Top Student at Their Peak
Chapter 50 - 50 50 Preliminary Round Ends

50: Chapter 50: Preliminary Round Ends 50: Chapter 50: Preliminary Round Ends Qiao Yu didn’t intend to get a high score in the preliminary round; he would be satisfied as long as he passed because, according to the competition rules, the preliminary scores had nothing to do with the finals.

However, when the time came, and Qiao Yu opened the question bank, he smiled.

For example, the first question fell under the category of combinatorial geometry, covering plane geometry, combinatorics, visibility graphs, and so on.

The problem involved line-of-sight obstruction, and from Qiao Yu’s understanding of mathematics, this usually appeared in computational geometry.

But this was a multiple-choice question.

Honestly, Qiao Yu was not boasting; multiple-choice questions were what he did best.

He didn’t even need to draw diagrams; by merely reasoning through the pre-arranged points and the visibility issues, he could deduce that the number of people involved could not exceed 6, thus eliminating option D.

With towers E and F out of the line of sight, the next step was just to draw a mental diagram based on the conditions.

Finally, the answer turned out to be exactly six people.

It took ten minutes, and feeling good, Qiao Yu moved on to the second question, a problem comprised of two multiple-choice questions.

Coincidentally, this question tested probability theory and expectations.

It happened to be another area he was familiar with; the mathematical idea required for the first sub-question was roughly the memoryless property of the exponential distribution.

In simple terms, it meant the probability of future events was unrelated to the past.

In short, he had learned it, and it was simple.

By the third question, Qiao Yu finally felt the difficulty pick up.

However, this question was about algebraic number theory and geometric number theory, combining eigenvalues with number theory.

Qiao Yu finally understood the meaning of being allowed open-book exams.

Discussing the density of lattice points in the plane, he vaguely had some impressions but wasn’t confident.

Thus, Qiao Yu began searching online based on the hints below the question and quickly found the famous Minkowski theorem.

He then looked for explanatory videos on geometric number theory, made notes, and bookmarked them.

However, Qiao Yu didn’t watch those videos immediately but instead chose to skip the third question and move on to the subsequent ones.

It was just the preliminary round; just getting to the finals was enough.

Based on previous years, it wasn’t necessary to solve all the questions.

Thus, on the entire Saturday, Qiao Yu stayed in front of his computer solving problems, except when Qiao Xi called him for meals.

Like usual, Xia Keke came to find Qiao Yu once in the evening, but after learning he was participating in an online math competition, she didn’t knock to disturb him.

So, after solving a total of seven questions, by the time Qiao Yu felt dizzy and went to wash up and sleep, he had fully answered three questions: the first, second, and fourth.

The fourth question involved content from linear algebra and abstract algebra, mainly testing eigenvalue decomposition and the analysis of eigenvector spaces.

Qiao Yu excelled at this, and similar preliminary questions hadn’t troubled him before; not to mention, he had recently furthered his study in algebra and number theory.

The other four questions, Qiao Yu wasn’t confident or only had a rough idea.

He decided to watch the videos the next day and selectively answer two more.

Based on previous years’ experiences shared by contestants who made it to the finals in forums, having confidence in answering four questions correctly would generally qualify one for the finals.

Of course, to be on the safe side, Qiao Yu decided to answer at least three to four questions the next day.

It didn’t have to be perfectly correct, but uploading even partial ideas might earn some points.

Besides, he wasn’t in a hurry to start today because any online operations leave traces.

Especially using someone else’s backend; doing a few questions a day makes it easier to blend in with the crowd.

The preliminary round didn’t offer money, so there was no need to show anything special.

After all, he was only fifteen, and with almost no entry barriers to the Alibaba mathematics competition.

Meaning, as long as one’s heart was strong enough and not afraid of embarrassment, those top university math professors, even Fields Medal winners could sign up.

And he was just a fifteen-year-old Little Kalami.

If by chance, he did too well and got noticed, he might end up under the spotlight.

Qiao Yu didn’t care much about fame or not, but according to this year’s competition schedule, results would be announced at the end of June.

After a brief preparation period, the finals would start in early July.

Being watched and discussed during this time, with no money to earn, would purely be creating trouble for himself.

In short, the focus was still the finals.

On Sunday at six in the morning, Qiao Yu got out of bed.

He began watching the videos he had bookmarked and labeled online yesterday, studying for the entire morning.

Qiao Xi even brought his meals to his room.

By two in the afternoon, Qiao Yu resumed solving questions, and at eleven at night, with nine hours left before the competition ended, he completed all the questions.

It could have been done earlier, but the Little Alibaba online answering system wasn’t very user-friendly,

Overcoming this small difficulty, Qiao Yu was quite confident in making it to the finals.

…

Monday was the Dragon Boat Festival, a day off, but Lan Jie got up early, and at eight, he turned on the computer to check the Little Alibaba World Mathematics Competition’s question bank.

By tradition, whether preliminary or finals, Little Alibaba would publish the questions and answers on their website’s historical question bank after the competition.

Although the Olympic Competition teacher didn’t need to study these competition questions, and he didn’t sign up, because the Little Alibaba mathematics competition’s questions were so interesting, Lan Jie would pay attention every year.

For those completely uninterested in mathematics, it might be hard to understand the sense of satisfaction after solving a tough problem.

Not to mention that Qiao Yu probably participated in this year’s event.

Lan Jie had always been curious about Qiao Yu’s mathematics level.

Combining the difficulty of the questions with Qiao Yu’s final scores, he would have a rough idea.

The preliminary round was well scheduled this year, wrapping up just in time for a break during the Dragon Boat Festival.

Lan Jie, a single man with no other hobbies, could use the time to study this year’s test questions.

After going through them roughly once, Lan Jie made a rough judgment; the difficulty was in line with previous years, generally considered mid to high level in the mathematics community.

The scope was extensive, covering algebra, geometry, number theory, combinatorics, and probability.

This type of question design was more favorable to participants with formal mathematical training, as they had relatively systematic learning backgrounds.

For non-professional contestants, it was indeed quite challenging.

Especially the last question, which not only involved modeling and solving differential equations but also included dynamical systems analysis and understanding and reasoning of periodic motions.

If he were to solve this question, it would probably take him an entire day, and he might still not get it right.

As for Qiao Yu…

When the image of this child appeared in his mind, thinking of his sincere attitude when asking if the prize money needed to be taxed, Lan Jie wasn’t quite sure if the kid could pass the preliminaries.

Unfortunately, it was a day off today, and the afternoon’s Olympic Competition class was naturally canceled as well.

Yet, Lan Jie’s curiosity led him to pick up his phone and open WeChat.

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