I was a top student in America.

"Without a foundation in multivariate convex analysis and discrete measures, it is indeed not easy to truly master this two-dimensional weighting model."

Thursday morning.

Li Ao sat by the window in the Granger Engineering Library, in his usual spot, with the project materials Professor Philip had given him spread out in front of him, his right hand unconsciously twirling a pencil.

Professor Philip granted him leave these past two days, exempting him from attending the algebra special topic class.

So, aside from attending the national team's problem-solving sessions, Li Ao spent almost all his time in the library, focusing on the discrete average of convex functions.

The situation with one-dimensional weights has gradually become clear, but the difficulty increases dramatically once we move into two dimensions.

Two-dimensional discrete averaging involves convex hull decomposition, finite support measure, and lattice rounding error, while his current mastery of advanced mathematics is still at the level of real analysis and ordinary differential equations, and his tools are clearly insufficient.

The progress inevitably slowed down.

Analysis is the tool, and combination and construction is the skeleton; this statement is indeed true.

Li Ao stopped writing, picked up the kettle next to the table and took a few sips of ice water, then brought up the system panel.

【Intelligence: 119.3】

After these few days of intensive study, my intelligence level is not far from breaking through the 120-point mark.

As long as Professor Philip's project progresses smoothly, and we improve our intelligence and acquire new terms, subsequent learning and research will be much easier.

Li Ao mentally devised a plan: "Professor Philip is in Seattle for a conference and hasn't replied to emails yet. I have Professor Carlson's number theory problem-solving class this afternoon, so I might as well ask him about lattice point rounding."

Carlsen's research focuses on analytic and algebraic number theory, and he is certainly more familiar with lattice points, congruences, and construction problems than Carlsen, so he should be able to offer some truly useful advice.

Once you successfully complete Professor Philip's project, raise your intelligence to 120, and acquire new vocabulary, your subsequent studies will be much easier.

After checking the time on his phone, Li Ao packed his things and prepared to go to the Illini Alliance Restaurant to meet up with his teammates.

Although there was no unified training this morning, Kevin, Michael, and the others didn't sleep in.

As the IMO competition draws closer, the team feels an increasing sense of urgency. Everyone is now out of the dorms and in the discussion room of the math building, studying practice problems and materials.

No one dares to slack off at this critical juncture.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, the group met up and, as usual, headed straight for their usual Indian food stall.

As soon as Michael sat down with his tray, he couldn't help but speak up:

"Let me tell you, my high school classmates were practically insane. It's just applying to college, right? Some people are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars to hire those so-called professional consulting agencies."

"I saw people discussing this on the high school forum this morning."

Daniel nodded in agreement: "I heard that Facebook is full of guys from consulting firms. I'm flooding my feed with posts about them."

Kevin smiled and said, "Everyone is afraid of not getting into a good university, and the better the grades, the more anxious they are."

He was already in twelfth grade and had already been accepted to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) before coming to summer camp, so he seemed the most relaxed.

Li Ao hadn't been on the forum for a while, but he was very familiar with the application season for American high schools.

For eleventh-grade students, this is almost a compulsory course, and college counseling companies make a fortune every year when they submit their applications.

To put it bluntly, it's because American universities' admission standards are neither transparent nor uniform, and there's no definite cutoff score, that students feel anxious about not being able to control their destiny.

Once the admission results are released next spring, things will be settled, and most people will feel more at ease.

Li Ao was eating and listening when he saw Michael next to him take a bite of his sandwich, then suddenly turn to him and say:

"By the way, Leo, you missed Professor Philip's algebra seminar these past couple of days, and everyone's been talking about it. Some people are even saying that Professor Carlson is particularly interested in you and wants to recruit you to Princeton."

"Poach me?" Li Ao found it somewhat amusing. "It's not up to him to decide that."

Having worked as a study abroad consultant, he naturally knew that top universities have extremely strict admission requirements.

Carlson was just an assistant professor with limited influence. Even if he were a full professor, unless he was on the admissions committee, his decision-making power over admissions wouldn't be that significant.

However, since these math professors from prestigious universities were quite optimistic about him, Li Ao was indeed more confident about his application for the second half of the year.

If he could get one or two strong letters of recommendation, he would be satisfied with a full scholarship to a mid-to-high-level university, even if he couldn't get into a top-tier institution like Princeton.

After all, he only has competition results and basketball team experience so far, and his high school GPA is still a major weakness.

As for Carlson's mention of "poaching," Li Ao didn't take it to heart at all.

Once the IMO is over, he will have to find a way to get into a university lab to do projects and use substantial research results to fill the gap in his GPA and minimize the risk of failing his application.

Kevin was quite optimistic: "Since Professor Carlson dared to ask, he must have his reasons. Besides, you're so capable, getting into Princeton will be no problem at all."

After lunch, the group didn't return to their dormitories but went straight to the classroom to study before the afternoon training session began.

After a while, Natalia walked into the classroom with her schoolbag on her back.

Seeing Li Ao sitting there, she was taken aback for a moment, then pulled out the chair next to her and sat down, teasingly saying, "You actually came to class? I thought you were going to skip Professor Carlson's class too."

Kevin chimed in, "What, jealous? He gets perfect scores on every test, it's a special privilege granted by the coaching staff, what's wrong with enjoying a little special treatment?"

Natalia rolled her eyes at Kevin, then sighed helplessly when she saw that Li Ao was unaffected and still focused on flipping through the book.

"Yeah, they learn faster than me on their own, there's no comparison. I originally thought that Benjamin, who won the IMO gold medal last year, would definitely be the most valued member of the team this year, but I didn't expect that the professors are now paying the most attention to Leo."

Li Ao sat next to her and heard Natalia's words clearly, but he didn't respond. He simply calmly flipped through the documents.

Benjamin, on the other side, glanced over a few times.

Compared to a few days ago, he seems to have adjusted his mindset, and he looks much more confident now.

A few minutes later, Carlson walked into the classroom with his number theory lecture notes.

The casual conversation immediately stopped, and everyone quickly got into the zone.

Number theory is one of the four essential topics tested in the IMO.

For most contestants, the most difficult combinatorial mathematics is too unpredictable and it is difficult to guarantee points. Therefore, they must try to score as many points as possible in algebra, number theory and plane geometry, which are somewhat predictable. Otherwise, the gold medal will be in jeopardy.

Li Ao's current research project has encountered a bottleneck, and he has already finished learning ordinary differential equations, so he obediently listened to a number theory class.

Although this lesson did not increase his intelligence attribute, he still felt that he had learned something.

In the second half of the problem-solving session, after Carlson finished explaining the example problems, he let everyone practice on their own.

When Li Ao saw his gaze sweep over him, he got up and walked towards the podium.

"Professor Carlson, I'm stuck on a problem here, could you help me take a look?"

He stopped beside the podium and casually handed over his draft notebook.

……