Chapter 101 You Call This Bad News

"Originally, you were asked to participate in this project simply for the sake of your name, and the main purpose was to learn cryptography-related knowledge."

"It's also very helpful for improving mathematical logical thinking."

"I didn't expect that you not only developed a more efficient collision method, but also became the first author of a paper published in a top journal in the field of cryptography. Now our mathematics department will become famous internationally."

"Initially, Lao Tang and I didn't expect your name to be on the paper."

2004 6 Month 17 Day.

Thursday.

School of Mathematics, Qinghua University.

In the office, Department Head Liao Fangyi spoke with pride, not hiding the joy on his face at all.

Tang Shihong, who was also smiling, echoed: "It's a good thing I didn't stop it at the time."

They both knew that the MD5 password had been cracked, and they couldn't help but feel excited when they thought about the official announcement of the result at the International Cryptography Conference in two months.

After all, nominally speaking, cracking the MD5 password is a collaborative project between Qilu University and Qinghua University.

Besides, Xu Yuan is the first author of the paper.

Previously, the Academy of Mathematical Sciences, together with the Mathematical Council and Yenching University, held an academic conference on number theory, which made a name for itself in the international mathematics community.

Nowadays, the international cryptography field also wants to know about the MD5 password cracking algorithm by Qinghua students.

This is of great significance.

You should know that China has always been blank in the field of cryptography, especially there are very few people studying hash functions.

With the gap filled by Qilu University and Qinghua University, they will be able to establish their own authority in this field in the future.

When Xu Yuan came back from Quancheng, he informed Tang Shihong of the news.

I've been sitting in the office listening to compliments for half an hour and my ears are almost getting calluses.

Therefore, there was no expression on his face.

"My innovative differential collision method is indeed more efficient than other methods, but I was a little surprised that Professor Wang and his team were able to crack it so quickly."

"This shows that your method is sophisticated enough." Liao Fangyi took over Xu Yuan's words and said with a smile: "I'm afraid that cryptography experts around the world will not believe that the so-called absolutely secure MD5 can be cracked like this."

"Next, you should prepare well for the conference in August. In addition, the department will also apply for corresponding awards for you."

Although he is the head of the School of Mathematical Sciences, Liao Fangyi now cannot catch the eye of any student except Xu Yuan.

My entire perspective has been broadened a lot.

In his opinion, students who had excellent exam results and did not fail any courses in the department were considered pretty good.

But since Xu Yuan entered the school, it seems that if one does not publish a few papers during the undergraduate stage, he is not worthy of being called a student of Qinghua University. This has invisibly brought great study pressure to other senior students and even graduate students.

Tang Shihong waited for Liao Fangyi to finish speaking, then turned his gaze to Xu Yuan and asked a question.

"Xu Yuan."

"How is your progress in your math course knowledge?"

"I have basically finished courses such as partial differential equations, abstract algebra, real variable functions, and numerical algebra." Xu Yuan said without hesitation, "I am currently studying functional analysis."

Hearing this result, Tang Shihong became more and more satisfied.

"It's a little faster than I expected, but this will allow you to graduate from college early."

"Graduate early?" Xu Yuan was slightly stunned.

Although according to his plan, he would have graduated early and completed his undergraduate studies.

But considering that I am about to graduate from my sophomore year, this speed is still a bit surprising.

Tang Shihong continued, "Director Liao and I have already discussed this matter."

"When the semester ends next month, several professors in the department will give you a separate test paper covering all undergraduate major courses. When you finish the test, you will get credits for all the courses."

"As for the second half of the year, just focus on completing your graduation thesis. The department will organize a graduation defense for you after the new year."

"With your talent, you really don't need to waste time in undergraduate studies. Becoming a graduate student will also give you more opportunities to participate in projects." Liao Fangyi waited for Tang Shihong to finish speaking and added: "If you want to continue your studies in the field of mathematics, you can directly pursue a doctorate."

After listening to the two professors' words, Xu Yuan didn't expect that he would go straight to a Ph.D.

Although the process in engineering is a little slower, as Liao Fangyi said, becoming a doctor of science can indeed make things much more convenient.

As for his graduation thesis, he still has more than half a year to complete, which is enough time for him to determine the topic and complete the content.

The thought stopped here and I nodded in agreement.

"I have no opinion."

After hearing this answer, Tang Shihong and Liao Fangyi looked at each other and seemed much more relaxed.

The next second, Tang Shihong seemed to suddenly think of something and asked a few more questions.

"correct."

"Are you confident about the comprehensive exam next month?"

The main consideration was that the test paper was set by several professors and included the content of the entire undergraduate professional courses. Even though I believed in Xu Yuan's ability, I still couldn't help but feel worried.

After all, if you fail the exam, you won’t be able to graduate with all the credits.

Xu Yuan naturally didn't take this matter too seriously, and it was not the first time he had taken a test given by the professor.

Almost the second after Tang Shihong finished speaking, he immediately opened his mouth and gave a positive answer.

"Don't worry, Professor Tang. I will try not to lose a single point." "That's good."

Tang Shihong nodded: "It seems that I worry too much."

As for the rest of the time, Tang Shihong asked about the topic selection direction of the graduation thesis and the future main content.

All I can say is that I care about Xu Yuan as much as I can.

However, Xu Yuan did not give a positive answer to this, mainly because he had never thought about the graduation thesis before, and it would take some time to study and really determine the appropriate topic direction and content.

Since two of my consecutive papers were published in top journals, my graduation thesis must not be bad.

Otherwise, if the paper that takes so much time and energy to complete has no academic value at all, it would be better not to write it.

Fortunately, no one knew what Xu Yuan was thinking, otherwise if other seniors or graduate students heard it and looked at his thesis, they would probably be defensive.

After discussing the matter to this point, Xu Yuan did not stay any longer. He said goodbye to the two professors and went straight back to the dormitory.

……

As soon as Xu Yuan opened the door and walked in, he heard Liu Yang sighing.

"When will the results of the CET-4 be released? I'm not going to fail, am I?"

As the only person in the dormitory who gets a headache when he sees English, Liu Yang’s performance in the CET-4 exam was still not ideal despite reviewing for a few days.

Especially when I thought that I might have to take the test again, I didn’t even have the heart to review math these past two days.

"Stay strong Yoko."

Hearing the sound, Wang Haitao sat up from the bed and used his own and Li Zhenya's examples to comfort Liu Yang.

"We can just try again next year. Didn't my roommate and I fail the midterm exam last year?"

Liu Yang cast a gloomy look and said, "I would rather fail my advanced level course."

Seeing that Liu Yang had changed from her usual quiet personality to become a nagging woman, in order to maintain a good atmosphere in the dormitory, Xu Yuan decided to take the initiative to change the topic and use himself to attract everyone's attention.

"Don't worry about whether it's level 4 or not."

"I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Li Zhenya, Wang Haitao and Liu Yang stopped what they were doing.

They all turned to look over.

"Brother Yuan, what's the good news? You and the senior sister from the journalism department are officially together?"

"Let's tell you the bad news first." Li Zhenya interrupted Wang Haitao.

Anything that Xu Yuan considered bad news must be unusual, and might even be related to all of them.

It must be clarified as soon as possible.

Xu Yuan was quite cooperative with Li Zhenya and immediately told him that he was about to write his graduation thesis.

"It's like this. I just came back from Professor Tang. The department decided to let me take the comprehensive examination for all undergraduate courses at the end of the semester."

“Graduate from undergraduate program early.”

"I will also have to write a graduation thesis and defend it in the second half of the year."

The people in the dormitory obviously didn't expect that the bad news Xu Yuan was talking about was this.

After hearing this, I was stunned for several seconds before I came to my senses.

"You call this bad news?" Li Zhenya was the first to question, "How many people want to graduate early but can't?"

"Isn't writing a graduation thesis bad news?" Xu Yuan said innocently.

Li Zhenya was not fooled at all: "Writing a paper is a piece of cake for you."

When Xu Yuan heard this, he didn't know what to say. He didn't mean to provoke anyone.

After all, writing a mathematical academic paper that can be published in a top journal is not an easy task. The last time I solved the Carmichael number interval problem, it was also a coincidence.

All we can say is that Li Zhenya and Xu Yuan have different understandings of graduation thesis, and it is fine for the former to just keep the content of the thesis similar.

The latter should at least be able to publish in SCI.

"So what's the good news, Brother Yuan?" Liu Yang asked at this time.

They had already expected Xu Yuan to graduate early, so they were not too surprised by what he just said.

“The good news is that although I’m going straight to a PhD program, I will still live with you for the next two years.” Xu Yuan replied with a smile on his face.

When others heard that Xu Yuan not only graduated from college ahead of schedule, but also went straight to pursue a doctorate, they were stunned.

Even though he was almost immune to Xu Yuan's stimulation, he couldn't help but express his envy at this moment.

Only Wang Haitao thought of one thing and asked, "Brother Yuan, you are going to be our senior, aren't you?"

We were all freshmen in the third grade class, but how come our roommates became PhD students just one year later? Everyone kept silent, not wanting to continue talking about this topic that made them envious.

July came quickly, and as the final exams of the semester officially began, Xu Yuan finally saw his test paper.

The test questions are several pages long and cover the entire undergraduate mathematics professional knowledge.

Just a quick glance will reveal the subtlety of the questions, and I can only say that they are worthy of being set by several professors in the mathematics department.

Although he was given more than four hours to answer the questions, as Xu Yuan entered into a deep learning state, he still did not find the questions too difficult and eventually finished and handed in the paper ahead of schedule.

(End of this chapter)