From University Lecturer to Chief Academician

It is reasonable for Zhang Zhiqiang to acid Patrick Roche. There are countless scholars in the world who would acid Patrick Roche.

Because, lucky.

The lucky winners of the lottery will also be soured, but winning the lottery often happens. There are many lottery winners all over the world. In recent years, only Patrick Rosh has discovered the latest Mersenne primes. His The name has been on the main website of the GIMPS official website for several years.

The GIMPS official website has an introduction about Patrick Rosh’s luck, which reads, “For Patrick Rosh, this season has been even luckier, and his persistence has paid off handsomely. For many years, Patrick has been using GIMPS software as his A free "stress test" for the computer version of , which he started looking for less than four months ago on his own media server, to give back to the project."

"Some GIMPS participants have been searching for more than 20 years and tens of thousands of attempts without success. This proves that, with a little luck, anyone can find the next new Mersenne prime."

Prime Software has hundreds of thousands of long-term online users and millions of CPUs running. In a few years, there is only one Patrick Rosh. One can imagine how lucky it is.

In addition, the discovery of a new Mersenne prime number will not only reward one hundred thousand dollars, but also a huge increase in personal reputation.

For example, the GIMPS website has long hung Patrick Rosh's personal "lucky introduction", probably with the purpose of attracting more people to join.

Many reports on the discovery of new Mersenne prime numbers will mention Patrick Rosh. His name appears on the pages of major media. People who don’t know it may think that he is a famous scholar and a scientist who has made great contributions.

But in fact, Patrick Rosh is just at the bottom of the academic circle, at most he can be regarded as an algorithm engineer, or the one whose ability is not too outstanding.

If you really care about it, Patrick Roche is not considered a scholar, but because of his lucky discovery of Mersenne primes, he has become more famous than other true scholars with "results similar to academic achievements".

This is the source of the envy and envy of scholars.

What did Patrick Roche do?

He just used the Prime software to do a server stress test, used his computer to hang up the software and run it, and then he was lucky enough to find the Mersenne prime number.

He reaped money, reaped fame, and left his name in the historical record of Mersenne primes.

Wang Hao felt a little emotional when he thought about it carefully. He had to admit that Patrick Roche was indeed very lucky.

He shook his head, customized the running time of the program, and was soon assigned a super large prime number. He also started to use the computer to hang up the Prime software, and then ignored it, and began to study Mersenne prime numbers.

He studies algorithms.

The main function of the Prime software is to perform distributed processing and calculation statistics. In fact, the internal algorithm for checking Mersenne prime numbers is very simple. For the verification of a number, the Lucas-Lehmer test method is used.

The Lucas-Lehmer test is a primality test for Mersenne numbers. It was formulated by Edward Lucas in 1878. Fifty years later, Derek-Henry-Lehmer improved the method.

This primality test method for Mersenne primes has been very simplified.

Using the Lucas-Lehmer test method to verify whether the Mersenne number 'Mn=2 to the nth power-1' is a prime number, you only need to let the program run 'n-2 times' in a loop.

Of course, since a super large number with tens of millions of digits is involved, the calculation amount of each cycle is still very high, but the primality test for a super large number with tens of millions of digits can be said to be simplified to the extreme.

For example, an ordinary home computer can detect the primality of a Mersenne number with tens of millions of digits after running it for about 100 hours.

This speed is quite amazing.

Because of this, until nearly a hundred years ago, the primality test for Mersenne numbers is still the Lucas-Lehmer test.

The content of the Lucas-Lehmer test can be understood at a glance, and the method is not difficult at all.

Because the method is too simple, it seems impossible to improve it.

For example, the method of ordinary addition is simple enough, how can it be improved?

Wang Hao thought about it carefully, but there was no way to start, but the research must have a direction. There is no breakthrough in the test method for a single prime number, and a breakthrough can be made in the screening of test numbers.

However, after thinking about it for a long time, he still couldn't find the direction, so he could only slowly see if he could get any inspiration.

...

The next morning, Wang Hao got up early and went for a morning run.

The rhythm of life returned to the previous pattern, and I also met familiar people during exercise.

Su Yingxue.

She is still dressed in that sporty outfit, and she still looks heroic.

Wang Hao and Su Yingxue ran around for two laps together, and after saying a few words by the way, they realized that the other party was going to be stationed in Xihai City for a long time.

"I'm in charge of following up the project of Navitas Lab." Su Yingxue's simple explanation revealed a lot of information. She advocated cooperation with Navitas Lab and was directly responsible for the follow-up of the project. She must have attached great importance to the project.

If the project of Navitas Lab does not progress for a long time, it may have some impact on Su Yingxue's personal career.

"I remember saying that I suggest you cooperate with Navitas Lab." Wang Hao said with a smile, "I definitely won't regret it."

"I believe in you." Su Yingxue looked into Wang Hao's eyes and nodded seriously.

Wang Hao and Su Yingxue said a few words, and insisted on running for two more laps. Feeling a little tired, they left to have breakfast.

Soy milk, deep-fried dough sticks, plus a tea egg, a classic combination, eating happily to replenish the exhausted energy.

The day begins again.

A girl in a sweater with a sweet smile came over, she put the plate opposite Wang Hao, and said with some surprise, "Mr. Wang Hao, I looked like you just now, really, don't bother me." Bar?"

"It doesn't matter."

Wang Hao raised his head and said something, and found that the other party seemed a little familiar, was it the counselor in Luo Dayong's class, whose name was...

It does not matter!

The person who came was Meng Qian.

She has a cheerful and talkative personality, and she also took the initiative to talk to Wang Hao after sitting across from each other, so that the atmosphere would not look too dull.

"Mr. Wang Hao, congratulations. You have created a domestic scholar. In the past 20 years, in the field of analytical number theory, you have completed a history of international achievements and even made news. It is really amazing."

"My friend and I were talking about you yesterday, you are a big celebrity in school now!"

Meng Qian complimented Wang Hao several times in a row, and then talked about her own research, "Mr. Wang Hao, I remember I said it last time. If you have time, you can give me advice. Thesis and doctoral dissertation are too difficult. I will come to I can't find my way now."

Wang Hao asked, "You are doing computer research, what field?"

"Artificial intelligence, algorithm." Meng Qian introduced in two words.

Wang Hao shook his head immediately, "I can't help with this. I don't know much about artificial intelligence, but there are many people engaged in research in this field in the school. Zhang Zhiqiang in my office has done related research. How about I help you? introduce?"

"That's not necessary."

Meng Qian hurriedly waved her hand and said, "My supervisor also specializes in research in this area, and you can't ask others all the research. What I'm doing is to express the algorithm of learning, just want to find a direction."

"Algorithms for Representation Learning..."

Wang Hao shook his head thinking, "I really don't understand this field at all."

Meng Qian smiled and said, "Don't be modest, Mr. Wang Hao, you are an algorithm expert. If you have time, can you help me to see, I don't need to say what to do, I just want to find a direction."

"Hmm...Okay." Wang Hao hesitated for a while, it's not good to always refuse, thinking it's okay to have a look, he still agreed.

But he still emphasized, "I really don't understand the field of artificial intelligence. At that time, I won't be able to help you much, so don't blame me."

"Of course not. I'd be very grateful if you could help me take a look."

Meng Qian smiled heartily, and made an appointment with Wang Hao, which was set in the afternoon.

When he was about to leave after breakfast, Meng Qian suddenly said, "By the way, Teacher Wang Hao, my name is Meng Qian. You can call me 'Xiao Meng', and everyone else calls me that."

She said and blinked at Wang Hao.

Wang Hao was a little embarrassed.

It doesn't matter if you forgot the other party's name, but the other party saw it?

Meng Qian was quite cheerful, and she even asked herself to call her 'Xiao Meng'. The question is, the other party should be two years older than herself, right?

Is it appropriate to be called 'Xiao Meng'? How about changing to 'Sister Meng'?

...

Waiting until the afternoon to see Meng Qian again, Wang Hao still hadn't decided on the address, and finally decided to call him 'Meng Qian', and calling her by the other's name was definitely correct.

"Meng Qian, where are we going?" Wang Hao followed Meng Qian, feeling like he was about to leave the school gate, and he could see a hotel sign far away, feeling a little bad in his heart.

Fortunately, Meng Qian turned a corner and entered the sixth-floor laboratory building.

Computer laboratory building.

The upper two floors are the computer lab where Zhang Zhiqiang works.

Wang Hao and Meng Qian went upstairs together. When they reached the fifth floor, they met Chen Qinghua. The little old man walked with his back folded and his hands clasped. When he saw Wang Hao, his eyes lit up, "Wang Hao? A rare visitor!"

The little old man came over enthusiastically, pulled Wang Hao and walked in, "Let me show you around, our laboratory has newly purchased two servers, the computing power is very..."

Wang Hao quickly emphasized, "Dean Chen, I'm just here to show Meng Qian something."

"Meng Qian?"

Chen Qinghua was confused when he heard it, and then he noticed Meng Qian next to him, and then took a closer look at Wang Hao, and suddenly realized that he prolonged the sound, "Oh~~~"

"You talk about yourself, you talk, you talk..." He walked away with his hands behind his back, and sighed, "Young man!"

Wang Hao was a little embarrassed, and Meng Qian also blushed a little, but they really had nothing to do, and went to a laboratory together.

There seems to be no difference between the computer lab and the office, except that the computer looks more professional, and there are a lot of computer accessories piled up in the corner, making the room a bit messy.

There were several other people in the lab. When they saw Meng Qian leading someone in, they didn't recognize them at first, but they quickly realized that they gathered around and chattered, "Teacher Wang Hao!"

"Professor Wang!"

"I studied your effective and irrelevant carry algorithm. It's really... so difficult, it's so hard to reach the sky. After two days of research, my hair almost fell out."

"Teacher Wang Hao, do you have time to show me the research? I have a problem..."

Meng Qian hurriedly announced "Wang Hao's ownership", "You all get out of the way, I want Teacher Wang Hao to give me some pointers."

"well……"

Several people stopped talking.

Meng Qian turned on the computer, there were several files in it, and she clicked on one of them. They were all codes and the like. She also began to explain, "I'm doing research on the algorithm of representation learning."

"The foundation is CNN (Convolutional Neural Network). Related research based on CNN is a hotspot. This algorithm has been improving."

"I also know about GBDT, another machine learning algorithm..."

Meng Qian talked a lot in a row, and it was obvious that she was very professional. She must have put a lot of effort into it. The other people in the lab were also PhD students, and their research was not in the same direction, but they all had similarities, repetitions.

Wang Hao pursed his lips and listened carefully for a long time, thinking about it and was about to speak when Chen Qinghua and another professor walked in.

"Teacher Sun!"

"Professor Chen!"

Several doctoral students shouted politely.

Chen Qinghua also introduced Wang Hao, "This is Professor Sun Guangyuan."

Sun Guangyuan is a doctoral supervisor, and there are two students in the laboratory. After shaking hands with Wang Hao, he immediately said, "Professor Wang, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Leave us alone and continue talking about you."

Chen Qinghua and Sun Guangyuan stood by and watched.

Two computer science scholars stood by, most likely engaged in research in the field of artificial intelligence, Wang Hao felt that he was a layman giving advice to experts, so he quickly emphasized, "I am a layman, what I said is wrong, please don't Joke. Artificial intelligence, I really don't understand."

Sun Guangyuan immediately laughed and said, "Professor Wang, what kind of joke is this? It's like a mountain across the world. Research is like this. It's hard to make progress if you do research alone. Maybe you can think of ideas after hearing a few words from others. "

Chen Qinghua also said, "It doesn't matter whether what you say is right or not, this is not a professional academic conference."

Wang Hao suddenly had a clear mind, and he said, "My understanding of 'representation learning' is the core research problem in the field of artificial intelligence. Some successful models" can be understood as special cases of representation learning. ..."

After having a beginning, a lot of knowledge poured into his mind, combined with his own understanding of the algorithm and ideas, Wang Hao suddenly gained confidence, and continued, "Using probability to model the hidden variable and the hidden variable of the joint distribution of the observed variable Variable models, as well as deep models that learn hierarchical representations end-to-end, are a type of representation learning."

"Now is the era of big data. The main difficulty in the research of representation learning is the analysis of huge data volumes."

"Whether it is the noise of the random algorithm, the instability of the approximate optimization algorithm, the high time complexity, etc., all affect the efficiency of the representation learning algorithm..."

He said that he got to the point, and simply walked to the small whiteboard next to him, took a simple model diagram, and then continued, "Let's look at this diagram, in fact, no matter whether it is showing the direction of learning or what kind of research we are doing, we can't do without it. Open this diagram. Either analyze the simplified algorithm, or start from the structure, the easiest and easiest to produce results should be the simplified structure, forming a direct path in a certain direction."

"We're going from point A to point B and then point C, it's definitely not as good as building a pathway between A and C."

"So, how to do research, how to repair the road?"

"I think there can be two approaches, one is to adopt a new framework, and the other is to adopt a new method of analysis..."

"Wow wow wow..."

Wang Hao spoke for nearly 30 minutes at a stretch, and a doctoral student with good eyesight even poured a glass of water and handed it over.

Then, go ahead.

Finally, after about forty minutes, he ended the conversation.

Looking at the people in the laboratory who were deep in thought and understanding, he nodded in satisfaction and said, "I just have a superficial understanding, so please forgive me if I'm wrong."

"I'm a layman when it comes to artificial intelligence."

A group of doctoral students, including Meng Qian, immediately cast admiring eyes. After listening to a lot of explanations, they all felt that they had gained a lot, thinking that their research ideas were clear.

Sun Guangyuan and Chen Qinghua tugged at the corners of their mouths at the same time.

This is a layman?

Should the word 'layman' be redefined?