The unification of algebra and geometry had been an age-old topic.
In fact, this wasn’t even a real research area for this. It was something in the opposite direction of the general development trend of mathematics.
After all, everyone knew that the deeper a field was, the more branches there would be.
Mathematics was the same.
Two centuries ago, there were versatile scholars like Gauss, but now, even a 230IQ genius like Tao Zhexuan was only proficient in a limited number of fields.
Most people spent their entire lives trying to be proficient in a single field.
For a huge proposition like unifying algebra and geometry, except for a handful of geniuses, no one would dare to think about attempting to solve the proposition.
Because only a select few people could tackle a problem like this, the problem itself became much more valuable.
Back during the era of Descartes and Fermat, the study of geometry using Descartes coordinates was the first time people combined geometry and algebra.
Think about how surprised a caveman would be if someone gave him a lighter, and he didn’t have to rub sticks together for ten minutes to create fire.
Even though this was now a technique taught to high school students, this was groundbreaking back then. The analytical geometry field ruled the mathematics world for centuries until 1857, when a genius named Riemann proposed the first algebraic function theory. That was the birth of algebraic geometry.
Later on, countless geniuses had tried to tackle this proposition, slowly bridging the gap between algebra and geometry.
In the twentieth century, three major mathematical structures proposed by the Bourbaki Group dominated the world of mathematics. The three structures were “algebraic structure”, “topological structure”, and “ordered structure”.
The “probability theory” proposed by Grothendieck advanced algebraic geometry into a new era, and his lecture titled “Basics of Algebraic Geometry” was treated as the holy bible of algebraic geometry.
Many people had invented mathematics tools before, and some people had created entire branches of mathematics. But very few people had been able to connect the branches together.
Everyone noticed the trend of mathematics becoming more and more diverse.
On the other hand, there had to be people that unified branches together.
In fact, the generation of mathematicians after Grothendieck had made many attempts.
For example, Shinichi Mochizuki’s “Cosmological Theory” and “Teichmuller Theory” proposed an idea of unifying algebraic and geometric elements. Other than his students, there were few people that could understand what he wanted to do.
Another example was Schultz, whose p-adic number and perfect space theory had been gaining popularity. It was widely regarded as one of the theoretical tools most likely to unify algebra and geometry.
However, mathematical tools wouldn’t just exist by themselves; they were created to solve problems.
While mathematical conjectures were like touchstones, a way to judge a mathematical tool was by its ability to solve problems.
Now that Riemann’s hypothesis had been proven, Lu Zhou was undoubtedly the closest person to obtain a Holy Grail.
Just like how Fermat’s last theorem was proved by the great Wiles, the person that proved Riemann’s hypothesis would be pushed toward the throne of mathematics, beginning a new era of mathematics.
Lu Zhou estimated that if he wanted to reach level 10 in mathematics, unifying algebra and geometry was one of the things he had to do.
Even though the system didn’t specifically tell him to do this, his intuition told him otherwise.
After all, there was nothing else that could surpass Riemann’s hypothesis.
This was the only thing left.
…
There was a Qu0026A session after the report.
Because most people hadn’t finished reading the paper, they needed time to digest the huge amount of information.
Tao Zhexuan and Schultz stood up and asked some interesting questions. The rest of the scholars in this field of research stayed silent. A few asked questions, which were unrelated to Riemann’s hypothesis.
For example, what did unifying algebra and geometry mean? And had Lu Zhou already started working on this research project, or was it all talk?
However, Lu Zhou didn’t want to answer this question, because it didn’t have anything to do with Riemann’s hypothesis. Thus, he rejected most of these unrelated questions.
When Lu Zhou was answering questions on stage, he was quite surprised to see Professor Tao. He didn’t remember seeing Professor Tao at the conference over the past few days.
Of course, he didn’t know that Professor Tao actually flew to St. Petersburg overnight after seeing his thesis on arXiv…
The Qu0026A session didn’t take long. It went much faster than Lu Zhou had thought. Lu Zhou bowed and ended this report.
He also ended this historic moment.
Secretary-General of the International Mathematical Union, Professor Holden, walked on stage and handed Lu Zhou a bottle of champagne.
“This is a gift from the Corinthia hotel. Open it. This century-long journey has finally come to an end, so we should celebrate! This is your moment!”
Lu Zhou took the champagne and nodded sincerely.
“Thank you.”
“No thanks… Also, I recommend you publish your results in Inventiones Mathematicae. Actually, I sincerely recommend you to do so. You’ve published so many results in Annual Mathematics, it’s time to give the other top journals a chance.”
Professor Holden spoke in a joking manner.
Lu Zhou paused for a second and smiled.
“I’ll think about it.”
Lu Zhou opened the bottle of champagne, and the sweet foam began to spray on the ceiling, falling on some unfortunate scholars sitting in the front row.
Lu Zhou wanted to apologize to these people, but they didn’t seem angry at all. Instead, they looked ecstatic to be sprayed on.
Therefore, Lu Zhou decided against apologizing.
The atmosphere of the venue had reached its peak.
A hotel staff member brought over a glass, and Lu Zhou raised his glass of champagne toward the audience. After that, he waved goodbye and left the venue.
The reporters had been waiting outside the venue for a long time.
If it weren’t for the security guards, they would have broken through the lecture hall by now.
When the reporters saw Lu Zhou come out of the lecture hall, they surrounded him like sharks.
“Professor Lu, did you prove Riemann’s hypothesis?!”
“Are you going to contact the Clay Institute for the million-dollar prize? What are you going to do with the prize money?”
“I heard your research was impacted by your student Vera Pulyuy, is that true?”
“Does the proof of Riemann’s hypothesis affect modern cryptography? Are bank accounts and passwords still safe?”
“Professor Lu Zhou…”
Lu Zhou didn’t answer a single question. He kept walking toward the elevator.
A few minutes ago, the hospital transfer was approved.
Everything had already been arranged, including the visa.
If everything went well, Vera would fly from St. Petersburg to Beijing today, and experts from the 301 Hospital would take care of her.
This was why Lu Zhou was flying back before the closing ceremony tomorrow.
Instead of answering those foolish questions, he had more important things to do…
