Chapter 69: The Magical Number Theory
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The photo shoot took an hour.
When Lu Zhou carried his tired body back to his dorm opened the door, he saw that only Liu Rui was inside.
“Where is everyone?”
Liu Rui was doing physics questions when he rolled his eyes and said, “They were motivated by you and went to study.”
Lu Zhou: ? ? ?
Liu Rui, “Oh yeah, the deadline for physics homework is this afternoon. Have you started it?”
“I wrote it a long time ago and already submitted it,” said Lu Zhou as he took out his clothes from his backpack.
Not only did he finished this a.s.signment, but he had also finished all the physics a.s.signments for the month.
All of these were done before he went to Beijing. He felt bad for always taking a leave of absence, so he finished all of the questions in the exercise book and gave it to Professor Li.
As a result, Professor Li Rongen was interested. He glanced at the homework and then told Lu Zhou not to hand in homework anymore as it would only be a waste of Lu Zhou’s time.
“Finished?” said Liu Rui. He was shocked, “You didn’t even go to cla.s.s. When did you write it?”
“Before I went to Beijing. When I was doing the powerpoint.”
Liu Rui did not believe him. He took out the challenging question that he copied from cla.s.s and said, “Then, can you teach me?”
“Wait a second.”
Lu Zhou placed his clothes into a laundry tub on the balcony. When he returned, he took a look at the question.
[The normal specific heat of the mixed gas has the ma.s.s of M1=3.0X10^2kg and the mixed gas M2 has 3.0X10^2kg of hydrogen at normal temperature.]
The question was short and seemed simple.
However…
Lu Zhou said, “This question is super hard. It’s normal that you can’t solve it.”
It was a challenge question that Li Rongen arranged in cla.s.s and Liu Rui probably did not even notice.
Liu Rui: ? ? ?
Lu Zhou saw that Liu Rui was confused and laughed before he continued to speak.
“At normal temperature, diatomic gas molecules and water vapor molecules can be regarded as rigid molecules. Despite the fact that their covalent bonds still vibrate, most of the molecules’ vibrational levels do not change, and they do not contribute to the constant volume heat capacity. Therefore, the conclusion is the same as considering vibration. The physics textbook probably didn’t mention this, but it is mentioned in inorganic chemistry.”
Liu Rui: ? ? ?
Of course, knowing this was not enough. It was also necessary to know the molar heat capacity of the rigid diatomic molecules and the molar heat capacity of the water molecules, as well as a series of data what was not given in the question.
There was no chemistry cla.s.s in mathematics, so this problem was expected to stump many people. If a person could solve it, that person either learned inorganic chemistry by himself like Lu Zhou or partic.i.p.ated in high school physics compet.i.tion training.
Professor Li Rongen came up with this question to cultivate students’ ability to learn independently. After all, not everything was taught in college cla.s.ses. It was important to learn outside of cla.s.s as well.
Of course, this depended on the student’s motivation.
If the student just wanted to cruise through, not listen in cla.s.s, and cram before exams, they could still graduate.
“Therefore, you can get…”
Lu Zhou took the pen and started to write in the draft paper.
[Cv1=3R, Cv2=5/2R]
[The heat capacity of the mixed gas: Ctotal = (M1/u1) Cv1 + (M2 / u2) Cv2]
[The specific heat of the mixed gas: c = Ctotal / (M1 + M2)]
[From u1=0.018, u2=0.00, R=8.314J/(mol·K)]
[With the above data, get 5.86X103J/(kg·K)]
The calculation was very simple, even a middle school student could do it. What was hard was the theory.
Lu Zhou gave the pen back to Liu Rui and said, “This question is quite simple. If you change the absolute value of the internal energy, you must include the vibration energy of the molecule. But this kind of question definitely won’t be on the exam. Let physics majors worry about these questions.”
Liu Rui: ? ? ?
When he saw Liu Rui’s confused expression, he said, “Don’t you understand? Maybe I’ll explain…”
“I understand,” said Liu Rui as he nodded. He looked at him and asked, “Where did you learn these things?”
Are we at the same university?
Liu Rui could not help but doubt his life.
Lu Zhou said, “I learned it in the library.”
Liu Rui did not say anything but he silently began to pack his stuff.
Lu Zhou was confused and asked, “Why are you packing your stuff?”
Liu Rui looked up at the ceiling with eyes that were filled with sorrow as he said, “I think my level of knowledge is too low. From today… I’m studying at the library every day.”
Without saying another word, he carried his backpack and walked out
…
The next Monday afternoon at a lecture hall, it was so packed full of people that not a single free seat was left.
Captain Lu Zhou stood on the stage and was about to give an award speech.
He looked at the crowd and he knew that most of these people were from the Student Union and Committee.
Everyone’s an adult now, who has time to listen to my speech?
The crowd of confused college students held a notepad in their hands. They were prepared to take notes for Lu Zhou’s speech. Lu Zhou did not know if his speech would help them.
If the students wanted to be Lu Zhou, their college life would be filled with frustration…
There were several media outlets in the hall, mainly from school newspaper and local newspapers. The highest level was the Jin Ling City TV station. The university invited all of them.
When Lu Zhou saw the supporting eyes of Dean Lu, he thought, “It’s hard to make money.” He then cleared his throat and put his mouth closer to the microphone.
“Teachers, deans, students, good morning!”
“I am very honored to have this opportunity to cooperate with my two teammates to partic.i.p.ate in this unprecedented compet.i.tion and to fight side by side and get the “Higher Education Society Cup.” First of all, please allow me to thank the national members of the compet.i.tion. The organizers, sponsors, national instructors, and all the people who have worked hard for the compet.i.tion. I express my most sincere grat.i.tude…”
Lu Zhou talked for more than 10 minutes on stage. He talked about the insides and outside of the compet.i.tion, from mathematical modeling to various study methods, then even talked about his half a million yuan offer and his life plans.
He ended the speech with, “1% talent, 99% hard work.”
This was no longer Lu Zhou’s first interview, so he was not nervous at all. Naturally, he faked his way to the end.
Clap clap clap!
The applause was thunderous.
Some of them probably were not genuine, but the students with their notebooks applauded energetically.
“… Thank you, everyone!” bowed Lu Zhou. He then handed the microphone to Professor Liu before he walked down the stage.
When Professor Tang saw Lu Zhou walk past him, he smiled and said, “Pretty good speech.”
Lu Zhou smiled, “Professor Tang, when will the school send the prize money?”
“Latest next week. Why? Are you in a hurry?” asked Professor Tang. With a smile, he continued, “How are you now? What are you researching?”
Lu Zhou thought and said, “Number theory… Mersenne primes.”
“Mersenne primes, you’re still researching that,” sighed Professor Tang. There was a bit of regret in his tone.
Number theory was a special field and the entrance threshold was low. It was so low that many theorems and formulas could be understood by middle school students. It was also why number theory had become popular amongst the general public.
Legends had it that the number of letters the general public wrote to The Chinese Academy of Sciences was so many that it could wrap around Earth. The gatekeeper of the Chinese Academy of Sciences had nine math questions in his hand. If a person could not answer the questions, he or she would not even be let in through the door.
Therefore, succeeding in number theory was a lot harder than it seemed. Not only did it required a solid foundation in mathematics, but it also needed extraordinary mathematical talent.
The reality was cruel as there was no other field that required talent as much as number theory.
Without talent, a person could research number theory for his entire life and still achieved nothing.
Even though Professor Tang knew this, he did not say anything.
That was because he knew Lu Zhou’s personality.
Irritable, utilitarian, eager for success.
After Lu Zhou dipped his feet into the water of number theory, he would naturally back off.