Go back to the past and be a schoolboy

Chapter 41 What is Mathematics

The reason why so many people came to listen to the first class was because most of the students were helpless.

As of Cheng Nuo's time, including Peking University, there were only three public universities in the country, and the resources for higher education were very scarce. It was not until 3 that the situation improved, that is, it was expanded to six.

There has always been a saying among Peking University students that "Peking University is old, teachers are poor, and only Tsinghua University can accommodate it."

First of all, the old Peking University refers to its old history, old students, and old professors.

It is easy to understand the history. It is the only remaining product after the failure of the Reform Movement of 1913, and it is also the earliest national university in China.Older students are generally older when they entered school in the early days, and many of them continued to study after they got married. For example, in 50, when Chen Hanzhang graduated from the Department of Chinese History with the highest grades, he was already [-] years old. Later generations are also very rare.As for the old professor, it also means that the teacher is generally older.

Besides, the teacher is poor, that is, "poor" in the literal sense, but it is not that the school is poor, but the students are poor.

Its predecessor, the Normal Hall of the Imperial University, was under the management of the government. The poor would certainly not be so poor, and the teaching funds were guaranteed.But because it is a normal school, tuition and accommodation fees are exempted according to the regulations, which can save more than 100 yuan a year, and only a certain deposit is required for admission, so many children from poor families choose it as the first choice for studying .

Finally, let's talk about Qinghua's flexibility. The school built as Boxer indemnity is of course very rich.

At this time, it is not a university in the strict sense, but more of a "preparatory office for studying in the United States". tube, you can understand its connotation.Most of the teachers in the school are foreigners. They think they are superior to others and have irreconcilable conflicts with the students.Fortunately, the preparations for the establishment of a complete university began last year, but it was a pity that the university department was not fully established until 8 years after it was approved.

But looking at it from another angle, Qinghua has the best school spirit and the strictest school discipline among these schools.To what extent, everyone's towels and washbasins must be marked and placed, and they will be punished if they are dirty.You must eat on time every day. There is a student number on the dining table, and you will be punished if you are absent.Students are only allowed to bring a small amount of pocket money with them, and every penny and dime must be accounted for. At the end of the month, the school has a special agency to verify the account book.

Every detail is required to be clear and clear, but anyone who violates one of them will be criticized at the slightest, and will be closed for demerits or even expelled.Pan Guangdan, one of Qinghua's four great philosophers, was given a minor demerit once because he was afraid of walking at night and made convenience outside the dormitory.

After rambling so much, in fact, there is only one core idea, that is, the lack of teachers, especially the shortage of high-quality Chinese teachers.

Whether it was out of curiosity or because he was sincerely studying, Cheng Nuo treated these students equally, and the lectures were simple and easy to understand. He specially set aside 10 minutes for questions and answers before the end of the get out of class.

When everyone was still hesitating, a student raised his hand first, stood up and bowed after getting permission: "Hello, Professor Cheng, I am Gao Zhiwei from Qinghua School, thank you for teaching us the most cutting-edge mathematics knowledge, The content is lively and interesting, but one question I always have, regardless of professional knowledge, is what is mathematics and what can it bring to our troubled country?"

Cheng Nuo smiled and asked the student to sit down first. After thinking for a while, he wrote a line on the blackboard, "What is mathematics?"

Pause for a while, then continue to write a few lines, then turn around and introduce to the students:
"I take the derivation of mathematical formulas as an example. All sciences - content = science, mathematics + certain content = certain science, so mathematics is the foundation of all sciences, that is, the mother of all sciences. In terms of natural science, it can be applied to astronomy, Physics, chemistry, geology, etc., social sciences, economics, insurance, accounting, etc. are also inseparable from mathematics. Other subjects such as learning perspective in traditional Chinese painting, and learning rhythm in music also cannot do without his participation.”

"From this, the second question can be easily explained. The sharpness of modern combat tools and the novelty of architectural engineering all use this subject as the driving force for advancement."

Having said that, Cheng Nuo smiled at the student who asked the question just now, and asked kindly: "Student Gao, you just said that you are from Qinghua School, so can it be said that one day in the future you will go to the other side of the Pacific Ocean to study?"

Gao Zhiwei hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, I will go to the United States next year."

Cheng Shuo looked at him and said with a smile: "Very well, I wish you a bright future. As far as I know, there is a famous mathematician named Moulton in the shooting teaching group set up by the US Army in the Artillery Department. Improve the accuracy of artillery shooting by teaching mathematics, and even published a special textbook "Ballistic Method", if you have the opportunity, you can find it and read it."

Cheng Nuo took a picture of the chalk in his hand and faced everyone: "Shooting is only a small part of the application of mathematics in warfare. Others, such as guns, warships, and artillery, are inseparable from mathematics. This is actually a science. It can also be said to be a mathematical war. If our military strength is strong enough, German submarines will not be allowed to swim easily in the waters of Lu Province."

After the [-] Songhu Anti-Japanese War, some scholars felt that the ordnance was not as good as the Japanese army, but they also attributed part of the reason to the lack of shooting accuracy. Inaccurate, causing the Japanese army to land easily.

"Whether it is people's livelihood or the military, mathematics plays a role that cannot be ignored."

There were more and more questions from the students, and even though many of them were beyond the scope of the class field theory course, Cheng Nuo tried his best to answer them one by one.

There are so many people in the classroom that it is stuffy, and a small window was left open for ventilation. At this time, a sparrow flew over, tilted its neck, watched the teachers and students in the room discussing enthusiastically, and twittered from time to time, as if the little guy participating.

Ten minutes was obviously not enough to answer these students' questions. In the end, Cheng Nuo had to raise his hand to stop the questioning, announced the next class time, and said that he would continue to answer questions before being squeezed out of the students.

As soon as he returned to the office, he saw Feng Xuxun and others from the mathematics department sitting and waiting for him, applauding him as soon as he entered the door.

Out of concern for Cheng Nuo, not long after his class, Feng Zuxun, Qin Fen and others came in through the back door to listen in. On the one hand, they gave him a boost, and on the other hand, they also wanted to prevent him from being inexperienced in the first class, so that he could make mistakes in time. remedy.

Unexpectedly, after being nervous at the beginning, Cheng Nuo could finish the lecture with ease, and even the students would rather delay the class than let him continue the lecture. This is the treatment that only some liberal arts masters have.

Cheng Nuo just smiled modestly after understanding: "This is all the love of the students. After class, there are still many shortcomings. I still need to work harder."

Qin Fen handed over a cup of tea: "Zhiyuan, I thought that academics might not be as good as you, and teaching might not be ahead of me, but I didn't expect you to be able to do it too. You have to teach me two tricks."

In private, everyone has a good relationship, and ordinary jokes are harmless, Feng Zuxun followed suit: "You must teach him, you don't know that when Jingyang first came, the students nicknamed him 'Professor Hypnosis' .”

Immediately, there was an atmosphere of joy in the Mathematics Office.

The influence of this class does not stop there. After returning home, some students sorted out the lecture notes and class answers and put them in their school journals.

After a reporter saw it, he extracted part of it and published it in popular newspapers, triggering public discussions on mathematics.

Opponents believe that the role of mathematics is exaggerated: "Mathematics is just addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers. Saving the country and saving the people is not as practical as industry. How to use the so-called class field theory to drink tea in a teahouse is a vain name."

Of course, the opponents are only a small part, and most of them are those who are in favor: "If the knowledge of mathematics in the world is dedicated to counting things, it is a big fallacy. It is a matter of calculating things alone, we know that adding two and one to make five is enough."

During this discussion, Cheng Nuo's reputation became more and more famous, and his fans grew more and more. The previous small classroom could not accommodate so many people, and finally changed to an auditorium.

Some people are listening to the knowledge of class field theory, while others are specifically to solve their own mathematical problems.

But more people are not only beneficial, because the increase in the number of female students attending classes is unbearable for the old stubborn who stick to the ban on women, and began to criticize Cheng Nuo's approach in some non-mainstream newspapers.

Even Peiping University and Cai Yuanpei received some criticism.

(End of this chapter)