The beauty of mathematics
The joy of discovery
Someone asked the supermodel for help, saying that obviously my weight is enough to overwhelm everything, why I still can't learn mathematics...
Supermodel Jun said: Let's first imagine that there is nothing that is not there.
Take a chestnut, let's say this is your perspective: a flower is a flower, water or water, a cloud or a cloud, the wind is still the wind...
This is the perspective of Oka Jie (spoiler, this is the protagonist of this article, a famous modern Japanese mathematician): the orange petal pattern carved in the medal, the movement of the water, the constantly surging clouds, the wind direction of the wind...
That is to say: "Not only flowers, but also the movement of water, the constantly surging clouds, the direction of the wind, everything in the world is related to mathematical equations, although it is invisible to the naked eye, but it hides the mysteries of mathematics, just like who designed this universe." ”
Young and playful
Since the protagonist of this article has been exposed, let the supermodel jun tell his little story.
(Gang Jie)
In 1901, Gang Jie was born. Father Oka intends to make Oka a scholar, and believes that to be a scholar, you can't have materialistic desires, especially not distractions for money. Therefore, Gang Jie has not had any pocket money since she was a child, in other words, a poor child, who can't buy snacks and can't soak girls.
In his usual leisure time, most of his time is either collecting butterflies or reading idle books, and his grades are also good and bad. However, during the summer vacation of Oka's sixth grade, he suffered a serious foot injury from playing "Bamboo Horse Crossing the Pond" (a childhood game at the time) and had to rest for two semesters (three semesters in Japan).
Therefore, Gang Jie did not enter the secondary school entrance exam that year, and Gang's father simply let him "have fun for another year".
Fortunately, he did very well every time he arrived at the graduation exam, but he did not go to the first high school because of his family. This is like the sluts around you, who love to play crazy since childhood, people are very smart, but they don't take smart seriously, they can go to 985, they think the provincial capital is too far away, simply enroll in the nearest school, and do some ridiculous things in school.
Associated with mathematics
Until I went to Kyoto University, in an exam, Ryo Yasuda (a gifted teacher who taught Okakayo in his freshman year at the time) gave one question each based on the inequality (the difficulty of the questions produced) and the identity form.
At that time, Gang Jie pondered for an hour and a half for this inequality, and when he knew how to solve it, this made him experience the joy of mathematical "discovery" and gradually became fascinated by mathematics.
So, the next year, he went from the physics department to the mathematics department. Since then, his enthusiasm for mathematics has been even more uncontrollable.
After graduating from college, Gang Jie directly stayed in school to teach, but his personality still did not change.
Generally speaking, the standard outfit of university professors is like this: suit, tie, leather shoes; and Gangjie is like this: suit (wrinkled), tie (wrinkled), rain rubber boots (sunny days are it, rainy days are it, all year round).
According to his "theory": "Rain rubber boots because the soles are rubber, walking does not shock the head." ”
And when he goes to class, he always comes up with problems that he thinks are simple to make difficult for students.
According to Hideki Yukawa, a student of Okachi (yes, yes, the winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physics), in his autobiography Traveler:
The teacher who lectured on our calculus was Gang Jie. He is said to have a super memory and genius reasoning skills. But he didn't dress like a college teacher, and he often hung a dirty towel around his waist. His problems will always overwhelm us, so we are often overwhelmed.
Study in France
In 1929, Gang Jie received a public scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports, Science and Technology had sent him to study in Germany, but he insisted on going to France in order to attend a class at the University of Sorbonne (the general name of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the University of Paris).
Originally, when He stayed at The School of Gangjie, he always thought that his research in the field of multivariate analytic functions was at the forefront of the world, but during his study in France, he found that the world was far ahead.
This stemmed from the fact that in his second year in France, Gang Jie found that the thesis he wrote was too similar to the theorem of Professor Denjoy (a world-class authority in the field of variable analytic functions), and the paper he wrote was just a simple mathematical theory, not a major mathematical research problem.
This made Gang Jie recognize this reality, and from then on, he went to solve more profound mathematical problems.
And Gang Jie did find his lifelong mathematical goal: multi-variable analytic function theory, to overcome the "three major problems" in multi-variable analytic function theory, including: cousin problem, approximation problem, hartogs inverse problem.
At the same time, in order to solve these three problems, Gang Jie went to the library attached to the Mathematics Department of the University of Paris every day to read books, to feel the atmosphere of Latin culture, and to explore his mathematical garden to the fullest.
Even when he usually eats, he thinks about mathematical problems, and the beginning of this solution to these "three problems" is what he found when he ate eggs.
When eating eggs, it is found that if viewed from the inside, it is the continuity theorem of hartogs; but if the proof is considered from the outside, it is found that it is the inverse problem of hartogs.
Later, Gang Jie spent a year to construct this theory, and finally submitted the paper, and the results of his efforts were also recognized by foreign scientists.
Single-mindedly for research
In 1932, Oka returned to Japan to become an assistant professor at Hiroshima University. Two years later, with the assistance of Thullen, Behnke of Germany produced a detailed bibliography of the theory of variable analytic functions, detailing the collection of papers related after 1929.
After reading it, Gang Jie learned that the three central problems that he had been thinking about had not been solved.
Therefore, he focused on the research on these aspects, changing the way he changed every day to see if his new method worked, but he was always hindered, and his heart was very uncomfortable.
Until, in the summer of 1935, Oka and her family went to the Ujiro Nakatani house in Sapporo. One day, while Oka was in a daze at Nakatani's house, she suddenly had an inspiration and found that it was the answer to the problem.
So, between 1936 and 1941, Gang jie published the first to fifth papers under the title "The Theory of Variable Analytic Functions", which were based on the discoveries of the Sapporo period.
In 1938, a year after the war in Japan, the country began to tighten.
However, he was bent on doing better research and spending more time on mathematics, so he quit his university faculty and planned to live by selling his property.
His reasoning was: "If you can still live a life, why should you teach to hinder research?" ”
After his resignation, when writing his sixth thesis, he encountered difficulties. He searched through the various ways of dealing with problems in analytic science in the past, and found that none of them worked, as if they were stuck in a bottomless pit, the family had no source of income, and the family had to starve along with them.
It was not until later that Gang Jie lightly described this experience in his essay collection "Ten Words of Spring Night":
"At that time, I used to write and draw on the ground every day with branches and stones, and at night I led my children to catch fireflies in the mountains. Because we couldn't bear to see the fireflies die, we immediately released them when we caught them. In such a leisurely life, there was a sudden inspiration. The long-simmering conundrum has also found a solution. This also proves that only a relaxed mood can be found. ”
Finally, in 1942, Gang jie broke through the difficulties and solved the core problem of the three major problems, the inverse problem of hartogs.
Behind the success is the support of the wife
Gang Jie's daily life painting style can be said to be: the first is mathematics, the second is mathematics, and the third is mathematics. Whether materially or spiritually, it is inseparable from the support of his family for Gangjie, especially his wife Michi.
Although he accepted the auxiliary research work of the "Wind Tree Society" sponsored by Iwanami Shoten and was hired to weed in the taro field, he still lived in poverty.
Because of the war, the family belongings "sold out all the pawns except the tombstones", becoming three families without land, no house, no income), and the family could only rely on eating potatoes every day.
At one point, Gang Jie even wanted to sell the most cherished math books as a subsidy for the family, but his wife did not agree, but silently supported him, and said to him: "You just need to care about mathematical things." ”
Finally, in 1947, Gang Jie wrote his seventh paper, "On Several Arithmetic Concepts." These concepts touched the essence of mathematics and had a shelf style to expand a new situation in the history of mathematics, which also made his name popular at home and abroad.
"Oh is oh"
In November 1960, Oka was awarded the Order of Culture of the Emperor of Japan for his outstanding contribution to the development of mathematics in the world by overcoming the three major problems in the "theory of multivariant analytic functions".
The Imperial Order of Culture is a medal awarded by Japan to those who have made significant contributions to the development and promotion of science, technology, art and culture. The award ceremony is held on November 3 of each year on the Cultural Day at the Imperial Palace "Matsumama", and is awarded by the Emperor himself.
At a press conference, he was asked: "What are the mathematical laws found?" Answer: "One sentence is not clear." ”
He asked, "What impact will it have on the world?" Answer: "Oh is oh." Viola only needs to bloom like a flower. ”
As Gang Jie said: I have always believed that purple flower di ding only needs to open in the spring field like purple flower di ding. As for whether the blossoming is good or bad, the purple flower did not know it himself. For itself, at best, there is only the difference between flowering and not flowering. For me, learning math is just about experiencing the thrill of learning math. There is no doubt that this pleasure is the "joy of discovery".
Maybe this joy is like when you plan to go out to catch butterflies, push the door and find beautiful butterflies parked on the branches.