I was a top student in America.

Chapter 93 The Bet (Seeking First Subscription)

"Thank you all for staying a little longer today. Could I also take a look at the American contestant's paper? After all, we still have a bet to settle."

That evening, in a small conference room at the National Convention Center in Hanoi, Professor Müller, the leader of the German team, smiled as he looked at Professor Jensen and others across the table.

The main competition portion of the IMO has concluded.

For team leaders and coaches from various countries, the two anxious days are finally over.

Now, all that's left is to wait.

We await the team members' scores, the total scores of each country, and the final rankings.

In principle, the initial marking and score coordination of the exam papers are completed jointly by the marking team and the team leaders of each country.

It's rare to see someone like Müller go out of his way to visit another country's team and sit down to study their test papers.

If other country's tour leaders were to witness this, they might suspect there's something shady going on.

However, since the exam, Müller has been very interested in the performance of the United States national team.

There was no other reason than that Professor Jensen had agreed to the bet so readily.

This made him feel that the American team must be hiding something.

But in Muller's view, no matter how talented someone is, they could never beat Peter Schulz.

Getting even a little bit closer is already quite an achievement.

Schulz has participated in four IMOs, and Müller knows his level all too well.

Especially this year's third and sixth questions, both of which were frighteningly difficult combinatorial math problems.

With just these two questions, Schultz is enough to leave the other contestants in the dust.

He was definitely going to get first place. The only regret was that he didn't get full marks because his answer to the third question was a little flawed.

"Professor Jensen accepted my bet immediately," Muller said, taking a sip of his coffee. "To be honest, I'm quite curious. What 'secret weapon' has your team prepared this year?"

Carlson shook his head.

"Professor Muller, I advise you not to be so confident. We do have a really good student on our team this time. If you admit defeat now, we might be able to give you a discount on that seafood dinner. But once the results are out, that opportunity won't be available."

"Admitting defeat now certainly sounds wiser," Philip chimed in from the side.

Upon hearing this, Jason deliberately put on a stern face.

"Wait a minute, you promised to treat us all to seafood, so why is it on sale?" He patted his stomach as he spoke. "I haven't been eating properly for the past two days because of this bet, I've been waiting for this meal."

Carlsen and Philipp both looked at Muller, as if they were waiting to be taken advantage of.

Muller met their gazes and gave a dry laugh, but his curiosity only grew stronger.

Just then, Rachel Miller walked in, carrying several photocopied test papers and score coordination records.

"The papers have been checked. Sorry to have kept you professors waiting."

95

She apologized first, and then distributed the test papers one by one.

After finishing his work, he refilled everyone's coffee and then stood quietly to the side, showing no intention of leaving.

She had already heard about the bet between Mueller and Jensen, and knew what the stakes were, so naturally she didn't want to miss Mueller's expression when he saw the result.

Moreover, she heard that Leo had handed in his paper very early on.

Müller had been waiting for quite some time, and now he didn't bother to exchange pleasantries with Miller. He immediately started looking at the solutions on the test paper.

He flipped through one exam paper after another.

At first, his expression was relatively calm.

But as the pages were turned, that tranquility was gradually broken.

When he saw the later papers, his surprise was quite evident.

"Benjamin—this is a good paper. You got full marks on four questions, only losing points on the third and sixth. Thirty-six points should put you among the top few of all the contestants."

He flipped through another copy.

"This is also very good. Thirty-one points, the gold medal should be secure."

Muller read through the first five papers in one go.

After confirming that no one had surpassed Schultz, he felt much more relaxed.

He's bound to win this bet.

Benjamin's score of 36 was quite excellent, and it must be the so-called "secret weapon" of the American team.

Unfortunately, 36 points is still a significant gap compared to Schultz's 41 points.

Muller continued to praise the American players, but a hint of pride crept into his expression.

Then, he picked up the last exam paper.

I discovered that the entire exam paper was filled with proofs, with not a single question left blank.

His hand, which was turning the page, paused. "Hmm? You solved the third problem? And you even wrote two solutions?"

Muller bent down to examine the solution carefully. Both solutions were correct.

He suddenly realized, could this student be the real trump card?

He not only solved such a difficult problem, but also generalized the conclusion to a more general form.

Müller reached out and took the student's exam paper for the next day.

I found that the next three questions were also flawless.

After carefully reviewing the final step of the derivation, he looked up at Carlson and Philip.

The two men were leaning back in their chairs, looking at him with smiles on their faces.

Muller then fully understood.

A moment of silence fell over the meeting room. Mueller finally shook his head: "I really didn't expect that someone could get all the answers right on such a difficult test. And this is their first time participating in the IMO—it's truly unbelievable."

He turned to look at Jason: "Your American team hasn't produced a student of this caliber in many years. No wonder you were so confident of winning before."

Upon hearing this, Carlson's smile faded. "To be honest, with the questions this year being so difficult, I didn't expect him to get a perfect score. Leo's ability to break down problems and his abstract thinking are even stronger than I initially anticipated."

He paused, his tone becoming serious: "For a high school student to be able to use the extremum theory in discrete mathematics so beautifully and to apply it to this kind of problem so precisely, his mathematical talent is simply amazing."

"His future academic prospects are truly immeasurable."

Although Carlson's tone was calm, his assessment carried great weight.

This is a stark contrast to his attitude when he was reprimanding Li Ao at the beginning of the training camp.

Jansen sat across from him, listening silently to his colleague's praise of his student. He picked up his coffee, took a sip, and the smile in his eyes grew even wider.

"At first, I thought that after he finished learning mathematical analysis and ordinary differential equations and completed his small project on the H-H inequality, he would focus on the competition. I didn't expect that he had even dabbled in discrete mathematics in private and could write such a beautiful solution using the extremum theorem."

"9

"Jansen exclaimed."

Carlson nodded: "At this rate, he should be able to complete all the undergraduate math courses before he graduates high school."

At this point, he changed the subject: "Coincidentally, our undergraduate mathematics program at Princeton has quite a lot of resources."

Upon hearing this, Jason's coffee cup froze in mid-air, and the smile on his face instantly vanished.