It seemed that in order to increase the selection rigor, this year’s advanced mathematics questions were insanely difficult; the teacher responsible for setting the test publicly declared that the average score in advanced mathematics would be controlled below the passing line, and the second-to-last question’s solution rate wouldn’t exceed 5%.
As for the last question, they went so far as to include the Riemann Hypothesis, which has perplexed the mathematics community for over a hundred years, and even numerous top students were crying out in misery.
"I didn’t even finish the questions, I guessed half of the multiple-choice ones, I’m done for!"
"I majored in mathematics at Qingbei University, and in past years, I could score over 140 even with my eyes closed, but this time, I’d be thankful for even 120!"
"Riemann Hypothesis, I’ve never even heard of this thing!"
"Brother, have you heard of Fermat’s Last Theorem and the Goldbach Conjecture? In terms of mathematical depth, the Riemann Hypothesis is even stronger than those!"
"I just checked, and if you could successfully prove the Riemann Hypothesis, you could directly win a $1 million prize!"
"Man, isn’t this nonsense? Is this still a graduate-level mathematics exam? Mr. Examiner, I rnmmp!"
"Damn, aren’t they afraid of getting razor blades mailed to them for setting such questions?"
...
Right after the exam ended, students immediately gathered on Weibo, forums, and various major platforms to vent. If they could solve those questions, they could directly become mathematicians; what was the point of even taking the graduate exam?
"What the hell? An interview video of Boss Zhang?"
"Did Boss Zhang really come to take the graduate exam? And at our Jiangnan University of Science and Technology?"
Flipping through, the first person found that particular media interview about Zhang Menglong.
"Damn it... ’Rubbish questions’? Are these the words of a human being?" That person then shared the interview video.
In an instant, it went from one to ten, ten to a hundred; Zhang Menglong’s interview video suddenly topped the trending searches.
"Hahaha, ’rubbish questions, stopping me from playing games,’ typical style of Boss Zhang, still spouting flamboyant nonsense as always!"
"I was in the same exam room as Boss Zhang. He started sleeping half an hour into the advanced mathematics exam. Unless a prodigy descended, who could finish those questions in half an hour? The last question, who in this world could solve it?"
"Hahaha! So that’s how it is. Boss Zhang is putting on airs again; I guess he’s done for too."
"Pfft, if he’s done, he’s done. With Boss Zhang’s net worth, does he really need a graduate degree?"
...
At Jiangnan University of Science and Technology, within the graduate exam grading office, teachers were marking the test papers, each wearing a serious expression. As expected, this year’s performance was far from hopeful, even the scores they were marking were lower than the examiner’s initial estimations!
"Mr. Zhang, how’s it going on your end? What’s the highest score so far?" one of the teachers put down his pen and took a sip of tea.
"92 points," the man addressed as Mr. Zhang replied with a wry smile, "And you?"
"A little better, 95 points," that teacher’s expression was equally worried, "I wonder how many of our students will successfully make it this year."
"Well, we shouldn’t worry too much, if the questions are hard, everyone’s scores will be low!"
"True!"
"Holy! All correct in multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blanks?" Suddenly, another teacher nearby exclaimed in surprise.
"Oh?" Several teachers immediately gathered around, they double-checked the answers. Although the handwriting was a bit sloppy, it was clear and perfectly matched the standard answer key.
"Wow, this student is good, getting all the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blanks correct. I bet among the 1.9 million students taking advanced mathematics this time, less than ten could achieve this level."
"I wonder from which school this student is, Qingbei, Yanjing University, or Jiaotong University."
"Interesting, Mr. Liu, take a look at the rest of his answers."
Mr. Liu nodded and pulled out the remaining part of the answers.
"Right!"
"Again, right!"
"They are all standard answers! No, this penultimate question is even simpler than the standard answer by several steps!"
"130 points, it should be the highest score until now! This student is too brilliant, actually getting every question right!"
"Wait!" All the teachers suddenly stared blankly!
Until now, the answer section for the last question on all the papers they had graded was blank.
Due to this year’s graduate exam reform, whether ordinary Science and Technology students or mathematics majors, both had to face a course in High-Grade Mathematics, but the difficulty of the specialized courses for mathematics students was far from comparable to this unified exam paper of High-Grade Mathematics.
Not to mention solving the Riemann Hypothesis, even understanding this question was extremely rare, yet the back of this answer sheet was densely packed with writing.
And at the end, they saw a line of small text, "Riemann Hypothesis holds!"
"He... he proved the Riemann Hypothesis?"
"Hahaha, impossible, how could an undergraduate prove such a thing? He must have written it in one go without thinking!"
"Yes, if there really were such an outstanding person, Riemann could climb out of his coffin!"
"Let’s take a closer look," a teacher said, "If he could produce this result, he must have his own logic in it, perhaps we can even award him a few points!"
But the more they looked, the more blank the expressions of the teachers, and even one teacher’s arms couldn’t help but start trembling.
"This... he seems to have used complex analytic geometric thoughts, and the rigor of the proof process is beyond my ability to judge!"
"He couldn’t really have verified the Riemann Hypothesis, could he?"
"This... an ordinary graduate exam, solved a problem that has puzzled the mathematics community for over a hundred years? This is too incredible!"
"This is beyond our ability to grade!"
The teachers smiled wryly, although they were all university mathematics teachers, even they couldn’t possibly verify the Riemann Hypothesis, it remained an unsolved mystery, how could there be an answer?
"What are you doing? All gathering together, not grading anymore?" At this time, an old man around 60 years old cursed as he walked over, "There are so many candidates this year, if you don’t hurry up, are you wasting time here?"
The old man’s surname was Tu, a distinguished professor from the School of Mathematical Sciences at Yanjing University, and he was also the leader of their marking team. Discover more content at freewebnovel
"Professor Tu!" The teacher surnamed Liu stood up, "We found a very special paper."
"How special?"
"Apart from the last question about the Riemann Hypothesis, all other questions were perfectly solved."
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"Oh?" Professor Tu was slightly surprised, as the gatekeeper of the exam group, he had seen this paper and was very aware of its difficulty. To score those 130 points was already the level of many university mathematics department associate professors.
"That’s not the most important part," Liu said, "He also solved the last Riemann Hypothesis, but we are limited in our ability to award points, so we were discussing what to do."
"Solved the Riemann Hypothesis?" Professor Tu’s face showed even more astonishment, "Show me that paper!"
"Professor Tu, this is that student’s answer sheet!"
"Just two pages of the solution process?" Professor Tu frowned, until now, manuscripts attempting to answer the Riemann Hypothesis had reached up to 132 pages, but even with a whole manuscript, no precise conclusion had been produced.
"This..." Professor Tu’s facial features suddenly contorted, "This is complex analysis... no! This isn’t just pure complex analysis! This..."
Professor Tu’s expression went from initial surprise to astonishment, then to delight, and finally, he even appeared somewhat frightened!
"I also cannot judge his answer!" Professor Tu thought for a long while, finally letting out a heavy sigh, "This student is a genius!"