From child prodigy to chief scientist

Today is the first day of the national final exam. Half an hour before the exam starts, most of the students have already arrived at the exam venue.

Normally, they should be feeling very nervous at this time.

However, the team members from Liaoning Province were relatively calm at this time and did not show any obvious signs of tension.

Their usual high-intensity training has made them used to this pace, so they don't feel any discomfort at all.

Xu Xiao has also made ample preparations. After training yesterday afternoon, he went back to his room and studied on his own for a while in the evening.

The math focus vocabulary entry can improve the efficiency of learning math knowledge. Even the day before the exam, Xu Xiao will never slack off.

Besides Xu Xiao, Du Yuan, who was also a teammate of Xu Xiao from Liaoning Province, and Pan Hong from Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province were also assigned to the same examination room.

As soon as the exam bell rang, everyone immediately started writing their answers.

The first question is a plane geometry problem that requires proving that three lines coincide.

After reading the conditions of the problem, Xu Xiao quickly formed a thought process in his mind.

With the help of mathematical intuition, Xu Xiao found the right approach in just a few minutes.

"The proof can be completed by utilizing the properties of the midpoint, the geometric characteristics of the incenter and circumcenter, and combining them with the power theorem of circles and the collinearity criterion."

Following this line of thought, Xu Xiao first constructed auxiliary lines, then derived the properties of the midpoint and the incenter, and then proved the three points were collinear twice, finally successfully proving that the three lines were collinear.

Even including the time spent writing out the solution, this problem only took Xu Xiao less than twenty minutes.

Meanwhile, some students in the exam room hadn't even found the correct auxiliary lines yet.

The second algebra problem also did not pose too much of a challenge for Xu Xiao.

Having quickly determined the proof approach, Xu Xiao wrote out the proof process in one go, a mere twenty-odd lines, with effortless fluency.

The third number theory problem was significantly more difficult than the first two.

The problem defines a new type of matrix and requires finding the number of matrices that satisfy this condition.

Problems like these, which involve original construction, cannot be solved simply by relying on knowledge accumulation; rather, they require students to have strong independent thinking abilities.

This only slightly increased Xu Xiao's thinking time. After about twenty minutes, he had found the core idea to solve the problem.

"By transforming matrix operations into a system of integer equations and utilizing the irreducibility of prime numbers, we can deduce the structure of matrix elements and then perform counting."

Once I understood all of this, the problem-solving process became much smoother.

Having completed the three questions with unstoppable momentum, Xu Xiao glanced at the time.

"Only two hours have passed... No wonder I haven't felt any significant drop in energy."

This was only just before Xu Xiao's planned rest time, but because he had worked so fast this time, he had finished all the questions before he could even begin his strategic rest.

The difficulty of these three questions was generally acceptable, even simpler than the practical simulation questions in the later stages of the provincial team training camp.

The added benefit of the mathematical intuition terminology made Xu Xiao even more formidable, allowing him to tackle these problems without encountering any obstacles.

Seeing that there was still plenty of time, Xu Xiao wasn't in a hurry to hand in her paper and continued to patiently check it.

Compared to Xu Xiao's overwhelming speed in solving the problem, the other students in the examination room were clearly not as successful.

At this point, most of them were still struggling with the second question, and even those who finished faster had only just begun working on the third question.

Keep in mind that they are among the top dozen or so high school students in each province who excel in mathematics, and are among the best in their respective schools.

But in such competitions, you'll always encounter even more outstanding mathematical geniuses, making you realize what it means to be "always on top of the rest."

Over the next hour, Xu Xiao redid the three questions, confirming that her solution process was flawless and that she had addressed all the key points for each question.

Since that's the case, Xu Xiao didn't plan to linger in the exam room any longer and could hand in her paper early.

Although checking a few more times would make things even more foolproof, the exam the next day is more crucial.

If you leave a little earlier, you can squeeze out an extra hour to improve yourself.

Just as Xu Xiao was about to hand in his paper, Pan Hong, who was sitting to Xu Xiao's left and in front of him, raised her hand to signal to the proctor.

The proctor walked over to her and whispered a few words. Then Pan Hong turned her test paper face down on the table, got up and left the classroom.

"Has Pan Hong finished answering too? No wonder she's a perfect scorer in the league."

For such an important exam, submitting the paper early certainly doesn't just mean that you've finished answering the questions; it means that you've checked your answers repeatedly to make sure there are no problems before submitting the paper.

At least in terms of answering speed, Pan Hong is definitely no less than Xu Xiao, and may even be faster.

This is perfectly normal. It would be unfair to describe Pan Hong solely as having a perfect score in the league; her true potential makes her a potential Fields Medal candidate.

Although Pan Hong is far from being fully evolved, her mathematical talent is among the best in the world.

Shortly after Pan Hong handed in her paper, Xu Xiao also signaled to the invigilator that she wanted to hand in her paper early.

As Xu Xiao emerged from the examination hall, she saw Ma Junfeng waiting outside.

Upon seeing Xu Xiao come out so early, Ma Junfeng first raised an eyebrow, but then quickly regained his composure.

Ma Junfeng naturally discouraged submitting the exam early, but he also understood that the first day's exam would not pose too much of a challenge for Xu Xiao.

This child has always been very unconventional and has his own ideas, which Ma Junfeng does not interfere with excessively.

"Have you finished answering?"

"Yeah, I should be able to get full marks. I wanted to go back to school as soon as possible, so I handed in my paper early after checking it."

"Okay, go ahead. Remember not to discuss today's answers with anyone, and don't study too late tonight. And whatever you do, don't hand in your exam early tomorrow."

Ma Junfeng wasn't worried that Xu Xiao's checking the answers would affect his exam tomorrow, since Xu Xiao should be able to answer all three questions correctly.

His greater concern was that students who compared answers with Xu Xiao would be affected.

"Don't worry, Teacher Ma, I know what I'm doing."

After having lunch at the cafeteria, Xu Xiao returned to her room and continued to study diligently.

The exam didn't end until Xu Xiao had been studying for quite a while.