northernbook Chapter 48 The Perverted Question Setter
Chapter 48 The Perverted Question Setter
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Su Hao's heart began to race at a terrifying pace.
His blood, brimming with boiling adrenaline, surged through his cerebral cortex.
If the conventional approach doesn't work, then push it to the extreme boundary conditions on the edge of a cliff!
His brain began to operate at a nerve-destroying intensity!
Abandon all delusions of a head-on assault, decisively withdraw from that unsolvable dead end, and begin a thorough search for all logically possible branch paths!
found it!
When n=4, if these four prime numbers satisfy a certain extremely tricky algebraic form, this seemingly dead end problem appears to have a tiny crack.
Even so, this is only a very small starting point.
Su Hao couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
The wickedness of this person who set the question is utterly appalling.
The underlying mechanism of this problem is like a terrifying black hole:
The more contestants try to find that particular solution using conventional methods, the more they will inevitably sink into a deeper and more massive quagmire of computation, until they are dragged down by the enormous amount of computation.
From the very beginning, the entire problem was meticulously designed as a meat grinder where a direct, head-on attack would inevitably result in being riddled with bullets.
Want to break the deadlock?
The core issue isn't proving its "existence," but rather proving its "absolute non-existence."
However, in the process of forcibly advancing the argument using proof by contradiction, at some unavoidable juncture, a counterexample that defies common sense will inevitably emerge abruptly, like a ghost.
In other words...
This abnormal test setter, whose personality is absolutely seriously flawed, is demanding that a group of high school students rigorously prove "the only exception in a state of no solution" in the exam room!
Su Hao pursed his lips.
This method is extremely insidious!
......
Marcelo walked slowly down from the podium with his hands behind his back.
Like a king surveying his territory, he leisurely inspected the students answering questions in the examination hall.
The air around us seemed to have been sucked out.
Occasionally, one could hear the desperate sighs of the students who were usually regarded as geniuses, and the harsh screeching of pens scratching across the paper as they lost control due to their anxiety.
One white guy even had his hair all tangled up like a bird's nest.
The vast majority of students have no idea where to start constructing the first auxiliary function, like a group of primitive people facing a meteorite from outer space.
A hint of disdain flashed across Marcelo's eyes.
This group of people is like novice chefs who have memorized recipes by rote and can't even tell the difference between salt and sugar!
The massive number of question types that they practiced intensively in the training camp beforehand might allow them to apply formulas and answer questions in a seemingly plausible manner when they encounter similar structures.
But in this world, which gourmet who has truly tasted top-notch cuisine would respectfully call a mere assembly line worker who only mechanically replicates techniques and has no soul "chef"?
In recent years, the number of people achieving perfect scores in the IMO has suddenly surged like wildfire. Does this mean that math has become easier?
Quite the opposite.
What kind of world is this?
The once-imposed, rigid boundaries between the core areas of modern mathematics are undergoing an unprecedented process of dissolution.
Number theory, topology, geometry, analysis—if you're still stubbornly clinging to just one subject, you won't get anywhere at all!
Since these kids keep saying they're determined to dedicate themselves to the vast ocean of pure mathematics...
It would be a good thing for these hothouse flowers to recognize this bloody academic reality as soon as possible, in Lao Tzu's examination hall!
Marcelo's gaze swept coldly across the examination hall like a lone eagle searching for its prey.
Then, in a low voice that only he could hear, he murmured his lifelong faith as if chanting:
"Mathematics...is naturally the ultimate art of creative thinking."
What is the biggest difference between mathematics and physics?
Unlike physics, which is forever subject to objective natural phenomena and must humbly "explain" reality;
Mathematics allows the construction of any propositional framework that does not contain logical contradictions!
Even if it is empty and counterintuitive!
Therefore, the ability to tear apart the boundaries of common sense and to have a wildly imaginative mind is the first, and perhaps only, essential quality that a truly great mathematician must possess.
The existence of question 6 is precisely to test this almost divine imagination.
Marcelo's expectations for this question were exactly the same as those for the horrific massacre of 1988.
7 out of 10.
I don't expect anyone to get all the points.
If someone can manage to score even one point in this desperate darkness, relying on their genius intuition, that will be enough.
Even if it's just the smallest logical step forward in addressing this abyss-like topic, proposing a lemma with the correct direction.
That was Marcelo's highest and most extravagant expectation for this group of students who were hailed as the world's best!
Marcelo slowed his pace, carefully observing each valuable target.
The scene of widespread lamentation in the examination hall was exactly what he had predicted.
Questions 4 and 5 above barely meet the passing grade for modern "interdisciplinary mathematics".
Even so, the immense and hidden intensity of their thinking had already tormented these proud geniuses to the brink of mental collapse.
Either they sit there blankly with lifeless eyes, completely unsure where to begin in establishing a cross-dimensional mapping;
Either they're sweating profusely, performing exhaustive substitution—a task even elementary school students know how to do—or they're sweating buckets.
Marcelo sneered inwardly, thinking, "What kind of math is that?"
Of course, in such a large examination hall, there are always a few promising candidates with decent abilities.
For example, that little guy who took first place last year with a crushing victory.
Marcelo narrowed his eyes and slowly walked over.
He was very curious about how these top talents, who dominated the traditional competition system, would face the wall of sighs that he had personally erected.
Marcelo glanced down at his watch.
Time is running out.
When he glanced at the person's answer sheet, the already dim expectation in his eyes was instantly extinguished.
The little guy was stuck at the entrance to question 6, which was disguised as a dead end, looking utterly hopeless. He was getting hurt in an endless loop, without even getting close to the lemma.
It seems to be nothing special.
In the end, we are just ordinary people.
Just as Marcelo, unable to hide his disappointment, was about to turn around and go to the podium to wait for the bell to ring to announce the end of the exam,
Out of the corner of his eye, a completely out-of-place figure abruptly entered his field of vision.
He remembered that boy.
The youngest team among all the participants this year is a player from the Xia Kingdom.
In this examination hall ruin filled with despair, stagnation, and deathly silence...
That young man from Xia Kingdom was writing furiously on the answer sheet with an almost manic frenzy!
There was no pause.
Without any hesitation.
It's like reciting a theorem that's already etched deep into your soul!