Chapter 215: Is Not Easy For Geniuses

What Lu Zhou managed to gain over the past few days were massive.

It was not just in academic, but more in the sense of social networking.

Lu Zhou met many people that he had read about in textbooks, newspapers, and articles. That feeling itself was extraordinary.

For example, Heim Brenzi, an academician of the French Academy of Sciences. Lu Zhou had read Brenzi’s “Functional Analysis” textbook, in which Brenzi’s explanation of the Sobolev space made a lasting impression on Lu Zhou.

This old gentleman from France was very funny and enthusiastic. Especially after he heard that Lu Zhou read his work, he was even friendlier toward Lu Zhou. He repeatedly said that if Lu Zhou ever went to France, he could look for him.

Brenzi had an interesting collection of manuscripts, including one from Euler.

In addition to this warm and cheerful old man, Lu Zhou also met the Chinese mathematics genius, Tao Zhexuan.

Lu Zhou felt like Tao Zhexuan was different in person. He had not expected him to be a humorous and welcoming guy.

Also, he looked younger than what Lu Zhou imagined. Lu Zhou would have never guessed that Tao Zhexuan was in his forties.

Since he was born in Australia, he could not speak Mandarin. However, he could speak Cantonese, but unfortunately, Lu Zhou could not understand him. Therefore, they resorted to speaking in English.

The fourth day of the conference, after the hour-long report ended, Tao Zhexuan invited Lu Zhou to visit his office.

The two started to talk about academic issues.

After exchanging a few words, Lu Zhou could not help but think.

I have to admit. This guy really is a mathematics genius! His field of study is in all areas of mathematics. He might not be good at everything, but there’s rarely something he doesn’t know anything about.

In September this year, he cracked the 1980’s unsolved Erdos problem. This was a classic number theory problem and one that was outside of Tao Zhexuan’s research field.

However, it was not as important as the Polignac’s conjecture, so his spotlight was stolen by Lu Zhou.

“You’re studying Goldbach’s conjecture?”

Lu Zhou asked, “Yeah, you’ve researched it before?”

Tao Zhexuan smiled and acknowledge his shortcomings, “I tried to, at the beginning of this year. I quickly realized that I can’t solve it. I’m better at studying two directions of partial differential equations and harmonic analysis.”

He then continued, “I saw your thesis in Annual Mathematics. I was greatly inspired by the topology sieve theory you used. I thought it might be able to solve Chen’s theorem… However, the results were regrettable.”

Lu Zhou asked, “Does the sieve method not work?”

Tao Zhexuan sounded pessimistic as he replied, “Doesn’t work… At least I couldn’t make it work.”

Tao Zhexuan shook his head and started to write on the paper.

[∑|S(αm)|2≤∆∑|αn|2, where αn takes an arbitrary number]

[S(α)=∑ane(αn),e(x)=e^(2πxi).M,N∈Z,a1… an is a set of modulo 1 well-distributed real numbers…]

[…]

Lu Zhou looked at the formulas on the paper and rubbed his chin. He then went into deep thought.

Tao Zhexuan stopped writing and said, “I only read about this method. You’re the one that invented this method.”

“No, Professor Zellberg was the one who originally introduced topology into the sieve method. I just made some minor improvements, and you obviously made some major improvements,” said Lu Zhou with a smile as he looked at the paper. He then said, “Since am is well-distributed, why not treat R^(-1)·∑|S(αm)|2 as ∫|S(α )|2dα Riemann”

Tao Zhexuan’s eyes lit up. He then said, “Then?”

“The value of R = 1, we can get by the Cauchy-Schwartz inequality…” said Lu Zhou. He could not explain it in words, so he picked up a pen and started to write on the paper.

[|S(α1)|2≤N∑|an|2]

Tao Zhexuan said, “Your idea is interesting… We have to find an N(δ) value, then we can find ∆.”

Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Yeah, but ∆ won’t be much larger than N+δ^(-1). The trouble lies in N.”

The two raised their heads and looked at each other before they smiled.

However, there was a slight bitterness in their smile as the method did not work!

Tao Zhexuan threw the pen on the table and sighed. He started to speak, “The circle method is too difficult. It could take decades to solve. Maybe you can try the circle method. Honestly speaking, the sieve method might not work.”

Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “I’ll research it in my free time, but I still have hopes for the sieve method. Maybe it has potential.”

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“How about you come to teach at Berkeley? The environment here is good, and we can start a research project together… If you don’t think I’m a liability,” said Tao Zhexuan with a smile.

Lu Zhou: “…”

You literally have an IQ of 230. If you’re a liability, then what about those with IQ of 100?

For the first time, Lu Zhou realized that it was a pain in the ass talking with people who are too humble.

Lu Zhou said, “I still haven’t gotten my PhD yet. I’ll probably go to Princeton next year for it.”

“You still haven’t graduated?” said Tao Zhexuan as he looked at Lu Zhou. He then said, “Okay then… Chinese Universities are so strict.”

Lu Zhou said, “I started my master’s degree at the beginning of the year.”

“Okay then, that’s understandable,” said Tao Zhexuan. He smiled and said, “When I was doing my master’s, the same thing happened to me. The supervisor made me stay for a year before I could graduate.”

Tao Zhexuan wrote down his email on a piece of paper and handed it to Lu Zhou. He smiled and said, “Let’s keep in touch, I’ll contact you if there are any new discoveries.”

“Okay.”

Lu Zhou nodded and took the piece of paper. He then wrote down his email in a piece of paper as well. They then separated.

While walking back to the hotel, Lu Zhou kept thinking about the problem.

After some thinking, he became hungry.

Lu Zhou looked at the time on his phone. It was a bit too early for dinner, so he turned around and walked into a BBQ restaurant.

He then ordered a set of ribs. He then took out the $19 USD and placed it on the counter. Once he paid, he went to find a place to sit down.

People said that America was cheap, but he did not think so.

$19 USD was almost $110 yuan.

A skinny waitress carried a huge plate of food and placed it on Lu Zhou’s table.

When Lu Zhou looked at the things on the plate, his eyes twitched.

Good god, he thought it would be the kind of ribs he saw on TV. He had not expected a whole rack of ribs! This was enough for three people!

On the plate, there was also a baked potato with sour cream, a bowl of Mexican beans, and a mysterious soup.

I guess it’s pretty worth it for the price.

However, this clearly isn’t for one person.

He finally knew why everyone in America was so fat.

“Sir, are you satisfied with the food?”

Lu Zhou suddenly remembered that he had not given the waitress a tip yet. He then pulled out two dollars from his pocket.

However, when he saw the waitress, she looked familiar.

Lu Zhou placed the tip into her hand and asked, “You work here?”

“Yeah,” nodded Vera embarrassingly.

“Do you not have a scholarship?”

Lu Zhou also worked part-time to pay for his tuition and living expenses, so he did not think anything was wrong with it.

What surprised him was that he thought American scholarships were easy to get, especially for an IMO gold medalist. It should be easy for her to get a free ride for the degree.

Vera had not expected to meet Lu Zhou here. She smiled awkwardly and said, “There’s a scholarship…”

If Vera worked for the experience or travel money, she would definitely tell Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou saw that she did not further expand on why she was working, so he guessed that she must need the money for tuition.

“You’re Russian?”

Vera shook her head.

When Lu Zhou saw her awkward expression, he felt that he should not have asked the question.

Suddenly, a chef in the kitchen shouted her name.

Vera quickly turned around and responded. She then bowed to Lu Zhou before she hurried back to the kitchen.