On October 31, the award ceremony of the first Yau Chengtong Girls' Mathematics Competition was held at the Affiliated Middle School of Tsinghua University. According to reports, this year's competition attracted a total of 931 players from home and abroad to register. In the end, through the selection of contestants' materials, more than 140 students participated in the competition, and the follow-up 35 entered the interview to compete for the "Knott Award".
After fierce competition, 25 people won the final prize, 1 gold award, 3 silver awards, 6 bronze awards, and 15 winners. It is worth mentioning that 4 people from Sichuan won the prize, all from Chengdu Seven Middle School, and won 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 winner respectively.
On November 2, a reporter from Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News walked into Chengdu No. 7 Middle School and restored the growth story of the four girls from preparation to winning awards.
Talk about the tournament
The content of the examination involves university knowledge points The "record" of the past is the admission ticket to the written test
According to reports, the 4 students who participated in the mathematics competition for Yau Chengtong Girls' Middle School students were from the second and third grades of Chengdu Seventh Middle School. Among them, the silver medal winner Li Shuying and the winner Tang Zihan are high school students, and the gold medal winner Yang Mengqi and another silver medal winner Lu Xinyao are high school seniors.
"There were 5 people from our school who participated, and 4 of them won the prize." Talking about the great harvest of this event, Wu Chenghao, the coach of the school's high school mathematics competition, and He Guanglu, the coach of the second-year mathematics competition, could not hide their joy, both of them said that although the award was expected, it was still not easy to get such a good result, "After all, it is an event, in addition to strength, it is also related to the state of the participants in the examination room." ”
He Guanglu told reporters that the mathematics competition for Yau Chengtong middle school students is somewhat different from the regular mathematical competition, and the scope of knowledge points examined by the former is actually more inclined to the university content, for example, in this competition, the 6 questions examined cover calculus, linear algebra, abstract algebra and other content, of which the inequality of the fifth question is the inequality used by Academician Yau Chengtong when studying the harmonic function on the manifold, and the combined identity of the sixth question is an important identity when Fields Medal winner Orquinkov studies the calculation of geometry. These knowledge points are all knowledge points that only universities can learn, and the difficulty of this competition can be seen.
Why did the official announcement that 931 people were validly registered, but in fact, more than 140 people finally entered the written test, and how was the process selected? Wu Chenghao said that after determining the valid registration, the review team will select the materials of the registered players, whether they can enter the written test, but also need to see whether these players have achieved excellent results in previous competitions.
Taking the four participants who won the chengdu seven middle school as an example, before signing up for the Yau Chengtong Girls' Mathematics Competition, they all won awards in different competitions: for example, in 2020, Yang Mengqi and Lü Xinyao won gold medals in the 19th China Women's Mathematical Olympiad (CGMO), at the same time, Lü Xinyao was selected for the Sichuan Provincial Team and won the silver medal of the Chinese Mathematics Olympiad; in the National High School Mathematics League, Yang Mengqi, Lv Xinyao and Tang Zihan all won the first prize in the Sichuan Division. In 2021, Li Shuying and Lv Xinyao won gold medals in the 20th China Women's Mathematical Olympiad (CGMO), and were both selected for the Sichuan Provincial Team, in the National High School Mathematics League, Li Shuying and Tang Zihan won the first prize in the Sichuan Division, and Tang Zihan was selected for the Sichuan Provincial Team. ”
After the written test, more than 140 people entered the interview. The interview was conducted by a team of judges and experts composed of 18 well-known experts, and the follow-up comprehensive written test and interview results, in the end, 25 people stood out, which can be described as five levels and six generals.
Talk about math
Some people scratch their ears and scratch their cheeks, and some people are obsessed with its symmetrical beauty
Speaking of this tournament, the 4 girls all said that they still played their strength. For the choice of mathematics competition, Li Shuying and Tang Zihan's reason is very simple, that is, they like mathematics. In contrast, Li Shuying's obsession with mathematics also stems from the influence of the family atmosphere, and his parents are both mathematics teachers at Sichuan University, "My father is a lecturer, my mother is a professor, and we sometimes discuss mathematical problems together." ”
Lu Xinyao said that the charm of mathematics is that its truth will not change, no matter how to deduce, no matter what method is used, the final result is the same, and the unity of mathematics fascinates her. For Lu Xinyao, the symmetrical beauty of geometry that many people think is particularly laborious.
Speaking of mathematics, Yang Mengqi also opened the conversation box at once. Mathematics, she says, is both inventive and discoverable. New conclusions can be deduced from known conclusions, and new solutions can be combined with new conclusions to create new solutions, and these solutions are likely to be groundbreaking.
At the award ceremony of the first Yau Chengtong Girls' Mathematics Competition, Yang Mengqi, as the only gold medal winner, once delivered a speech. She said that in ancient times, although women could not enjoy the same education as men, they overcame many difficulties and achieved immortal achievements with their dedication to truth and love for mathematics. This testimonial also touched many people.
Talking about this testimonial, Yang Mengqi told reporters that in history, there are many female mathematicians who have had similar experiences, such as the French female mathematician Sophie Germain, whose environment leads to her wanting to publish a paper, she can only hide her real name, use male names to publish in order to be concerned, "Even if the world was biased against women at that time, it did not prevent female mathematicians from pursuing the career they loved, which is a great, let me have a particularly big feeling, so I shared such a story, I also hope to work with other students to pursue the truth of nature, discover and explore and inherit the beauty of mathematics, add bricks and tiles to the mathematical building, and become an indispensable part of the development of mathematics. ”
Talk about goals
It is said that 3 people received an invitation from Tsinghua The silver medal girls want to engage in mathematical research in the future
According to the enrollment method of Tsinghua University's 2022 Yau Chengtong Mathematical Science Leadership Talent Training Program, the annual enrollment scale of the project does not exceed 100 people, and it is admitted to the mathematics and applied mathematics major of Tsinghua University (eight-year system), relying on Tsinghua University's Truth Seeking College for training, using the "3+2+3" training model, from undergraduate continuous training to doctoral training. At the same time, students who have been shortlisted for the Mathematics Leadership Program are required to attend the school in the spring semester for preparatory training.
Wu Chenghao revealed that according to the feedback of the parents of the students, the students who have won the gold and silver awards have received invitations from Tsinghua University, and if the students are also interested, then as soon as February 2022, these students can enter the university to receive preparatory training.
Wu Chenghao said: Li Shuying's goal is clear, and he will engage in mathematical research in the future, while Tang Zihan is more funny. He revealed that Tang Zihan's parents hope that their daughter can use the weekend time to do some expansion in talent, but Tang Zihan is more willing to spend time on math problems, "doing competitions, sinking down is very important, sometimes solving a problem has to study for a long time, has been sitting and pondering, but she said, it doesn't matter, for mathematics, even if you are willing to gain weight." ”
Photo by Wen He/Xu Wen
Source: Chengdu Business Daily