Tao Zhexuan paused for a second.
Not just Tao Zhexuan, but Professor Deligne, Molina, and even Schultz, who was hiding in the corner and chewing gum, they were all surprised.
“I thought the problem was on line 5 page 21…”
Schultz muttered to himself as he took out some paper. He quickly drew some mathematical symbols that only he could understand, and began running calculations in his brain.
“Line 5 on page 21?” Akshay Venkatesh said. He was sitting next to Schultz. After contemplating it for a second, he said, “I thought the problem was on page 31, line 11.”
Just like Schultz, Akshay was also considered a world-class mathematician.
In addition to his achievements in the fields of representation and number theory, he was also the only Australian who had won medals in both the International Physics Olympiad and the International Mathematical Olympiad…
Not to mention, he won both of them when he was twelve years old.
Schultz took out a crumpled piece of thesis paper from his pocket. He took a glance at page 31 and seemed to be intrigued.
“It seems like Professor Lu is facing more trouble than I had imagined.”
Akshay didn’t say anything. He slowly closed his eyes.
Three different scholars found three different problems in the proof.
This showed that, not only was there a problem with the core proof, but there seemed to be a systematic problem with the entire proof.
Even though Schlutz felt sympathetic toward this Fields Medal medalist on stage, there was nothing he could do.
Everyone made youthful and arrogant mistakes. He hoped that Lu Zhou could come out of this stronger than before.
Otherwise, it would be a huge loss for the mathematics community.
Schultz frowned and went into deep thought. Akshay, on the other hand, already knew the outcome of this report. Xu Chengyang, who was nearby, had a serious look on his face.
Zhang Shouwu, who was sitting next to Professor Xu, noticed that Lu Zhou had stopped talking. Zhang Shouwu couldn’t help but ask.
“Why isn’t he talking?…”
Even though Faltings was his past supervisor, he was still a Chinese, so he was obviously on the Chinese side.
Lu Zhou was the face of the Chinese academic community.
That was why Zhang Shouwu supported Lu Zhou, even though he wasn’t optimistic about Lu Zhou winning against Faltings…
After all, it was a lot easier to find a logical fallacy than to create a robust argument. Not to mention, creating counter-arguments on the spot was even more difficult…
When Wiles proved Fermat’s last theorem, he spent an entire year fixing the loopholes and answering all of the reviewers’ questions.
But now, half of the mathematics world had their attention on Lu Zhou. Most people wouldn’t even be able to think clearly in a situation like this…
“Line 11 on page 17?” Lu Zhou turned the pages and found the line, and he steadily said, “I used the Stirling table for the Γ(s) function. Equation (2) is simplified into J (δ) = Σd (k + 1) (n) I (n) + Δ (δ)…”
“I obviously know that,” Faltings interrupted Lu Zhou. He then said, “The Stirling table used on the Γ (s) function was a clever method, it saved you a lot of trouble. But even though you transformed Re (s) = 1-c / ln [| Im (s) | +2], you still can’t change the fact that there are no non-trivial zero points on the right limit side.”
Zhang Shouwu held his breath; Professor Deligne clenched his fists; Schultz stopped writing; Tao Zhexuan looked excited; Molina bit her lip…
“Here we go…” said Xu Chengyang.
Xu Chengyang, who was sitting beside Professor Zhang Shouwu, sighed.
Most of the people sitting here already knew what Faltings was about to say.
The old man wearing a black trench coat spoke with a steady voice.
“No matter what kind of hyperelliptic curve you choose, you can’t get around this fact.
“This is the most flawed argument in your thesis, and the right boundary from Re (s) = 1 extends the left by Re (s) = 1-ε (ε u003e 0) doesn’t make logical sense… I spoke about this in my first email to you, but you didn’t seem to take my advice.”
The auditorium was dead silent.
One could hear a pin drop in this venue.
This question was like a sharp dagger, digging deep into the thesis.
Professor Deligne unclenched his fists and sighed softly.
I guess Faltings is still the best.
Deligne didn’t want to admit this, but ever since Grothendieck passed away, Faltings was the closest person to solving the Riemann hypothesis.
Molina sighed in relief.
She was relieved to see that Lu Zhou had failed as this meant one less competitor for the Riemann hypothesis, but unfortunately…
This defeat meant that the Quasi Riemann hypothesis was yet to be solved and that the proof of the critical zone boundary could no longer be applied…
First Grothendieck.
Now Professor Lu.
Countless geniuses had been defeated by the Riemann hypothesis dragon.
Rumor had it that the Riemann hypothesis was like Gödel’s incompleteness theorem in that it could neither be solved nor disproven…
Molina couldn’t help but panic.
What if the answer she had been searching for didn’t even exist…
Then what was the point of all this work?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the venue.
Schultz looked at Lu Zhou and smiled. He spoke to Akshay.
“Akshay, my friend? Do you know that sometimes, I wonder if the Riemann hypothesis is cursed? Think about how many talented geniuses have been defeated by the Riemann hypothesis… At least that’s what happened to Sir Atiyah.”
Akshay crossed his arms and shook his head.
“I don’t believe in curses.”
“That’s because you don’t get it.” Schultz shrugged and showed a charming smile as he said, “You know, apparently, before Grothendieck left home to live in France, Grothendieck was obsessed with the idea of the devil. He believed that the devil changed the numerically beautiful speed of light, from 300,000 kilometers per second to the irrational 299792.458 kilometers per second. He believed the devil made the simple Riemann’s hypothesis into something unsolvable…”
Akshay felt a little uncomfortable, and he tried to end this conversation.
“Okay, enough.”
Schultz smiled and ignored Akshay’s reply.
“Also, apparently, before Grothendieck disappeared, and even before Weil’s conjecture was proven, Grothendieck tried to solve Riemann’s hypothesis. In 2010, Grothendieck, who had disappeared for 10 years, suddenly wrote a letter to his student. Guess what was in the letter?”
Akshay didn’t want to hear these legends, but he still asked out of curiosity, “What…”
Schultz spat out his gum on a wrapping paper and spoke.
“He wrote that, whoever can take the crown of Riemann’s hypothesis from the devil, will accomplish something people have tried for thousands of years…”
He paused for a second and continued, “Which is, the unification of algebra and geometry!”
…
Lu Zhou stood quietly on stage.
For a long time.
Just as Faltings began to wonder if he was too ruthless toward this young scholar, Lu Zhou suddenly said, “The reason you asked this question is that you didn’t understand my proof at all.”
The moment he finished speaking, there was a huge commotion in the auditorium.
People were surprised, shocked, and even… angry!
Lu Zhou could sense the change in the atmosphere. He took a deep breath and stared at Professor Faltings, who was standing in the distance.
He glanced at the old man’s look of disbelief and added, “My apologies for putting things bluntly.
“But after hearing your question, I finally realize where our differences are.”
He originally thought he didn’t convey his proof well enough.
But now, it seemed like that wasn’t the case.
The dispute between the two wasn’t like a tied knot, but it was rather like two parallel lines.
Lu Zhou felt a weird feeling.
It was surprisingly wonderful.
All of the doubts in his mind had disappeared.
Lu Zhou sighed in his heart.
He felt like there was only one person on Earth who could truly understand his thesis.
And that person wasn’t in this venue today.
“I’ll show you the proof.”
Lu Zhou turned around and faced the whiteboard.
“You probably remember the equations on the whiteboard, so I’ll rub them off…”
After wiping the whiteboard, Lu Zhou picked up the marker.
“First of all, I’d like to thank my student. Without her, none of this would have been possible.”
Lu Zhou turned around and looked at Faltings seriously.
After that, he glanced over and stared at the very back of the crowded venue.
“Then, let’s begin with the basic part… The tool that made the whole thesis possible.”
He picked up the marker and wrote down a line on the whiteboard.
[Hyperelliptic curve analysis]
The moment he finished writing…
The atmosphere in the venue exploded!
