The ABC conjecture was not the same as other mathematical conjectures. Its biggest difficulty was not in the calculation, nor in the abstractness of the proposition itself, but its existence was completely "counter-intuitive".
Simply put, there are three numbers, a, b, and c, where c = a + b. If these three numbers are prime to each other, then the result of multiplying the prime factors of the three numbers together would be d, which would obviously be larger than c.
For example, a = 2, b = 7, c = a + b = 9, d = 2 × 7 × 3 = 42, where d was obviously much larger than c.
However, this statement seemed to be correct, but the fact was the opposite of people's intuition.
Not only were there counterexamples, but there were also many counterexamples.
For example, (5, 27, 32) was a ternary array, d = 30, which was obviously smaller than c, which was equal to 32.
Later, mathematicians took a step back and modified Joseph Ausdaly's original formulation. They enlarged rad (abc) and replaced it with a power of r greater than 1, which was the so-called rad (abc) ^ (1 + ε).
That was, when ε was any real number greater than zero, there were counterexamples of d = rad (abc) ^ (1 + ε) > c!
However, the number of these counterexamples was limited!
Since this problem was proposed, because of its "counter-intuitive" characteristics, it had been the top problem in mathematics.
In an algebraic sense, the interaction between addition and multiplication corresponded to infinite possibilities. Therefore, there should be no mathematical connection between the prime factors of two natural numbers and the prime factors of their sum.
However, this was the magic of the ABC conjecture.
It connected two algorithms that seemed unrelated to mathematicians in a magical way and discussed the mathematical laws between the two.
Even if it seemed to be wrong at first glance, no one could falsify it. Even according to the results of distributed computing, it was likely to be correct.
Just like countless times in history, scientific conclusions that seemed to violate common sense at the time, such as "Newton's theorem of inertia" and "Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment", were finally successfully verified.
Moreover, after these counter-intuitive theories were confirmed, they all greatly promoted the development of science at that time.
Just like Professor Dorian Goldfield's evaluation of it, although the ABC conjecture was not as well-known as Fermat's Last Theorem, many people were puzzled as to why mathematicians would study a conclusion that seemed to be true. However, because of its unique counter-intuitive characteristics, its value was no less than Fermat's Last Theorem.
If this conjecture was confirmed, it would solve many of the famous Diophantine equations problems.
And this included Fermat's last theorem …
After returning from Professor Perelman's place, Lu Zhou went straight back to his office in the mathematics department.
Compared to the environment at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study and the aerospace launch site, he preferred the atmosphere at the mathematics department.
Lu Zhou asked Assistant Zhao to make him a cup of coffee. He sat at his desk and took out a ballpoint pen from the pen holder. He stared at the blank draft paper and began to think.
In fact, at this moment, he wasn't just worried about academic problems.
He was also worried about the so-called "Holy Relic".
Compared to the Mars landing office and Chang 'an Avenue, he actually knew more about the inside story.
This was not only because he was the person in charge of the 128 outlier project, but also because he had seen three memories about the old cosmic civilization and even communicated with the Observer civilization face to face.
All kinds of clues showed that the Holy Relic was probably not an extraterrestrial civilization, at least not the kind of extraterrestrial civilization imagined by other high-level people except him. It was a "thing" sent to the solar system by the Observer civilization that was said to be able to change the fate of the universe.
According to them, it was a gift.
However, for various reasons, just like many errors in experiments, this gift not only arrived in the solar system hundreds of millions of years ahead of schedule, but it also fell on a civilization that had nothing to do with their plan.
From this perspective, there was a high possibility that it came from the old universe.
According to the conversation recalled by Dr. Fan Tong, Lu Zhou could even make a bold assumption that the so-called disappeared Martian civilization might have been "enlightened" by that thing.
After all, they called it a "Holy Relic" …
"Is solving the ABC conjecture a prerequisite for dialogue?"
"I originally thought that the first dialogue between human civilization and other civilizations would probably start with the dismantling of large prime numbers, or other more concise questions …"
"Going straight to a mathematical conjecture, this threshold is a bit too high."
Unlike concise and easy-to-understand numbers such as pi and Planck's constant, mathematical conjectures involved not only mathematical laws but also human mathematicians' understanding of mathematics.
At least in Lu Zhou's opinion, if it was for communication, using mathematical conjectures was definitely not the best choice.
Of course, the premise here was for communication.
If it was purely for "testing", then it was a different story.
Perhaps it was his own illusion, but Lu Zhou, who had read the work log of the 128 project, felt that although this "Holy Relic" was curious about human civilization, it didn't seem to want to communicate with them very much.
What should I say?
At least in his opinion, this question was a bit "embarrassing".
Just when Lu Zhou was thinking about the blank draft paper, a string of bubbles suddenly popped up in the lower corner of the laptop next to him.
[Master, there is a new email! (?????)????】
New email?
Thinking about who would send him an email at this time, Lu Zhou spoke.
"Help me open it."
The bubbles disappeared.
As the browser opened, the email was quickly presented in front of Lu Zhou.
The content of the email was very short, so short that the text was only one sentence:
[I have been waiting for you for half a year. Have you finished the things at hand?]
Signed name —
Satoshi Nakamoto.
When Lu Zhou saw this letter, he was still a little puzzled, but when he saw the name at the end, he immediately realized what this email was trying to express.
At the same time, the expression on his face became strange.
At the end of last year, when he had just completed the 524 qubit computer and the "Void Theory", this anonymous address with the ID of Satoshi Nakamoto sent him an email, saying that he intended to discuss academic issues with him.
Out of curiosity about this mysterious Bitcoin founder, he seemed to have promised him at the time that after he finished the things at hand, he would send him an email back.
But then he went to Stockholm and encountered some exciting things on the way to Copenhagen on a cruise ship. After he returned to China, he completely forgot about this agreement.
But to be honest, he couldn't be considered to have forgotten about it.
After all, he never seemed to have finished the "things at hand" …
Even now.
When Lu Zhou looked at the email, he couldn't help but feel a little troubled.
What do I do?
I'm not in the mood to discuss cryptography …
What's there to discuss about cryptography?
Just when Lu Zhou was wondering if he should just ignore the email, he suddenly thought of a brilliant idea. He quickly typed on the keyboard and wrote an email.
[… I'm sorry I didn't reply to your message in time. After coming back from Stockholm, there were too many things that I couldn't get away from, such as the research project I'm researching at the moment.
[Of course, if you can help me solve this problem, that would be great. I promise that no matter what you want to discuss, I will accompany you.]
This is probably the most euphemistic refusal.
Lu Zhou smiled embarrassedly. At the end of the email, he typed the ABC conjecture word for word, clicked the send button, then closed his laptop and continued to stare at the draft paper on the table.
Time slowly passed by.
Just when Lu Zhou had gradually gotten into the zone and almost forgot about this episode, his phone screen suddenly flickered.
[Master, your reply! (?????)????】
Reply?
So fast?
Looking at the string of bubbles on the phone screen, Lu Zhou was stunned.
Out of curiosity about the content of the reply, he couldn't help but turn on the computer again and log into the email through the browser.
Just like the previous email, this reply was also a short one line.
[I have just studied this problem. If you are interested, I have attached the proof method.]
Lu Zhou: "…???"
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