Chapter 297 - 271: Mathematics Needs This Kind of Person

Chapter 297: Chapter 271: Mathematics Needs This Kind of Person

Meticulous.

Li Dong casually posed a question.

"Senior Fu Chen, how about you discuss the specific value principles for Arthur’s truncation on the geometric side of the trace formula?"

Fu Chen didn’t rush to speak, as if organizing his thoughts.

Then he looked up and began to answer.

He started with Arthur’s original 1986 paper, first explaining the definition of the truncation function.

He then moved on to the expansion of the elliptic terms on the geometric side, and then to the control of divergence for the non-elliptic terms.

Finally, he arrived at Arthur’s own discussion in his *Annals* paper regarding the logarithmic divergence bound for the truncation parameter T.

From beginning to end.

Four minutes.

Every term, every citation, every name, every year.

It all lined up perfectly.

The room fell silent for two seconds.

The standard answer for this question was supposed to follow that exact structure.

But...

"Standard" was one thing.

Fu Chen’s standard was another thing entirely.

His answer contained no jarring leaps or detours.

The entire response was clean, orderly, and seamless. ℴ

It was as if he had read a section of a textbook aloud.

But the problem was, the corresponding section in the books wasn’t nearly this clean.

Arthur himself was never known for writing clearly.

In the original text, the section on his truncation function had several ambiguous phrases that people in the field had been patching up for years.

Fu Chen’s answer was far cleaner than even Arthur’s original text.

Li Dong gave Fu Chen a deep look.

He sensed something very familiar about Fu Chen.

It was the same quality he had sensed from Professor Wang Zhigang.

Meticulous, steady, flawless.

Li Dong turned and glanced at Wang Zhigang.

"Professor Wang, is this your student?"

Wang Zhigang hummed in acknowledgment.

He didn’t praise Fu Chen for being smart or talented.

Instead, he said,

"Fu Chen is very dependable."

Li Dong knew a bit about Wang Zhigang.

When he praised someone as "dependable," he truly meant it.

...

Li Dong didn’t immediately decide whether Fu Chen would stay or go.

He just looked at Fu Chen.

Fu Chen didn’t say anything either.

He just waited quietly, not the least bit anxious.

Unlike others who would be wringing their hands, their eyes darting all over the place.

A thought suddenly popped into Li Dong’s head without warning.

’This Fu Chen’s Concentration Attribute is quite high.’

This reminded Li Dong of someone.

A thirteenth-century figure who holds a place in the history of European mathematics, yet is almost never seriously discussed by anyone today.

John Sacrobosco.

The man had little originality.

In his entire life, he never proposed a single theorem that bore his name.

But he took three things to the absolute extreme.

First, he compiled Greek and Arabian astronomy into a small booklet called the *Celestial Sphere Theory*.

Second, he wrote this booklet so clearly and comprehensibly that even beginners in Europe could pick it up and read through it.

Third, he brought this book into the classrooms of the University of Paris.

Just those three things.

For a full four hundred years, the *Celestial Sphere Theory* was taught over and over again in the university classrooms of Europe.

Copernicus read it.

Tycho Brahe read it.

Kepler read it.

Galileo read it.

In truth, neither mathematics nor physics was ever propped up solely by those who could conjure up new ideas at the drop of a hat.

They also rely on people like this.

People who perfect what already exists.

People who meticulously organize what is scattered.

People who rewrite what others have written messily, making it pristine and clean.

Every discipline needs people like this.

The field of mathematics needs them even more.

Li Dong lowered his head and lightly placed a checkmark on Fu Chen’s file.

He looked up and nodded at Fu Chen.

"Senior Fu Chen, you can go wait over there for a moment."

Fu Chen suppressed the excitement on his face and gave a serious "Mm."

As he stood up, he gently pushed his chair closer to the table before turning to walk away.

Now, only one person in the room had yet to come up.

That was Wang Feng, Associate Professor Liu’s master’s student.

When the young man walked up to the chair, he was in a visibly poor state.

His hair was a mess.

Li Dong took a glance but didn’t give it a second thought.

’After all, he has an interview. He probably stayed up all night preparing. Plus, I gave him short notice for this afternoon, so it’s understandable if he didn’t sleep well.’