, differential formulas, and so on. ”

"In a movie like Pirates of the Caribbean, a lot of shots of huge waves crashing against the ship are also made with CG technology. And the reason why this movie is able to depict the scene of rough waves and millions of water droplets splashing is also because of the application of the Navier-Stokes equation to CG technology!"

"Not only that, but the search engines that are commonly used today are also developed using mathematical algorithms. The emerging 4G network technology (2015) is also based on the Fourier transform formula in mathematics to modify the expression of complex fluctuations. ”

"These are the real ways in which mathematics can affect people's lives. As for ......"

Chen Zhou paused, and he found that the reporters in the audience were holding small notebooks one by one.

Some reporters are still anxious to look around, here to ask what the Navier-Stokes equation is, and there to ask about the content of the Fourier transform.

Chen Zhou couldn't help but wonder, these reporters are also quite interesting.

"Not only in the places that people can see, but also in the places where people can't see, mathematical symbols and numbers have a huge impact, and they are the means for people to understand themselves, the world, and the universe. ”

"Newton created calculus in order to study gravity. ”

When Einstein created the general theory of relativity, he transformed the problem of gravity into a mathematical problem, and found that his mathematical knowledge was insufficient. So he found his old classmate Grossman, who helped him find Riemann's related literature. ”

It was also after this experience that Albert Einstein said that in physics, the path to deeper basic knowledge is linked to the most sophisticated mathematical methods. ”

That's why Einstein's mass-energy equation in relativity is so concise and mathematically beautiful. ”

"Let's talk about Chang'e running to the moon and ten thousand households flying into the sky. Human beings have been yearning for space for a long time, and since the ancients, they have been trying to fly into the sky. However, the key to the conquest of space is rocket technology. ”

"And the breakthrough in rocket technology is the Tsiolkovsky formula. It is also this formula that makes it possible to use rockets for interstellar navigation and launch satellites, and has become the key to mankind's conquest of space. ”

"Why was the former Soviet Union able to kick off the space age, why was it able to launch the first artificial satellite, why was it able to send the first astronaut into space?"

"It is precisely because of the Tsiolkovsky formula!"

"As Tsiolkovsky said, the earth is the cradle of mankind, but man cannot live in the cradle forever!"

Chen Zhou's words instantly made everyone in the audience excited.

That's what mathematics is all about.

This is also the charm of mathematics.

Whether it is life or dreams, it is inseparable from mathematics.

Glancing at everyone in the audience, Chen Zhou began to end this question.

"Going back to the problem itself, what is the point of spending so much time and energy studying mathematical conjectures?"

"Mathematical conjecture is a powerful driving force for the development of mathematics and an important way to create mathematical ideas and methods. As mentioned earlier, Einstein learned about Riemann's non-Euclidean geometry and created the general theory of relativity. So do you know the Riemann conjecture?"

This is a conjecture that has not yet been proven. But in the process of studying it, many treasures have been unearthed. In today's mathematical literature, there are more than 1,000 mathematical propositions based on the Riemann hypothesis and generalized. It has had a profound impact on the development of mathematics. ”

In fact, in the process of human research and proof of various conjectures, even if not to mention the significance of the development of mathematics, this process is also a catalyst for the development of human thinking, depth of thinking, logical ability, etc. ”

"If people only know how to look down at their feet, they will never know the beauty of the blue sky and white clouds. It's the same with how much time and energy humans spend studying mathematical conjectures. ”

As Chen Zhou's words fell, the applause from the audience gradually rang out, becoming more and more enthusiastic.