I kidnapped an alien civilization

In the editorial department of Mathematics Monthly, Wei Xiaonian is a 24K pure newcomer. His task is to accept and review the contributions of the masses. Last night, he was dragged to a party by his classmates who also graduated from the Department of Mathematics of Peking University. At the party, he heard the news that his ex-girlfriend was going to get married, so he drank his sorrows and was almost late in the morning.

Wei Xiaonian, who punched in the card and swiped his fingerprints, was still a little confused while sitting at the desk. He randomly picked one from a pile of submissions on the table, and the page read: Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis.

Well, it's a cannon early in the morning. Wei Xiaonian turned to the end of the paper, looked at the page number, page 56. . .

The special manuscripts of the impurity agency or the papers written by some professors are directly reviewed by the editor-in-chief. Wei Xiaonian, a newcomer to the magazine, was responsible for the contributions of the masses, also known as folk scientists. Those manuscripts are generally rich in imagination, but cannot withstand logical scrutiny.

Wei Xiaonian once saw a mass who used more than 300 pages of papers to discuss there is an unknown integer between the natural number 3 and the natural number 4. At that time, he had just entered the magazine, and he spent a day enduring all kinds of logical errors in the paper, and carefully read the more than 300 pages of the paper. In the paper, the crowd tried his best to prove that he found that there is an integer between 3 and 4 that humans have not discovered. The result disappointed Wei Xiaonian. He found that this paper was actually a fantasy novel.

The paper that impressed him most was Proof of Goldbach's Conjecture. The paper was only one page, and it said Because 1+1=2, so Goldbach's conjecture is true. At that time, Wei Xiaonian almost collapsed from laughter. Fortunately, the paper only had one page, so he didn't waste his time.

Afterwards, Wei Xiaonian reviewed the manuscript of the masses, and found a serious logical error in the paper, so he was shot immediately.

This Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis turned to the second page and was shot by him. He saved 54 pages of time.

On For every positive integer, if it is an odd number, multiply it by 3 and add 1, if it is an even number, then divide it by 2, and repeat like this, you can finally get 1., author: Mengchengyi Gao Limo

Yesterday's hangover made Wei Xiaonian a little dizzy, looking at the title of this paper. I didn't think about it for a while, and read it twice, and suddenly realized that this is the Collats Conjecture?

Another Riemann Hypothesis? Wei Xiaonian has long been used to it, so he flipped through it, but luckily there are only 21 pages. He began to review Li Mo's thesis according to his working skills.

There is no error on the first page, which is normal.

There are no mistakes on the second page. It seems that this high school teacher has a good level of mathematics.

There are no mistakes on the third page, continue to read.

There is no error on the fourth page, .

There is no error on page 11, .

Page 12. Can't understand.

Wei Xiaonian was a little surprised. He failed to find a logical error in the first 11 pages of the paper. Starting from page 12, he couldn't understand the several transformations the author used in succession.

Wei Xiaonian has always been proud of his mathematical attainments. When he graduated from university, many foreign companies sent him invitations. Wei Xiaonian, who wholeheartedly hoped to make achievements in the field of mathematics, chose this publishing house with meager wages, which also led to his breakup with his girlfriend. Wei Xiaonian remembers that when he broke up with his girlfriend, both of them were drunk, and his beloved girlfriend cried and said that she could not see the future with him. This has also become an eternal pain in his heart.

The writing of a thesis in front of him made him hesitate. The Collats conjecture has existed for hundreds of years. Although its problem can be described by high school mathematics, this does not mean that it is simple. On the contrary, countless mathematicians have been working on solving this difficult problem for hundreds of years. Now a high school teacher has sent in a paper claiming to have solved the problem in his paper. What surprised him even more was that he just failed to find a logical loophole in the paper.

He had already made a decision, stood up and pushed open the door of the editor-in-chief's office.

Professor Wang, I have a paper on the Collats Conjecture that I need you to read.

A nearly bald head on the desk protruded from behind a tall stack of magazines, a pair of thick glasses were placed on the bridge of the nose, and the cloudy eyes that revealed a trace of light behind the lenses were full of doubts.

In an academic journal, the editors who review manuscripts for the mass are the ones who have the least interaction with the editor-in-chief. Because the contributions of the mass are often fantasy novels, these fantasy novels are not likely to be placed in front of the editor-in-chief.

I couldn't find any mistakes in this manuscript, and I couldn't understand the next dozen pages from the author's continuous switching. Aware of Professor Wang's doubts, Wei Xiaonian said a little ashamed.

Huh? A wrinkled hand took over the manuscript.

Put it here, I'll see it later. Professor Wang raised his head and said slowly.

Hush Wei Xiaonian, who left the editor's office, let out a sigh of relief. Every time he faced the well-known old stubborn in the mathematics world, he felt uncomfortable all over his body. Old man Wang's eyes seemed to be able to see through people's internal organs. However, it is also because of old man Wang's stubbornness that Mathematics Monthly never publishes fake articles, and its credibility is getting higher and higher.

Just throw this hot potato to the editor-in-chief. Wei Xiaonian became happy. The most difficult thing in reviewing academic papers is to not understand the author's thinking and the logical relationship used in the paper. If you can't understand the thesis, then you can't judge whether the argument is valid or not.

He sat down and could finally relax. Although he didn't understand the thesis just now, it took him a lot of energy.

I poured a cup of coffee. Although the salary of the magazine was not high, the coffee was free. Presumably it was to save the editors who were fighting in fantasy novels all day long.

Drinking coffee, thinking wildly, Wei Xiaonian saw the editor-in-chief Professor Wang walking over with the manuscript he just handed in.

This paper. You received this paper? Professor Wang looked very excited.

Yes, I received it today. Professor Wang's abnormal excitement frightened Wei Xiaonian, and he replied honestly.

Have you done a weight check?

The weight rate of papers is less than 10%. Wei Xiaonian's professional quality is still very high, before he handed over the manuscript to the editor-in-chief. Just checked in the system. Generally, the weight rate of academic papers does not exceed 20%, which is considered excellent, but the weight rate of this manuscript is only 10%. This is also one of the reasons that prompted Wei Xiaonian to hand over the manuscript to the editor-in-chief.

Less than 10%? Sure enough, Professor Wang's face became more joyful after hearing this.

Is there any problem? Seeing Professor Wang's happy face, Wei Xiaonian made a bold guess.

Could it be that this paper really proves the Collats conjecture? Wei Xiaonian asked eagerly.

Although he submitted the manuscript to the editor-in-chief, he still had no expectation that the paper would be correct. After all, it is the Collats Conjecture, which has troubled generations of Chinese and foreign mathematicians.

Is it really proven by those 21 pages?

Did it really be proved by that Mengcheng High School teacher? Wei Xiaonian was taken aback by this bold idea in his mind.

Professor Wang tried his best to suppress his emotions, and said in a calm tone: I haven't confirmed that the paper is completely correct, but according to my review, there are no problems with the main arguments and logic.

I'm going to the National Mathematics Association, and I'll have a look with Mr. Zhao and the others. You can print out a few more copies of this paper for later use. He walked out as he spoke, stopped at the door, and turned around to explain to Wei Xiaonian Also, show this paper to your teacher.

Wei Xiaonian's teacher is Professor Wu from the Department of Mathematics of Yanda University. He has a high reputation in the Chinese mathematics circle. What's more, he and Professor Wang are classmates. Usually, the magazine will ask Professor Wu to review any difficult manuscripts.

The Collats conjecture has been proved. This is a big event in the world of mathematics. Wei Xiaonian suppressed his excitement and dialed his teacher's phone number.