Chapter 57 Quickly Let Me See His Answer Sheet

Xu Ming was still sitting in his usual spot in the library, with a textbook on ordinary differential equations spread out before him, studying and comprehending it starting from the basic elementary integration methods.

Because he had the compulsory freshman curriculum as a solid foundation, mastering sophomore-level knowledge was not particularly difficult.

Moreover, every time he understood a theorem or formula, he would look for corresponding exercises to attempt solving and proving them, thereby deepening and consolidating the logic behind the derived formulas and improving his efficiency through his own self-study method.

He did not use deep learning during the day, intentionally saving his two-plus hours of daily usage for the library.

This allowed him to accelerate his reading speed and memory retention, quickly memorizing the various theoretical knowledge points in the textbook within a short period.

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【Through diligent study, your [Mathematics] proficiency has increased, gaining 5 experience points.】

【Through...】

As time ticked away second by second, the subject experience points for mathematics on his personal interface rose steadily.

It wasn't until he finished reading yet another new chapter that he snapped out of the deep learning state, and his senses began receiving various external stimuli from the outside world once again.

A profound and indescribable sense of fulfillment washed over him.

Recovering his wits, he habitually checked the mathematics experience bar first to gauge how close he was to upgrading mathematics to a Level 3 subject.

【Mathematics: Lv2 (401/1000)】

"Finally reached four hundred points."

Facing this experience value, he murmured softly, feeling quite satisfied overall.

Casually pulling out his sliding-cover Nokia phone from his pocket, he saw that the time had already reached past seven o'clock. He prepared to go grab some dinner before coming back, since maintaining nearly two hours of deep learning inevitably left his stomach feeling somewhat empty.

However, noticing a text message sent by his roommates informing him that they had finished their exam and were heading toward the library,

he decided to wait for them.

People from the School of Mathematical Sciences heading to the library almost always went upstairs, walking straight toward the study area on the west side of the science section.

This made it very easy for Ni Mingjie and the others to spot him.

Since it happened to be dinner time and there were plenty of empty seats, they sat down immediately, and three pairs of eyes instantly fixed firmly on Xu Ming.

It was as if they wanted to see right through him.

"Is there a flower on my face?" Xu Ming shifted his gaze left and right, a look of confusion appearing on his face.

"Um, did you really self-study mathematical analysis, higher algebra, and geometry all by yourself during the summer vacation?" Ni Mingjie finally spoke up first, asking the question everyone cared about the most.

Hearing this, Xu Ming instantly understood what they meant.

He nodded in response and said, "I just familiarized myself with them in advance."

"You handed in your paper in less than an hour. That goes beyond mere familiarity—I didn't even finish writing my last few questions." Ni Mingjie shook his head, his eyes filled with admiration and astonishment.

At this moment, Zhu Zhixuan also couldn't help chiming in softly, "After handing in the papers, everyone was saying you're even more formidable than the competition students."

Jiang Xu hesitated to speak first, but as he listened to their conversation, his gaze fell upon the book in front of Xu Ming.

The expression on his face was instantly replaced by shock.

"Xu Ming."

"You've already started reading sophomore-level ordinary differential equations?"

According to the teaching regulations of the School of Mathematical Sciences at Yan University, freshmen were not allowed to study sophomore-level content without authorization.

Some professors had even explicitly stated that before the end of the sophomore year, the theory of functions of a real variable must be locked away in a cabinet and left unopened.

The primary reason was that advanced studies required a guaranteed solid foundation.

Otherwise, it would be very easy to confuse concepts and fail the exams.

For example, without the foundation of limits and integration from mathematical analysis, one could not comprehend the revolutionary nature of the Lebesgue integral.

Without the concepts of open sets and compact sets in point-set topology, one could not grasp the countable additivity of measures.

The fact that Xu Ming could study ordinary differential equations at this time could only mean that he had more or less mastered the compulsory freshman material.

Events proved his guess correct. The moment his words fell, he heard Xu Ming give an affirmative reply.

"My progress is a bit faster than yours."

Thinking back to when they had first registered, Jiang Xu had felt a sense of superiority due to being a guaranteed admission student via competition. Yet compared to Xu Ming, the top scorer of the college entrance examination, he was easily crushed by Xu Ming in every aspect.

Furthermore, he did not believe that Xu Ming had mastered the freshman compulsory courses over the summer simply by studying eighteen hours a day through sheer diligence.

The mathematical talent Xu Ming possessed was even more formidable.

Otherwise, no matter how familiar one was with mathematical analysis, higher algebra, and geometric knowledge, it would still be impossible to submit the paper that far in advance.

Lingering on this thought, he couldn't help secretly resolving that from then on, he must keep pace with Xu Ming and strive to improve his own mathematical proficiency.

"I didn't expect you to learn so fast, Xu Ming. It seems that in the future, to make sure I don't fail any subjects, I'll have to ask you for guidance often."

"You're welcome to ask me questions anytime." Xu Ming accepted Ni Mingjie's remark and agreed readily.

Zhu Zhixuan's eyes lit up even brighter at this.

After that, the group did not linger in the library, choosing instead to head to a nearby cafeteria for dinner.

Along the way, Ni Mingjie remained entirely idle, expressing curiosity about Xu Ming's diagnostic test score this time.

"Being able to hand in your paper so early means you must be very confident. Can you estimate roughly what your score will be?"

"Probably around the same as the gaokao math exam." Xu Ming thought for a moment and uttered a few words.

Zhu Zhixuan and Ni Mingjie might not have had a clear concept of what that meant, but when those words reached Jiang Xu's ears, he couldn't help drawing a sharp breath.

"You guys probably don't realize this, but among the scores of the freshman diagnostic tests every year, almost nobody manages to get a perfect score."

"If Xu Ming really scored a full mark, he will definitely attract the attention of the professors in the department."

After speaking quite excitedly, he suddenly thought of something and added a sentence immediately after.

"Right."

"Although the diagnostic test scores aren't made public, the Weiming Community and the 'Math Coffee House' on the rooftop of Building No. 1 will probably have detailed answers circulating very soon."

...

Perhaps somewhat stimulated by Xu Ming, the group did not return directly to their dormitory after dinner.

Instead, they immersed themselves collectively back in the library.

The next day.

Liu Xinjie finished grading the diagnostic test papers during overtime and went to the office of his advisor, Professor Zhang Luping, to report the scores.

"The average scores of this year's freshmen are about the same as last year's. Among them, Lu Mingzhe, the winner of a competition gold medal, completed all ten questions and obtained a perfect score."

Zhang Luping sat at his office desk, holding a double-layered glass thermal mug in his hand.

Hearing this, he nodded and said in a deep voice,
"Lu Mingzhe has some talent in mathematics and belongs to the crop of freshmen worth cultivating as a priority. It's not too surprising that he managed a perfect score."

Liu Xinjie first nodded, then brought up another incident that had occurred in the examination room yesterday.

"There's another situation that I think you'll find quite interesting, Advisor."

"Let's hear it." Zhang Luping set down his cup, a trace of curiosity appearing on his face.

"Xu Ming, the top scorer with the highest college entrance examination score among the math department's incoming freshmen this year, handed in his paper in less than an hour. Aside from some flaws in the proof steps for the final Cauchy-Schwarz inequality chain, the remaining nine large questions were all solved brilliantly."

"At the time, the proctoring students couldn't quite believe their eyes."

Upon hearing his student's words, Zhang Luping, despite having seen numerous exceptional students, found it difficult to maintain his composure at that moment.

He hurriedly put on the presbyopic glasses lying on the desk and urged Liu Xinjie.

"There's actually such a thing? That's rarely seen even throughout the entire Department of Mathematics. Quickly, let me take a look at his answer sheet."