Chapter 55 Absolute Winner

In Hu Zhiwei's expectation, Xu Yuan should be the first to hand in his paper like yesterday, leading the other contestants with an absolute lead and bringing this International Mathematical Olympiad to a successful conclusion.

But this is not the case.

Through the examination room surveillance in the team leader's lounge, we can see that Xu Yuan is always concentrating on answering the questions.

He looked relaxed at the beginning, but frowned visibly towards the end, and was still writing furiously until the last second before the bell rang. It seemed that he was stumped by the last question.

From the mathematics winter camp finals to the national training team, Xu Yuan has never been seen in this situation.

It’s a bit hard to accept.

"Could it be that Xu Yuanzhen failed on the final question?"

……

"It shouldn't be."

This thought emerged uncontrollably in Hu Zhiwei's mind. He felt a little heavy-hearted and there was no smile on his face.

Although he had full confidence in Xu Yuan, he also had to consider the reality.

If the worst case scenario is that Xu Yuan fails to complete the final question, then even if he gets full marks on the first five questions, his total score can only be 35 points at most.

Perhaps based on the gold medal line in previous years, they can still compete for the gold medal, but the impact on the team's total score will be huge.

Not to mention becoming the absolute winner.

Various speculations popped up and disappeared in Hu Zhiwei's mind, which made him a little uneasy, and he was ready to get up and leave the next second.

As soon as I moved off the sofa, Feng Zuming's voice rang in my ears: "It seems that your contestant has a solid foundation in mathematics, but lacks training in difficult special test questions, otherwise he would not be stumped by the last question."

The Japanese deputy leader on the left expressed regret: "It's a pity to lose a big question."

“What a shame.”

“I wonder if there will be an absolute winner this year.” The other national team leaders couldn’t help but agree.

Hu Zhiwei stopped and smiled again, saying, "Our contestants just didn't hand in their papers early today. Before the organizing committee announces the final results, no one knows what will happen."

After speaking, he didn't care about the other person's expression and pushed the door open and left.

-

"Finally the exam is over. I was so nervous these past two days and it was really torturous."

“I heard there will be activities later.”

"Brother Yuan, are you still thinking about the exam?" Liu Yang was chatting with everyone after they reunited. He noticed that Xu Yuan seemed to be in deep thought and shouted, "The exam is over anyway. How can you not have some fun after coming so far here?"

Xu Yuan was originally thinking about his proof of the interval problem between infinite Carmichael numbers, and he came back to his senses when he heard Liu Yang's words.

But there is still a surprise in my heart.

With the inspiration that came to him by chance while solving the problem, he wanted to advance the progress bar of the Carmichael number problem.

As a result, by chance, I was able to complete the final proof.

However, he still needs to spend time sorting out the detailed process before he can write it into a paper and submit it to an academic journal in the mathematics field.

Whether it is to prove one's own contribution to mathematics or to be selected as a professor or academician in the future, papers are indispensable, especially those included in core journals.

Since he chose mathematics first in his life, he must want the world to see the strength of the domestic mathematics community.

If nothing unexpected happens.

This paper will be the real starting point for him to stand at the top of international mathematics.

He also remembered that undergraduate students who published papers would receive bonuses based on the journal impact factor and the district of the university.

To be honest, he is still short of money. Although Manager Zhang gave him a discount of 100,000 yuan on the house, he still has to pay a few hundred yuan in mortgage every month. The top prize money is used to renovate his parents' shop, and the rest is used to renovate the new house and build a new house in his hometown.

It is true that going to Qinghua School does not cost any money, but the scholarship cannot be obtained immediately.

So he would not miss the chance to withdraw knowledge and wealth. When Hu Zhiwei saw the team members, he wanted to ask Xu Yuan about the final question, but he swallowed the words back.

Because he noticed that Xu Yuan was not as relaxed as Liu Yang and the others. If he really questioned him in front of everyone, it would probably affect his mood for the next few days.

Anyway, the situation cannot be changed, so it is better to wait for the results to be announced as he said to Feng Zuming.

After figuring this out, he quickly returned to his normal state, and with a smile on his face, he said to everyone, "The organizers will arrange for people to lead the contestants on a sightseeing tour in the next two days. You can relax and have fun."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone cheered.

"Great."

"We can be considered to be traveling abroad, but unfortunately Neon is too small and there is not much to see."

……

“Can you see the volcano erupting?”

Xu Yuan wanted to keep a low profile at first, but when he heard Liu Yang's words, he almost spit out the water he had just drunk. He thought it was a good thing that there were no contestants from Japan around.

But to be honest, he also wanted to see such a magnificent scene.

Just as Professor Hu said, they were taken to visit local attractions over the next two days and watched a circus performance in the evening.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was the closing ceremony that the contestants were most looking forward to.

2003 7 Month 17 Day.

Thursday.

Half past three in the afternoon.

Teams from more than 80 countries and regions gathered in the International Exhibition Hall to attend the closing ceremony of the International Mathematical Olympiad.

According to the process, the head of the organizing committee came to the stage to give a speech, and after about ten minutes, the scores were finally announced.

As the host finished speaking, two rows of contestants' photos suddenly appeared on the big screen behind him, with the scores clearly marked in the upper left corner.

At this moment, everyone in the audience was staring at the screen, afraid of missing out.

"Liu Yang scored 36 points."

"I saw Zhou Wenshun's score, it seems to be 32 points."

Since the organizing committee had previously announced the gold medal line for this year, as long as the score was over 29 points, the gold medal could be won. Therefore, when Liu Yang, Zhou Wenshun and others saw that their team members' scores had passed the gold medal line, they immediately shouted excitedly.

Even Hu Zhiwei couldn't help but clench his hands tightly to hide his nervousness.

Soon after all the photos were scrolled, after statistics, the team won four gold medals and one silver medal.

It can be said to be a very good result.

But now the smiles on everyone's faces disappeared, and a question slowly emerged in their hearts.

"Why can't I see Brother Yuan's results? Did you notice... Could it be that the organizing committee missed it?" Liu Yang asked the other team members around him and felt very surprised.

Yes.

They didn't see Xu Yuan's photo on the screen.

Faced with this extremely rare change, Hu Zhiwei was a little confused about the situation.

Even if Xu Yuanzhen lost the points on the last question, at least he had a total score. What was going on now?

"Don't worry, I'll ask the team leader to verify the reason with the organizing committee." Hu Zhiwei turned to Xu Yuan and said something reassuring, then walked towards the team leader Han Youzhang.

Xu Yuan was naturally not worried about this, after all, he was 100% confident about the test paper he had done.

Just as Hu Zhiwei was about to ask about the situation, he heard the host on the podium say with a smile: "We have left a suspense at the end. There is no absolute winner in this competition, but I am very happy to tell you that there is one, and I will call out the name of this outstanding contestant soon."

……

(End of this chapter)