Interesting facts about the lives of mathematicians

Mr. Xu Guan's wonderful reportage let the Chinese people know a mathematician named "Chen Jingrun". Anecdotes such as Mr. Chen Jingrun walking and hitting trees, or Mr. Zhang Guanghou eating steamed bread and ink are more well known to the broad masses of the people.

Because my father worked at the Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I grew up living in the dormitory of the Institute of Mathematics, so I was able to witness the interesting stories of the lives of these mathematicians.

Wang Yuan had to sell melons when he bought melons

Zhongguancun every summer, there is always a large watermelon stall at the door of Gate 3, the stall owner is a crooked neck Daxing person, surnamed Wei, pick watermelon without knocking, with ears to listen, ten to nine stable. Probably in 1987 or 1988, my father asked me to buy watermelons, and I rode my car and went straight to the melon shed around Wei's crooked neck——— after all, his melon was good. A lot of people looked at the people who bought it, and they were about to squeeze in, when they suddenly saw two familiar characters who were also picking watermelons. Who? Mathematicians Mr. Wang Yuan and his wife, the two of them picked and calculated the price.

Wei's crooked neck watermelon sold well, and it was inevitable that he was a bit "weird". Do not weigh, divide the melon into small melons to sell, large melons 3 pieces a piece, small melon 1 piece a piece. Seeing that the size difference between the big melon and the small melon is not very large, many people are desperately squeezing to the small melon.

Mrs. Wang seemed to be like this, but she heard Mr. Wang Yuan say, "Let's buy the big one." ”

"It's 3 times more expensive..." Mrs. Wang hesitated. The larger than the smaller value. Mr. Wang said. 7

Mrs. Wang picked two big melons, paid the money, and saw that others were grabbing small melons, and seemed to be a little hesitant. Mr. Wang saw her hesitation, smiled and said, "What are you eating melon?" Eat volume, not area. The radius of the small melon is 2/3 of the large melon, which is slightly weaker, and the volume can be calculated by cubic. Small volumes less than 30% of the large ones, of course buy large earned. ”

Mrs. Wang nodded, and shook her head again: "You are not right, the big watermelon skin is thick, the small watermelon is still thin skin, calculate the volume, I am afraid it is still a big loss." ”

But seeing that Mr. Wang was confident, he nodded: "Hey hey, don't forget that the skin of the small watermelon is 3 melons, and the large watermelon is only 1, which skin is more, you can calculate the surface area to see." ”

Mrs. Wang said, "Headache, I don't count." The two men hugged the watermelon home, leaving Wei Crooked Neck stunned.

Zhong Jiaqing "ashamed to see people"

Researcher Zhong Jiaqing and my father were once partners in the project. Zhong is a man of righteousness and integrity, dares to speak and dare to do things, and knows the ways and methods of doing things.

One day, my father's math office divided oranges, one box per person, and there were many people living in the bungalow dormitory, and Mr. Zhong took a few students to pull a scooter to send it to everyone. It was a hot day, Mr. Zhong was bare-chested, leaving only a two-finger vest, he liked to swim, and his whole body was tanned and red. He seemed to have something to tell my dad, so he sent the students and the scooter away. He helped move the orange into my house, grabbed an orange, and was tearing off the orange peel with his mouth, when a little girl with a glowing eye came up and asked: Uncle, do you know where Teacher Zhong JiaQingzhong is?

My dad heard it, was just about to introduce, and stopped again. Although he is pedantic, but not stupid, look at Mr. Zhong, sunburned like a black charcoal head, two-finger vest big pants, holding an orange in his mouth, this... What an image. Fortunately, my father didn't say anything, and Mr. Zhong immediately took the stubble——— Well, he doesn't live in this courtyard." The little girl said, "Uncle, I just met his student and said he was here, can you help me see if he is in this hospital?" Please, I want to find an opportunity to meet Professor Zhong, I am from Wuhan.

yes...... Mr. Zhong didn't seem to know how to answer. He looked back at my father, like a savior, and pointed at my father and said, Oh, I'm pedaling three wheels, I don't know zhong jiaqing, you ask him, he lives here, probably know. After saying that, Mr. Zhong turned around and ran, leaving my father there.

Well, what are you looking for in him? I'm from Wuhan, and I'm going to take his graduate school exams. Do you know Professor Chung? Well, know, do you know him?

Of course, look at my bag. Opening the bag, my father saw a thick newspaper clipping, all of which were reports and photos of Mr. Zhong attending the meeting and awarding awards, and Mr. Zhong was dressed in a suit and leather shoes, and he was radiant.

My dad would just sigh. The little girl also asked: Where do the researchers of your Academy of Sciences live? I've been here for days, and why hasn't a professor seen it? At this time, there was an orange moving behind her, who was a researcher Lu Yiren, and also the image of a two-finger vest...

Good villain coaxed the little girl away, my father and Mr. Zhong said, Mr. Zhong jumped up, no, no, no, my image that day, how to see this student! My father said that if people are admitted, can you not? Mr. Zhong was very upset in those days, until the list was issued, and the score of the little girl was not on the line, and he was relieved. The little girl later went to Lanzhou, wrote to Mr. Zhong many times, asked questions, and shared the feelings of worship, Mr. Zhong replied very warmly and seriously, and did his best to help and guide her, but he never met with this student until Mr. Zhong died.

Left hand drawing right hand painting

My father was an ordinary person in the Institute of Mathematics, and then he went out of the house to work in other fields, so he stopped introducing his real name. My father's memory is very amazing, learn to play poker my father has the upper hand, a plate of "scrambling" down, did not understand the rules, did not pay attention, he used his back 100 digit pi does not hit the strange head, ask people: the third round of cards, why do you play 10, J, Q ah? People say why can't they get out? My dad said you also had a plum blossom Q in the ninth round, why did you break the two Q's? The person who taught the card was stunned, do you remember so clearly? The old man said ok, just a round of cards. People say you remember the cards we played from beginning to end? My dad nodded, and he started from one-on-three, until the end of the game, when someone threw three big straights in a row. The people who played the cards frequently nodded in surprise, and my mother collapsed on the spot, hanging up the free card.

My mother is also smart, the college entrance examination mathematics, physics full score, according to my mother's mentor Liu Su Principal, my father has nothing but amazing memory, learning what my mother is always much faster than my father, the two compared to the whole one of the tortoise and rabbit race.

One day, I remembered That in Jin Yong's novel "The Legend of the Archery Hero", Zhou Botong taught Guo Jing to fight with both hands, and the introductory class was to draw squares with one hand and circles with the other. Later, I experimented with my classmates and found that the vast majority of people are not successful, whether they are smart or not. I told the old lady that there was an intelligence test, and so on, and it really hooked my mother's interest. Half an hour later, my dad came back, saw a pile of white paper that had been wasted, and asked curiously: What do you do with so many pears? After asking the original question, my father grabbed the pen casually, the left hand was like a mountain, the right arm was like a bow, he raised his hand to draw, and then looked, it was a left and right circle!

In amazement, my father waved his hand and said, "What's new about this, when we first went to Germany to study computer principles courses, the professor had an exercise that let us write English with our left hand and German with our right hand, and experience the way the computer time-sharing system works." ”

"How long have you been practicing?" "It didn't look like it until a month later. For those who are unaccompanied abroad, do some of this kind of exercise so as not to get homesick. "A month?" "That also depends on who it is," my father narrowed his eyes and said, "I went back to China to teach courses, and I also took this as an example, and as a result, someone made it on the spot, and also added a play." "Who?" "Wu Wenjun, come up and practice on the blackboard after class."

Mr. Wu's German is slightly worse, English and French are good, so it is left hand English, right hand French, actually is sprinkled. And the content is actually a live translation of the "Red Lantern" excerpt! He also sang "Evening outside Moscow" in his mouth.

God, this is a two-handed fight, this is the War of the Four Kingdoms!