"Sure enough, you're lurking... No, this question is not good, change it.

Do you have the number of the bird that can't fly in Antarctica?" Zhao Dagui just wanted to scream, but he felt that it was wrong, so he hurriedly changed the question.

"Antarctica, where is Antarctica?" Li Xinlan looked at Zhao Dagui inexplicably.

Zhao Dagui stared at Li Xinlan and made sure that the other party was indeed not pretending, so he sighed and shook his head: "It seems that I still think it's bad, let's get to the point."

By the way, you know a little bit about calculus, right?"

"Some. Li Xinlan replied cautiously.

Zhao Dagui's library is extremely rich in books, and all the books he has read before are included in it, and the "advanced mathematics" that made him want to die in the first place is naturally also in it.

Zhao Dagui found a few questions from the textbook and asked Li Xinlan to answer them, but he didn't expect that the other party's skills were very solid, so he solved them without much effort.

Li Xinlan thought that Zhao Dagui was going to test each other, so she also put forward a few questions that she had done and asked Zhao Dagui to solve them, which could be regarded as learning from each other.

Martial arts masters have to test each other's skills when they meet, and mathematicians have to test each other's questions when they meet.

Zhao Dagui hadn't touched an advanced mathematics problem for a long time, and he couldn't help but feel bitter when he saw this, but he had to bite the bullet.

Fortunately, Li Xinlan's questions are not difficult, and Zhao Dagui has solved most of them with the convenience of authentic textbooks, but there are still many who don't know how to solve them.

(Math teacher: I'm wronged, the students I teach can't even compare to the ancients more than 100 years ago.) ）

Li Xinlan's mathematical attainments are extremely profound, and she is the first mathematician in China to contact Western calculus, after reading it, she nodded secretly, this Zhao Dagui really understands calculus, although he is not necessarily better than himself, but he is already one of the best mathematicians he has seen.

Many travelers believe that after more than ten years of systematic education in modern times and four years of advanced mathematics in college, it is actually a big mistake to return to ancient times to inevitably become a first-class mathematician.

According to the mathematical skills of ordinary science undergraduates, as long as they are not specialized in mathematics, the advanced mathematics they learn is at the level of the seventeenth century, and even Newton cannot compare with them, and each of those mathematics professors in the eighteenth century can kill them to death.

Mathematics is the most talented subject, and when you take the college entrance examination, you take the textbook into it, and you may not be able to add many points to the candidate, which is different from any other subject.

Li Xinlan is the most outstanding mathematician in the Qing Dynasty in this era, and he completely crushes ordinary people like Zhao Dagui in terms of IQ, although he has only read a few Western books on calculus, but he is a real mathematician, and he has devoted himself to research for a year, and he is much more profound than Zhao Dagui.

In fact, the advanced mathematics textbooks of ordinary universities, in terms of depth alone, are inferior to the level of mathematics textbooks of Western universities in the eighteenth century, and at most there are a few innocuous and novel formulas.

Li Xinlan herself has pushed traditional Chinese mathematics to a very high level, and has read many contemporary Western professional mathematical works by chance, and in terms of the level of mathematical works read and ordinary research, they are not comparable to Zhao Dagui.

Zhao Dagui realized this, and couldn't help twitching the corners of his mouth, math teacher, you are really wronged.

"Zhao comprador actually knows calculus. Maddox sighed on the sidelines.

Maddox was also a learned person, but he was not very good at mathematics, and calculus was not a compulsory subject for college students in this era.

In terms of the overall level, the mathematics education obtained by Maddox is equivalent to the modern junior high school level, and it is easy to crush liberal arts students like Wang Tao with one-dimensional quadratic squares and trigonometric functions, but when it comes to mathematics, Zhao Dagui, who fought in the sea of questions, is much stronger than him, not to mention a big man like Li Xinlan.

It's just that Zhao Dagui, a nouveau riche who used to think that he was only developed by luck, is actually a good mathematician, at least much better than himself, and Maddox can't help but wonder about life, God, is your test of the most loyal servant endless.

"Oh, I said before that I learned Western science and technology with a missionary named Albert Einstein, and I learned calculus by the way. ”

"Calculus is so hard, you've only been with that missionary for a few months, and you can learn it?" said Maddox, still a little skeptical.

"Naturally, he taught me some of the basics, and then gave me a treatise on calculus, which I taught myself when I came back. Zhao Dagui's face remained unchanged and he lied.

"It's about the same as I was back then. I also got six copies of Euclid's "Geometry Originals" and taught myself every day before I became obsessed with mathematics. Li Xinlan nodded beside her, quite heroic.

How can I compare with you, you are a big man, we are all mortals, Zhao Dagui shouted wildly in his heart, and nodded with a smile on the surface.

The four of them then sat down and chatted together, talking about mathematics, talking about the scientific and technological civilization of the West, talking about the gap between China and the West, and forgetting about the demarcation of the land on a whim.

Zhao Dagui had a conversation with Li Xinlan and realized that he had always underestimated the Chinese scholars of this era, although most of the scholars rushed to become officials, even scholars like Wang Tao were mostly biased towards liberal arts, but there were still many mathematicians among the people, many of whom had deep attainments, and the level of mathematics was very good.

Most of these mathematicians have no intention of officialdom (if they really want to be officials, they will not fiddle with mathematics that has nothing to do with the imperial examination), delving into Western mathematics and natural sciences, relying only on the small amount of knowledge that they have introduced with great difficulty, they can also study a lot of useful things.

Li Xinlan's sharp cone technique and stacking technique still have a strong traditional mathematical color, but there are also many valuable things in it, which can be used in the Western mathematical community, at least a lot of mathematical formulas named after him.

Zhao Dagui thought that the mathematicians of this era did not even know Arabic numerals, and could not use basic mathematical symbols, but they underestimated the world's talents, and there were very few Chinese scholars in the world who had a considerable level of mathematical research ability.

Knowing that there are still mathematicians in China, such as Wu Zhaoqi, Gu Guanguan, Zhang Wenhu, Wang Yuezhen, Dai Xu, Luo Shilin, Xu Youren, etc., and the tradition of folk research on mathematics has been continuous, Zhao Dagui couldn't help but think about it while being moved.

For Li Xinlan, Wang Tao, Mai Dox and others, Zhao Dagui is also legendary enough, completely relying on the teachings of Western missionaries and relying on his own self-study with books, it has also reached an extremely advanced level, which is really impressive.

In particular, Maddox always thought that with the mathematics he learned in seminary, at least in China, he could walk sideways, and suddenly jumped out of two people who were much better than him, and he couldn't help but feel that he had to re-examine this ancient civilization.