"Andrew Wiles, I've actually heard of this big name, the big bull in the contemporary mathematical world. Shen Qi said, his eyes never took his eyes off Wiles on the rostrum.

Zhou Yu'an took it for granted: "Nonsense, Filipino Prize winner, proved the super difficult problem Fermat's theorem, who has not heard of Wiles?"

"But we didn't know that this old man was Wiles!" the two said in unison.

"Such a big person still needs to go to the supermarket to buy salad dressing?" Shen Qi expressed doubt, a small boss like his father never went to the supermarket, so he just asked his subordinates to buy something.

"Hey, Shen Qi, Zhou Yu'an, what are you two muttering? Are you familiar with Professor Wiles?" asked the deputy team leader.

Shen Qi shook his head: "I'm not familiar with it, but I know that Professor Wiles is a master of mathematics, and his skills are quite profound, maybe he is the number one local master." ”

"Do you still need to say that quietly, listening to Professor Wiles read out the rules of the competition, it is very rare for the organizing committee to invite him to be the leader of the judging team. The deputy team leader put the earbuds back on, and the earbuds were connected to a synchronous translation device.

"I never expected that there are weak chickens in the same city who can't do subtraction within 10, and there are also bulls at the level of masters in the mathematics world, and the difference in strength is too great, it is simply the difference between the five scum of war and the god of war. Shen Qi put on the earplugs and listened to Wiles read out the rules of the competition.

“…… After the rules of the competition were read out, children, the last thing I want to say is, where there is counting, there is beauty, we are engaged in a beautiful work, worthy of our life's service. Wiles' last sentence is a quote from the Greek mathematician Proclus, who quoted it at the 1998 Philippine Prize ceremony and is quoted again today.

The auditorium roared with applause, and the British, foreigners, Europeans, Americans, Asians, players from all over the world, the coaching team, and the security guards who kept the order in order, all paid the highest respects to Wiles.

People seem to forget that Wiles is not the protagonist of this IMO, he is just a judge, routinely reading out the rules of the competition.

But does it matter?

Shen Qi was deeply shocked, it turned out that he had achieved the top level in learning, in exchange for supreme glory and the respect of the world, this glory and respect did not distinguish nationality, regardless of color and race.

"I really hope that one day, I can also achieve such a great achievement as Professor Wiles, what is the glory of the ancestors, this is called the glory of the ancestors to dominate the rivers and lakes. ”

Shen Qi felt that he had gained a lot from going abroad this time, and some scenes were not experienced in person, and he couldn't feel the vibration that touched his soul.

Professor Wiles poured a bowl of fierce chicken soup into more than 600 young players from 102 countries, and young talents from Europe, Asia, the United States, Africa, and Australia were gearing up, and the battle was about to break out.

On the morning of July 26, the first day of the IMO competition kicked off, and the competition venue was London South Bank University.

Professor Wiles, the leader of the judging team, has made it very clear that the rules and schedule of the competition are well understood, with a total of six questions, three questions today and three questions tomorrow, each with 7 points and a full score of 42 points.

The duration of the competition on each race day is 4.5 hours, and all stationery and drawing tools are allowed, and all electronic devices are not allowed in the arena.

Due to the long duration of the competition, each contestant can bring their own food and drinks into the venue, and can bring no more than three reference materials.

That's right, this is an open-book exam, eating, drinking, and flipping books.

It looks so relaxed IMO, it's similar to a summer camp.

But is that really the case?

Apparently not.

Shen Qi brought food such as muffins and bear biscuits, mineral water and Red Bull bought from the local supermarket, and three reference books were "Introduction to Analysis", "The Art of Speculation", and "Studies in Analytic Geometry and Differential Geometry".

When Shen Qi got the exam papers for the first day of the competition, he found that the three reference books were basically useless, and the most effective ones were Bear Biscuits and Red Bull.

The three questions on the first day's exam paper have been translated into Chinese, and Shen Qi must solve the first question first, because this is a threshold question.

Printed on the scroll is a cold line of Chinese characters: "The first question, the threshold question." 7 points for correct answers to this question, -7 points for incorrect answers and incorrect answers. ”

The first question is really frustrating, you get up to 7 points if you answer correctly, and you don't write 0 points if you answer incorrectly and don't write in the blank?

Look clearly, the threshold question is answered incorrectly and not answered with -7 points.

That is to say, the bottom line of this IMO exam paper is not 0 points, but -7 points.

The slightest mistake is a death.

Thousands of miles to Great Britain and a negative score home, I asked you if you were ashamed?

Zero duck eggs have come out, and I have waited for a long time to finally wait for today.

Shen Qi didn't dare to be careless, he reviewed the question of the threshold question for the third time:

"The Oxford University mathematics professor has three bright students: Tom, Jerry and Thomas. ”

"One day, the professor wanted to test who was the smartest of the three students. ”

The professor put a note on each of the three students' foreheads with numbers written on them. ”

Tom, Jerry, and Thomas could all see the numbers on the foreheads of the other two students, but not their own. ”

"The professor said that the numbers on the slips of paper on each of your foreheads are positive whole numbers, and that two numbers are added to make another number. So Tom, let me ask you, what is the number on your forehead?"

"Tom said, I'm sorry professor, I don't know. ”

The professor asked Jerry again, hey, Jerry, what about you, do you know what your number is?"

"Jerry said, I'm sorry professor, I don't know. ”

"The professor continues to ask Thomas, dear Thomas, you are the only one left, what is your answer?"

"Thomas said, I'm sorry professor, I don't know. ”

"It's okay, Tom, Jerry, and Thomas, let's do it again. The professor said. ”

The second time, Tom and Jerry were equally unable to name their numbers, but Thomas gave his number: 144. ”

The professor nodded, congratulations Thomas, your answer is correct. ”

"If you understand the above little story, please ask Tom and Jerry the numbers on their foreheads are (), () respectively. ”

The above is all the content of the first threshold question, 7 points are awarded for correct answers, and -7 points are awarded for incorrect answers and no answers.

Shen Qi knows that in the face of this fateful threshold problem, the real function and the Stillches integral, the Gloria transition matrix and the Weierstrass quadratic form, the hyperelliptic integral and Abel's theorem...... All advanced mathematical formulas, theorems, and inferences are invalid.

This is a purely logical derivation question, and it is set as a threshold question by the team leaders of 102 countries.

It doesn't work if you bring any reference books, and the most useful ones should be junior high school math textbooks.

The necessary mathematical knowledge is addition, subtraction, multiplication and division within 500, and simple one-time equation solving.

There are only two words left: brainpower.

The international rules seem to be different from the Chinese rules, and Shen Qi doesn't need to think about it to know that their Chinese team leader must have voted against this threshold logic question, but the minority obeys the majority, and it is useless to vote against it.

Chinese students are strong in pattern-based problem solving, while the international community values young people's logical thinking ability.

Shen Qi fell into contemplation, and when he came to the international arena, he found that what he was not afraid of all over the world was not an esoteric theory, but a ninety-nine multiplication table and the simplest one-time equation.

With some ideas, he deduced three necessary conditions and listed a system of equations.

Next, whether to score 7 points or -7 points, relying on pure brain-burning.