Chapter 23 Praise from HKUST Professor

"The above are the requirements for the training period. I hope everyone can strictly abide by them in the next two weeks. Now let Professor Qi Tongxiang from the School of Mathematical Sciences of HKUST explain the content of this training."

In the classroom specially prepared for training in the evening, Zhang Yuhui explained the relevant regulations and went straight down.

Give the podium to Qi Tongxiang.

In order to prepare for the provincial team training, the province specially invited professors from the School of Mathematics of USTC to provide guidance.

It can be said that Qi Tongxiang is the overall person in charge.

As a competition coach of No. 1 Middle School, Zhang Yuhui naturally did not dare to be negligent.

Fortunately, Qi Tongxiang seemed to have a good personality. He nodded to Zhang Yuhui before walking to the podium.

He cleared his throat and said:

"Coach Zhang has already said everything he should have said, so I won't repeat myself here."

"Today, we mainly get to know each other."

"Starting tomorrow, I will explain the advanced problem-solving ideas and methods for the competition. I hope you can keep up with my pace and improve your understanding of mathematics in two weeks."

When Qi Tongxiang was saying this, Xu Yuan, who was sitting in the audience, was also looking at him carefully.

He was about forty years old and wore a pair of square-framed glasses.

Although her figure is well managed at this age, her receding hairline is really eye-catching.

Under the light from the overhead lamp, there was a faint reflection on the forehead.

However, one thing Xu Yuan could be sure of was that he had never had any contact with the other party in his previous life.

Just as these thoughts emerged in his mind, he suddenly heard his name called out by the other party.

"Excuse me, who is Xu Yuan, the first place winner in this competition? Can you please stand up so I can see him?"

After being stunned for two seconds, he stood up and responded:

"Hello, Professor Qi. I am Xu Yuan, a student at Guyuan No. 1 High School."

"Sit down quickly."

Qi Tongxiang looked over in the direction of the voice, took a look, and then quickly waved his hand to signal Xu Yuan to sit down.

Then, with a smile on his face, he said, "I've seen your league test paper. Compared to other people's fixed and routine solutions, you tend to find the most suitable solution for each question."

“That’s a good point.”

He did not hide anything and gave Xu Yuan high praise in front of other contestants.

As soon as these words came out.

All members of the provincial team, including Lin Haoming, subconsciously looked towards Xu Yuan.

Even Zhang Yuhui, who was standing at the door, looked surprised.

He was praised in public by his instructor before the training camp even started. This had never happened to him before.

To be honest, Xu Yuan himself was a little surprised. Although it was his habit to use the most suitable method to answer different types of questions, Qi Tongxiang was the first one to point it out.

Even though Wang Qingtao had graded many test papers, he did not notice this.

What schools always focus on is students’ performance in competitions. A fixed way of solving problems may make it easier to get high scores, but it will also rigidify thinking over a long period of time.

It will ruin your deeper research on mathematics.

Of course, most people participate in competitions mainly to win prizes.

Not interested in becoming a mathematician.

It doesn't have much impact.

However, this just proves Xu Yuan's uniqueness. We can only say that Qi Tongxiang is worthy of being a professor of mathematics.

The vision is indeed unique.

Just as Qi Tongxiang said, tonight's meeting was mainly for getting to know each other and did not involve any training. The class meeting lasted only about half an hour before it was declared over.

Everyone returned to their dormitories, preparing for the formal training tomorrow. Perhaps because he had lost the limelight in the classroom that night, Xu Yuan returned to the dormitory and found that the other three roommates had become more talkative.

I asked him about his situation out of curiosity.

There was nothing that could be done about it, since he was the only one in the third year of high school among the nine members of the provincial team.

Finally, he responded with a few words in the manner of a senior student, and finally dispelled his roommates' curiosity.

-

The next day.

The two-week sprint training officially began.

Xu Yuan and his classmates maintained the same schedule as No. 1 Middle School and arrived at the training classroom on time at daybreak.

However, after actually listening to Qi Tongxiang's class, many people who applied to audit the class suddenly felt regretful.

Because the advanced content such as algebraic number theory taught by Qi Tongxiang is much more difficult than the league's additional test.

Even the members of the provincial team frowned in class, not to mention them, the auditors.

Even though they had the best grades in their class, what they were doing was essentially like listening to a foreign language. After just twenty minutes, they all felt drowsy and were completely unable to keep up with Professor Qi Tongxiang's lecture pace.

On the contrary, Xu Yuan looked extremely serious, like a thirsty sponge desperately absorbing the mathematical moisture transmitted by Qi Tongxiang.

His mind was highly focused and his thoughts were working fast, helping him to analyze and understand.

So as not to fall behind in the pace of the lectures.

He took part in the competition not just to win a prize or get admitted. Since he had chosen mathematics in his second life, he must make a name for himself.

Therefore, he would not miss any opportunity to improve his math skills.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

Those who can adapt to the training rhythm have basically stabilized, while those who still can't keep up can only hold on.

After all, since we are here, it would be too embarrassing to quit halfway.

……

"For this type of square number problem, proving that two things are not square numbers can be solved by the infinite descent method. Professor Qi has mentioned this before."

That evening in the training classroom, Xu Yuan took a pen and quickly wrote down the steps to solve a problem on a piece of draft paper, and explained it in detail to several auditors beside him. During this time, Lin Haoming, who was also a member of the provincial team, also came over.

From the beginning of the training camp to now, Xu Yuan can be said to have explained the questions to all the auditors in the classroom.

The only exceptions are the other provincial team members except Lin Haoming.

Perhaps in their opinion, since everyone is a member of the provincial team and their level is at the same level, there is naturally no need to ask others for advice.

Even if you really encounter something you don't understand, you should go to Professor Qi Tongxiang for help.

Of course Xu Yuan didn't take this matter to heart.

In short, everyone is in the same classroom, and no matter who asks him for advice, he will explain it carefully.

Sometimes he would even have new insights while explaining questions to others.

"Thank you, Brother Yuan. After listening to your explanation, my thoughts are much clearer."

After explaining a complicated question, the other party picked up the draft paper and carefully studied the steps to solve the problem, and did not forget to express his gratitude to Xu Yuan.

Others around also echoed this.

"Thank you so much. If it weren't for Brother Yuan explaining it to us privately, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to keep up with Professor Qi's class at all."

"It's mainly because Brother Yuan can explain complex issues in a simple and easy-to-understand way."

"Anyway, I am convinced by Brother Yuan."

Xu Yuan listened to the compliments from those around him and waved his hands politely, but the smile on his face never disappeared.

There was an episode in the middle of this incident. At first, after listening to the explanation, the others excitedly called him Yuan Shen, but he felt that this title was a bit strange. It happened that he was a year older, so in the end he just called them Brother Yuan.

(End of this chapter)