After Vera's presentation, it not only aroused enthusiastic response at the conference, but also attracted the attention of the media at the International Congress of Mathematicians.

For a long time, mathematics has been considered a male field, and few women have made outstanding achievements in this field. This means that the impact of any outcome will be magnified.

What's more, as a numbers game that was once all the rage in North America, the difficulty of the proposition of the Kakutani conjecture itself is not low.

To the media's dismay, however, the young female mathematician doesn't seem to like being interviewed, or is a little afraid of being on camera.

But fortunately, although Vera herself was not interviewed, her mentor was still relatively easy to talk to.

The third day after the presentation, the fourth day of the International Congress of Mathematicians.

The BBC Science reporter booked a time with Lu Zhou for a short interview at a café near the Hotel in Barra da Tijuca.

BBC reporter: "...... We all know that there are two presentations that will be relevant to you, and the proof of Kakutani's conjecture was done by your student, Miss Vera Puyuy. Excuse me, how would you rate your students? ”

Lu Zhou: "Vera is a very good student, including her other two collaborators, Qin Yue and Hardy, who are also very talented in number theory. I don't think gender is an issue that needs to be over-addressed, and there are very good women among the scholars I know. ”

BBC: "I heard that she was guided by you when she was researching the Kakutani conjecture, and many people think that you actually solved the conjecture, what do you think of these statements or rumors?" ”

Lu Zhou smiled: "What I provide is only the idea of solving the problem and the guidance of the method to them, and the whole proof is indeed done by themselves, there is no doubt about it." Moreover, it turns out that the group construction method is indeed an excellent number theory method that can be used to solve many problems in additive number theory. ”

Reporter: "So about the group construction method, which problem are you most optimistic about it being used to solve?" In other words, the proposition of which field to study? ”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Do you really want me to say it?" Actually, I think even if I don't say it, my peers can probably see it. ”

The reporter pursed his lips and smiled: "You better talk about it and take care of us laymen." ”

Lu Zhou thought for a moment and replied briefly, "Hualin question." ”

Among the many additive number theory problems, the Hualin problem can be said to be one of the classic propositions.

This proposition originated in 1770 in Waring's Meditations on Algebra, in which Edward Walling himself conjectured that for every non-1 positive integer k, there exists a positive integer g(k), so that each positive integer can be expressed as the sum of up to g(k) to the kth power.

As a classic problem in additive number theory, there are many people who are engaged in the study of this problem.

The existence of g(k) has been proved by Hilbert in a complex way, and the case of g(2)=4 is the sum of four square theorem, which was proved by Lagrange in the eighteenth century.

Among the later researchers, Wey Ferech, Balasubramanian, and Chen Jingrun proved the case of g(3), g(4), and g(5), respectively.

If you want to ask Lu Zhou which problem is most optimistic about being used to solve, then there is no doubt that it is the Hualin problem.

"That's really surprising......" The reporter looked at Lu Zhou in surprise, although she is not an academic person, but after all, she is a reporter who does science columns, and she has heard of the status of this problem in the field of mathematics.

After a pause, the BBC reporter continued: "So, about your other presentation, we all know that you have proved that the solution of the NS equation exists, and your proof is generally accepted by the academic community...... But if, I mean, hypothetically, this proposition is not proven, but falsified, will it have any effect on our lives? ”

Ten fingers crossed on his knees, Lu Zhou, who was leaning on the chair, smiled, and said in a relaxed tone: "In fact, if this proposition is falsified, the meaning will be greater." In the case of smoothness, if we find that at a particular point in time, our equations are no longer smooth, it may mean that we have not only solved an unsolved mathematical problem, but also that we have discovered a new physics. ”

Reporter: "Do you feel sorry for that?" ”

Lu Zhou sighed: "It's a pity...... In fact, when we were working with Professor Feverman on this topic, we thought we had discovered this particular point in time, but unfortunately it turned out to be a delusion. ”

"What made you find out?"

"When jogging by the lake, as for more specific ideas...... Lu Zhou looked around and asked, "Is there a blackboard here?" If so, I could elaborate on the issue. ”

Reporter Khan said: "This ...... You don't have to. ”

The relevant report was released the day after the interview, and it was edited by the BBC science column, interspersed with some clips from the report meeting, which can be regarded as restoring the original appearance of the interview.

After Lu Zhou watched the news video in the turtle, he glanced at the comment area by the way.

However, it is a pity that foreign netizens do not seem to be very interested in mathematics and academic tyrants, and the focus of attention is all on Vera.

And the comments with the highest praise are basically "Little sister is so beautiful!" ", "I want to travel to Ukraine in a group", "Do you have a boyfriend? "Looking for a girlfriend? and so on.

He admitted that Vera, who was trying to overcome the weakness in his heart and bravely made a report on the stage, did look a little dazzling. But the real thing to be noticed is not in these boring things at all.

It's so superficial!

Shaking his head, Lu Zhou turned off the video, and didn't want to speak about the fact that he was ignored by netizens on the Internet......

……

The core of the International Congress of Mathematicians is still academic exchanges, and many wonderful papers and reports have indeed emerged during the conference. In every sense, Lu Zhou can be said to have gained a lot in this conference.

After spending every day in academic exchanges, the nine-day International Congress of Mathematicians finally came to an end with a group of South American artists singing and dancing.

After the closing ceremony, the logo of the conference was removed from the hotel in Barra da Tijuca, and scholars from all over the world took their return flights.

It is worth mentioning that in the end, Bilkar still did not find his lost medal.

However, the organizers generously held a special award ceremony to make up for the lost medals for him, which can be regarded as not leaving irreparable regrets for this conference.

“…… The law and order in Rio was disappointing, and there were even robberies on the beach, making it undoubtedly the worst ICM congress ever. There had never been a theft of the Fields Medal before, and it had been just half an hour after the ceremony. Sitting on the return plane, Professor Feverman shook his head.

The South American mathematical community is leading the way in the field of dynamical systems, led by Brazil, which is one of the reasons why the conference was held in Rio de Janeiro.

Although the International Union of Mathematicians had concerns about the security situation in Rio de Janeiro, it did not expect it to be so serious, let alone such an embarrassing thing.

In particular, the perfunctory attitude of the local police in Rio de Janeiro is even more disappointing.

If it weren't for the excellent presentations at the conference, this ICM conference could only be described as terrible......

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Why don't you come to Beijing to hold it?" I'm sure that even if you dig three feet into the ground, the lost medal will be found. ”

Of course, Lu Zhou felt that it was more likely that the thief was targeted before he could make a move, and he was killed as soon as he stretched out his hand.

After staying outside for so long, in addition to those relatives and friends, what he misses the most is the security environment in the country.

Professor Feverman smiled.

"It's a great idea, and I'm sure there's an opportunity for it in the future!"