From University Lecturer to Chief Academician

The doctoral students and graduate students in the computer laboratory completed their work faster than expected. Some of them completed their own part of the work the next day, and only after asking did they know that they had stayed up all night to code.

This kind of enthusiasm for work will definitely be praised by business owners, but Wang Hao is not a business owner, and he does not recommend everyone to do this.

The work of postgraduates and doctoral students is progressing quickly, which also caused some headaches for Wang Hao and Zhang Zhiqiang, because the part of the code they are responsible for has not yet been completed.

The two simply stayed up all night, working until twelve o'clock in one breath, and then simply slept in the laboratory.

Woke up the next morning, had a simple breakfast, and started working again.

On the next day, most of the work was to debug the program, including the packages submitted by others, including the codes of their own responsible departments, which needed to be debugged and run.

After all the codes are debugged, they can be docked part by part. The process of debugging, running and improving is slower than the process of coding codes.

Then, after another two days, the various parts were almost completed, and then the first overall operation was carried out.

"The result was successfully output, which is not bad. What does '0.03%' mean?" Zhang Zhiqiang was still a little confused. "Does it mean that the Mersenne number corresponding to this number is the probability of a Mersenne prime number?"

"Numbers have no probability. If they are prime numbers, they are prime numbers. If they are not prime numbers, they are not prime numbers." Wang Hao said, "However, your understanding is correct. It is just a number output by an evaluation system."

"0.03 is too low."

Wang Haodao, "It's already very high, although these numbers will definitely be brushed down."

When the two were talking, Li Ming from the Science and Technology Department suddenly came over, "Wang Hao, hurry to the laboratory building of the Faculty of Science, a reporter wants to interview you. I searched for you but couldn't find it. I only found out after asking." , so you are here."

"Do I have to accept an interview?" Wang Hao was a little reluctant, because he felt that the work in hand was more important.

Li Mingdao, "It's not necessary, the TV station in the province should deal with it a few words."

"All right."

After Wang Hao thought about it, he should take a break, and he should take a break when dealing with the reporter's interview, so he followed Li Ming.

The interview location is a small conference room in the laboratory building of the Faculty of Science.

The reporter from the provincial TV station was already waiting there, even the background of the interview had been arranged, and a brand new desk was moved over. Wang Hao was sitting behind the desk, with a world map in the background.

He sat down for an interview.

The reporter's question still revolves around Artin's conjecture. The study of Artin's constant is the most popular mathematical topic in recent times. Even in foreign countries, many people are talking about it.

This is the largest achievement in the field of international number theory in recent years.

The last time there was such an influential result, Chinese mathematicians in American completed the proof of the "weakened twin prime conjecture".

Wang Hao is likely to win an international level mathematics award with this research. It can be said that some domestic awards have already been booked, and the award is only a matter of the awarding time.

The interview revolved around the proof of Artin's constant, and Wang Hao also talked about the significance of the existence of Artin's constant, "In a certain sense, this shows that prime numbers also have laws."

"This pattern doesn't have to be the same as other numbers, and what we have to do is to figure out the underlying pattern."

"It's important."

Wang Hao gave a simple explanation, and also explained the importance of basic research in mathematics. "Many people may ask, why do you want to study these things so hard?"

"You may have heard that there is an organization that specifically calculates pi, and calculates it to hundreds of billions or trillions of digits. Why?"

"That is of course meaningless to reality, but it can help human beings understand the universe they live in, and the world they live in is more understood and clearer."

"This kind of continuous calculation is hoping to see a result, that is, the ratio of pi can never be calculated."

"But what if the calculations are exhausted? What if the calculation proves that π is a finite recurring decimal? Both of these possibilities are terrible. It not only shows that there is no real circle, but also shows that our universe may not be a real one. The universe is just like the description of some scientists, the universe is probably just a bunch of codes, and we are just a virtual one."

"The research on the distribution of prime numbers is also very similar. The most basic mathematics and numbers are the description of the universe."

"In the most basic areas, we must continue to explore..."

Wang Hao talked about the importance of research with a simple metaphor, and felt that he performed supernormally in the interview, otherwise he would explain a lot of content related to Artin's constant.

Although he knows that most people are definitely not interested in it.

The reporter asked the last question, "After completing the demonstration of Artin's constant, do you have a plan for your next research? Can you talk about it?"

Wang Hao thought for a while and said, "I'm currently studying Mersenne primes, and I hope to gain something in this field."

Then he briefly explained Mersenne prime numbers, and the interview ended.

...

The provincial TV station still attaches great importance to Wang Hao's interview.

Northern Xinjiang is not a major academic province, and there are very few well-known scholars. Even those born in Northern Xinjiang, many of them have gone to the eastern coastal cities, or simply went abroad.

Simply put, Northern Xinjiang cannot retain top talents.

Now there is a young professor of mathematics at Xihai University who has completed the world's top number theory results, which is definitely worthy of special mention.

The provincial TV station broadcast the entire process of the interview as a science program, and also selected fragments of it as news broadcasts.

At the same time, the online news media and Weibo, which belong to the provincial TV station, also published relevant reports and released them.

The provincial TV station attached great importance to the news, but in fact, it did not cause much disturbance, because many media had already reported it, and it was not the first time that Wang Hao was interviewed.

However, some concerned people, after reading the report, quickly grasped the point.

"Wang Hao is studying Mersenne prime numbers." Many people felt it was a pity.

Some people even commented on the Internet, "Wang Hao went to study Mersenne prime numbers, and another mathematical genius is about to disappear."

"Looking at those mathematical geniuses in the past, it is remarkable to have a result in the field of number theory, and there will be no results if you continue to study."

"Wang Hao should learn from Tao Zhexuan, don't touch number theory, don't touch number theory."

"I remember Tao Terence was interviewed and said that he was going to study the twin prime number conjecture. It didn't take long for someone to complete the proof of the weakened twin prime number conjecture... luck was with him."

"..."

Wang Hao was not in the mood to pay attention to public opinion issues. After the interview, he immediately returned to the computer laboratory and worked with Zhang Zhiqiang to complete the final improvement of the entire program.

Another day.

After waiting until the next afternoon, they confirmed that the program was perfect and could be put into the computer and run normally.

After a brief discussion, they went directly to Dean Chen Qinghua and applied for the use of the two newly purchased large servers.

The computer laboratory recently purchased two servers, which cost 8 million yuan. To put it bluntly, it is a large collection of processors, hard disks and other hardware. The computing power is quite strong. The computing power of each server must exceed More than 300 million desktop computers.

These two servers are intended to be used as core equipment in the computer lab.

When Chen Qinghua heard that they applied for the server, he hesitated at first. What they were doing was not a computer laboratory project, and most importantly, he didn't think that a group of people could find Mersenne primes by writing a program.

But after careful consideration, he agreed.

Chen Qinghua's main consideration was Wang Hao. Zhang Zhiqiang was not in his care at all. Wang Hao is a top algorithm expert and works at Xihai University. Even if it's just to make friends with Wang Hao, it doesn't matter if they use the server.

He generously agreed, and issued an agreement to use instructions, writing out the specific usage conditions, signing and stamping it.

The servers in the computer lab belong to the public property of the lab, and they were also purchased by the school for the development of the lab. They are not like ordinary computers, which can be used whenever they want.

After Zhang Zhiqiang got the right to use the server, he brought Wang Hao there very excitedly. He has been thinking about the two servers, but because there is no project on hand that needs to use the server, it is a pity that he never used it at all.

You can try it this time.

The two new servers are in the so-called central laboratory, which is actually a meeting room on the sixth floor.

They turned on the computer and entered the program, and with the support of powerful hardware, the program ran quickly.

At the same time, each data is also output to the file and classified.

The input value of this program is more than 60 million numbers, which can quickly detect the prime numbers in it, and enter the real analysis program, and the output is the 'prime number' and the 'probability that the corresponding Mersenne number is a Mersenne prime number'.

Probability is the judgment data of a program.

The highest probability setting is 10%, and the lowest probability is only 0.01%. Most of the output prime numbers correspond to 0.01%.

However, the accuracy of the judgment is not so high. For example, the 49th known Mersenne prime number, M74207281, the probability of the program judging that it is a prime number is only about 8%.

The 50th one, M77232917, has a probability of about 6%.

The 51st Mersenne prime number found by Patrick Roche, M82589933, has a probability of less than 9%.

Although the program's judgment is not so accurate, it is obvious that the probability of a few numbers is much higher than other numbers.

The first file output by the program contains all the prime numbers with a probability of more than 1% and the probability of determination.

The second file contains prime numbers from 0.1% to 1%.

The third file contains prime numbers between 0.05 and 0.1%.

Other prime numbers are discarded and output to the last file.

"Let's detect numbers below 100 million first." Wang Hao made the settings.

Zhang Zhiqiang is writing a program to connect the output file one to the custom entry of Prime software, so that the prime number of 'file one' can be input into the custom detection.

In this way, you don't have to stare at the program all the time to perform input operations one by one.

Wang Hao looked at the server host carefully, and asked curiously, "We use these two servers to test the primality of a number with tens of millions of digits. How long will it take to calculate a number?"

"Not necessarily." Zhang Zhiqiang said, "If it is fast, a few seconds is enough. For example, this number can be directly divided by a very small number, such as 3, 7, but it is only an extreme special case. Most of them still need to use Lu The Cass-Lehmer test method has been tested to the end, and it will take more than ten hours if it is fast."

"……so slow?"

"This is already very fast." Zhang Zhiqiang grinned vigorously. It is a number with tens of millions of digits. The amount of calculation is simply beyond imagination. It only takes ten hours and the speed is already very fast. If there is no Lucas-Lehmer test It's impossible to detect it.

"All right."

Wang Hao pursed his lips and nodded, "So we just wait? Let it run slowly. According to this speed, it will take at least a month to finish calculating the first file, right?"

"almost."

Zhang Zhiqiang calculated the time and thought that he should talk to Dean Chen again. It's okay to use the server for a while, but it seems a bit too much to use it for a month.

"Forget it, let's go tomorrow!" He still shook his head thinking.

...

Wang Hao and Zhang Zhiqiang had a simple meal outside, and agreed to go to the laboratory the next day to distribute money to the participating students.

Then rest.

After being busy for several days in a row, Wang Hao also felt very tired. He returned home with a full stomach, lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

ten hours later.

The opposite side of the earth.

Curtis Cooper, a mathematician at the University of Central Missouri, went to the computer room after a busy day of work, and routinely opened the GIMPS open information to view the data.

Curtis Cooper, the discoverer of the forty-ninth Mersenne prime, had been with the Mersenne Prime Electronic Frontier Foundation for seven years.

Since ten years ago, he has been coordinating the promotion of GIMPS, hoping that more volunteers will join in.

Now as long as he comes to work normally, Curtis Cooper will go to the computer in the computer room to take a look after the day's work.

GIMPS is a distributed open network, and all information is open to the public, and anyone who logs in can view it.

The displayed content includes 'which numbers have been detected', 'how many CPUs are involved in the calculation', 'number of online users', 'how long is the total calculation time' and so on.

Of course, the "latest verified Mersenne prime number" is also indispensable.

For the last information, Curtis Cooper didn’t think about it at all. He thought that the next Mersenne prime would have to wait at least two years, because until now, the amount of calculation for each number is too large , Volunteers’ personal computers, it takes a long, long time to verify a number, and failing to do a complete verification of a number means that the test will be useless, because the incomplete test will not be reported at all.

It is impossible for any software to monitor all the calculation data, otherwise there is no need for volunteers to participate.

Today seems to be the same as usual, some numbers have been checked, and the number of logged-in users and CPUs are still about the same.

Curtis Cooper looked carefully, and suddenly saw a special message——

"The new Mersenne prime number has been verified. It comes from Chinese user WangHao. The number is M6XXXXXX!"

Curtis Cooper was shocked immediately. He thought it was because of his old eyesight. He read it carefully over and over again, and then he was sure that the news was true.

He immediately logged on to the forum on the GIMPS website, and sure enough there had been a lot of discussion there.

"The latest news, a new Mersenne prime number has appeared! Wang Hao from China!"

"How lucky he is!"

"It turned out to be a number starting with 6, which is between the 48th and 49th Mersenne primes. I always thought that there must be Mersenne primes in this interval, but I didn't expect there to be!"

"The Chinese are rare. He should be the first Chinese to discover Mersenne primes, right?"

"It turned out to be us Chinese, it's amazing!"

"Friends, Mersenne primes know no borders!"

"I'm so jealous of him, I've been running my computer for seven years and nothing, nothing..."

"It's only been seven years for you, and it's been fifteen years for me, and I've changed four computers!"

Curtis Cooper looked at the news and was sure that there was a new Mersenne prime number. He felt a little unbelievable, and immediately told the matter to other leaders of the Mersenne Prime Electronic Frontier Foundation.

There are three main persons in charge of the Mason Prime Electronic Frontier Foundation, one for software development, one for website and forum maintenance, and one for the original sponsor. There is also a small organization that is mainly responsible for publicity and funding. Activities, and also promoted products related to Mersenne primes, but the promotion effect has always been poor.

For example, they promoted a T-shirt, but the price of the T-shirt couldn’t keep up with the shipping cost, so there were very few buyers.

Of course, none of this matters.

The important thing is that after knowing the news of the latest Mersenne primes, they immediately released public information, announcing the discovery of new Mersenne primes.

"We are excited to announce that Wang Hao, a volunteer from China, has discovered a new Mersenne prime number M6XXXXXXX."

"We still need to replicate the results, which will be done by Professor Curtis Cooper from the University of Central Missouri."

"Although I dare not say it clearly, this result is a normal report of the software, and it is very likely to be true!"

Ocala, Florida.

In a somewhat cramped rental room, Patrick Rosh, with disheveled hair, was watching the battle scene played on the computer screen with excitement.

At one point, everything becomes dull.

Patrick Rosh opened the browser indifferently, and noticed the information released by GIMPS. He stared at it blankly, and then said to himself for a long time, "So, in the future, my name cannot continue to be listed on the GIMPS website. up?"

"Going out for sex, the girl's capital is gone?"

"This WangHao is such a lucky bastard who stepped on shit..."

"WangHao, WangHao, that's strange, I seem to have heard of this name before?"

"Do I have any Chinese friends?"