Chapter 32
Ignoring whatever reactions people had, Yu A-yeon took the microphone and began her lecture.
Her cute, bright voice rang thunderously throughout the entire lecture hall.
But the contents coming out of the little girl's mouth were anything but childish.
“First, since there may be people here who didn’t major in number theory, I’ll start with the definition of the Riemann zeta function! The Riemann zeta function looks like this!”
Her small, delicate hand gripped the chalk.
Click-clack-.
On the blackboard, in a cute handwriting style a child might have used, formulas unfolded—hard to understand unless you were a specialist.
ζ(s) = Σ(n=1 to ∞) n⁻ˢ
ζ(s) = ∏ₚ (1 − p⁻ˢ)⁻¹
ζ(s) = (1 / Γ(s)) ∫ (0 to ∞) [xˢ⁻¹ / (eˣ − 1)] dx
ζ(s) = 2ˢ πˢ⁻¹ sin(πs/2) Γ(1−s) ζ(1−s)
Definition of the Riemann zeta function.
Euler product over primes.
Analytic continuation.
Functional equation.
Formulas transformed from the Riemann zeta function slowly began to fill the blackboard.
“For a complex number s, the Riemann zeta function is defined as the sum of the reciprocals of all natural numbers raised to the s-th power. It can be analytically continued to the complex plane. And if you transform this function in various ways, you can obtain an infinite product over primes. So through the structure of the Riemann zeta function, we can indirectly read the distribution of primes—!”
And Yu A-yeon repeated the same explanation in English, too.
“The Riemann zeta function is basically the sum of one over n to the s, taken over all positive integers n, for a complex number s—”
One sentence at a time.
Yu A-yeon’s English pronunciation was by no means perfect.
She made every effort to pronounce the words clearly, without cutting them down.
What English speakers would call an honest pronunciation.
Even so, it was good enough that the mathematicians from abroad could follow the lecture without any trouble.
And the audience’s feelings as they listened to Yu A-yeon’s lecture gradually began to change from bewilderment to wonder and awe.
“There are several approaches to solving this problem, but I used the Hilbert–Pólya approach! The idea is to interpret the zeros of the zeta function as the eigenvalues of ‘some operator’!”
“In other words, a math problem gets transformed into a quantum mechanics problem! That’s why there are theoretical physicists sitting among you here!”
At first, they thought it was a prank.
When Yu A-yeon began her presentation, they thought the child was memorizing a script and presenting from memory.
They even thought the person who had planned this surprise was insane.
They had even decided that once the act was over, they would be the first to say it was offensive.
But.
The more they listened to Yu A-yeon’s explanation, the more they had no choice but to correct that impious thought.
‘This is insane… How can a child that young rattle off content at a level even a PhD would struggle to understand?’
A professor in their forties who specialized in number theory looked back and forth between the printout of Yu A-yeon’s paper and Yu A-yeon writing on the blackboard.
The explanation was astonishingly sharp.
There was no hesitation or stumbling.
And on top of that, the bilingual presentation in Korean and English—an impossible performance for a child.
Even if they were teaching college students themselves, they didn’t think they could explain it that fluently without looking at a script.
“And this part! The part I wrote in the paper might be a little hard to understand, but I’ll explain it step by step!”
Yu A-yeon was kindly explaining the parts not covered in the paper, as well as the detailed steps of the reasoning she herself had not understood.
Which meant that the little girl
understood the paper far better than
a professor researching number theory did.
‘Is that child really the paper’s author, Yu A-yeon…?’
Whether the author was really Yu A-yeon.
If she was, how had she studied modern mathematics at such a young age?
How had she studied it well enough to prove the Riemann Hypothesis?
Their mind was full of questions.
They felt the urge to raise a hand right away and unleash a barrage of loud questions.
But they soon shook their head.
All of the roughly 1,000 people seated here must be harboring the same question.
Even so, the reason they silently listened to Yu A-yeon’s lecture and took notes was
Because they were scholars.
Because they wanted to see the moment the Riemann Hypothesis was solved with their own eyes.
‘What was I thinking… a mathematician should judge mathematics.’
Who the author was, how old they were, what they looked like. What did any of that matter?
As long as you’re a mathematician, you should communicate through the logic on the blackboard.
And the logic Yu A-yeon laid out on the blackboard.
Was so fluid and beautiful.
Flap-flap-.
Scratch-scratch-.
The sounds of notebook pages turning and pens scratching quietly continued throughout the entire auditorium.
At some point, everyone who had doubts or complaints about the lecture disappeared.
They focused on Yu A-yeon’s writing, on Yu A-yeon’s words.
As if trying to imprint this moment into their very minds.
If history were to remember this place.
So that later, they could boast that they had been there.
✒️✒️✒️
Thirty minutes had already passed since Yu A-yeon began her presentation.
Outside the lecture hall.
The MeTube channel streaming live.
The number of viewers, which had been around ten thousand before the lecture began, had already surged to fifty thousand and was still climbing in real time.
The person who solved the seven major math problems was actually an incredibly cute little girl?!
Just hearing that was the kind of gossip you couldn’t help but check out right away.
Stunned by the shocking news, viewers quickly began spreading this breaking story outward.
Across all kinds of communities, SNS, messaging apps, and even to family or friends in real life.
The rumor spread quickly.
Even people with no interest in academic issues were drawn in.
For them, the lecture content didn’t matter.
The Riemann Hypothesis and all that? Headache-inducing stuff.
What they cared about was only the fact that a small, cute girl was presenting difficult material in front of elderly professors.
That alone was enough to make their dopamine spike.
- How old is she anyway
- What is this
- Cute
- Is this a bit?
- Is this hidden camera?
- How old is she?
- Nuuuuuuuuungㅋㅋㅋ (deleted message)
- I can’t even tell what she’s saying, but she looks ridiculously smart
- I wish I had a daughter like that
- Her English pronunciation is insane
- Makes me want to pick her up and do the belly-brrrrr thing lol (deleted message)
- 1. Pick Yu A-yeon up
- Uwah
- Seriously, the chat just got filthy all of a sudden
- Where the hell did you hear that from
- Could the manners-munching bastards please shut up and watch?
- Wow, were you guys keeping this insanely fun thing to yourselves?
- Old guy, lol
- Please go back to your own turf ㅠㅠ
- so cute
[갤러리]
[제목 : What the hell is going on in the lecture hall right now?]
A kid suddenly climbed up onto the platform saying she was Yu A-yeon, and then started giving a presentation while writing formulas…
The professors and graduate students around me are all listening seriously for now…
What the hell is this? This is scary as fuck
- I’m jealous, I want to see it live too
- The derivation is actually solid, though? Is she really Yu A-yeon? lol
- Don’t bullshit me. Looking at her build, she doesn’t even seem elementary-school age. You’re saying a kindergartener wrote a paper?
- Anyway, she’s cute, so I like it!
[제목 : She must have just memorized a script, right?]
There’s no way that brat is Yu A-yeon
- Can you speak nonstop for 30 minutes about super difficult paper content in Korean and English?
- What are you trying to say? You’re saying that kid is Yu A-yeon?
- (That itself isn’t sexy, you know?)
- Get lost
[제목 : Upvote if you support Yu A-yeon, the world’s cutest mathematician lol]
(A photo of Yu A-yeon standing on tiptoe and stretching her arms way up to write on the high blackboard—anyway, ridiculously adorable.jpg)
Count me in first lol
- It’s fine lol
- Nuuuuuuuuungㅋㅋㅋ
- (frog licking its lips emote)
- (frog with bulging eyes and tongue out emote)
- Just lift her up already lol
- You know she’s a real person, right? I’ve screenshotted all of you. You’re done.
- Sorry, bro
[트윗]
insane insane insane
→ Crazy, crazy, crazy
[트윗]
No, that’s impossible lol
→ No, that makes no sense, haha
[트윗]
I might have a new favorite now
→ I may have just found my new bias
[트윗]
This is Japan’s loss now
→ This is Japan’s loss.
[트윗]
Everyone’s focusing only on the fact that the speaker is a little girl, but from an expert’s perspective, this content is pretty high-level… That child is talking about at least doctoral-level material right now. Honestly, it’s frightening.
→ Everyone’s focusing only on the fact that the speaker is a young girl, but from an expert’s perspective, this is highly advanced content… That child is talking about at least doctoral-level material right now. It’s honestly scary.
[영미권 커뮤니티]
she’s actually way too cute like i can’t handle this 😭😭😭
→ She’s honestly so cute I can’t handle it 😭😭😭
ok but she’s actually adorable
→ Okay, but she really is adorable
this is actually insane wtf
→ This is actually insane, wtf
nah nah nah pause… I’ve studied this and she’s legit
→ No, no, no, hold on... I’ve studied this and she’s legit
people in chat saying “cute” while she’s rewriting math history : 💀💀💀
→ People in chat saying “cute” while she’s rewriting math history: 💀💀💀
✒️✒️✒️
Before I knew it, I’d gotten so lost in the explanation that it was time to wrap up the lecture.
It had already been an hour.
Trying to keep talking nonstop for that long had made my mouth bone-dry, which was rough.
‘Hwaa... I’m super thirsty...’
Still, I guess there’s nothing you can do about your mouth drying out when you talk that much.
I gulped down the bottled water Mom handed me from the side.
‘Still, maybe because they were grown adults already. Everyone’s being so polite.’
I had prepared several countermeasures in case some idiot who’d barely absorbed the concept suddenly blurted something out and cut off the flow of the presentation, but thankfully I got to the end without using them.
For the first five minutes, they had looked at me with suspicious eyes.
But now they were all listening to my lecture so obediently that I was truly grateful.
“— So, I was able to show that the operator H I proposed in my paper satisfies the following three conditions! In other words, the Riemann Hypothesis is true! Bang, bang, bang! And that concludes my proof!”
Bow-.
I bowed from the platform, expressing my gratitude to everyone who had listened for nearly an hour.
‘What kind of reaction are they going to show...?’
I was a little excited, but at the same time nervous.
There might still be someone who hadn’t let go of their suspicious look.
If so, they might fire aggressive questions at me and Mom. I had to be ready for that.
Gulp-.
As I thought that, I looked over everyone seated in the lecture hall.
Clap.
Clap.
Clap-clap.
Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap.
The professor seated in the front row was the first to stand up.
And the professor sitting beside them also stood up.
The wave spread in an instant.
The people beside them too. The people in the back row too.
All of the roughly 1,000 people stood up from their seats.
And began showering me with applause.
Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap!!!