Awakening Elementary School System in University

Their movements were quiet, so they didn’t attract the attention of the students who were focused on the lecture.

Professor Gongtan, however, who was sitting nearby, saw the two of them come in. He smiled, nodded at them, then pointed to his phone, gesturing for them to chat on WeChat.

Chen Lin got the hint and took out his phone.

A message from Professor Gongtan arrived moments later.

Gongtan: [Director Feng is holding a kickoff meeting for the students preparing for the American Competition in mathematical modeling early next year. It’s meant to encourage them and boost their morale ahead of time.]

[It should be over soon.]

Chen Lin thought for a moment, then opened his WeChat chat with Shen Yan and sent a message.

Chen Lin: [If you weren’t interning at Yanhai Company, would you be participating in the American Competition?]

Shen Yan replied quickly.

Shen Yan: [Not sure. If I end up planning to study abroad, I might sign up.]

[But the American Competition’s problems are very different from the national competition’s. They’re a bit weirder, so even if I did participate, there’s no guarantee I’d get a great result.]

’Weird?’

Chen Lin felt a flicker of curiosity as he read Shen Yan’s reply.

’As far as I’m concerned, a mathematical modeling competition is a mathematical modeling competition. The problems are usually just the same old thing in a new package. The knowledge and skills they test should be more or less the same, right?’

’How weird could they be?’

As he wondered to himself, he expertly opened his phone’s browser and typed a few words into the search bar: "American Competition in Mathematical Modeling."

The search results popped up instantly, and Chen Lin clicked on a link that looked reasonably credible.

He froze the moment he saw the problems from a past American Competition listed on the webpage.

Holy cow!

Chen Lin couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.

’This style isn’t just weird, it’s downright ridiculous!’

Problem A: [Eradicate the Ebola Virus].

Problem B: [Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370].

The corner of Chen Lin’s eye twitched as he read the two titles.

’What in the world is this?’

’You’re taking two of the world’s greatest unsolved mysteries—ones that have stumped even the most elite teams of experts—and turning them into competition problems?’

’This is mathematical modeling?’ He fought the urge to make a snarky comment and kept scrolling.

Problem C was about optimizing corporate human resources. The problem description alone was a sprawling PDF file of over five pages, which was mind-numbing to even look at.

And the last one, Problem D, was the real heavyweight: [Solving the Conflict Between Population Growth and Earth’s Finite Resources].

"..."

Chen Lin silently closed the browser.

Now he finally understood why Shen Yan had used the word "weird" to describe it.

Up at the podium, Director Feng Yunhai’s motivational speech was finally drawing to a close.

"...And finally, we are incredibly honored today to have invited a true titan of Huaxia’s mathematics community, Academician Liang Tianshi, to join us in person! Now, let us give him our warmest round of applause and ask Academician Liang to say a few words!"

The moment he finished speaking, the classroom erupted in thunderous applause.

As the students watched on, their gazes filled with reverence and excitement, Academician Liang Tianshi smiled, rose from his seat in the back row, and walked slowly to the podium.

He didn’t use the microphone, yet his gentle but steady voice carried clearly to every corner of the room.

"Hello, students. Looking at you all, I see the future of mathematics in our country, and it makes me very happy."

Academician Liang’s opening remarks were simple, yet they had a naturally reassuring quality. He offered a few words of encouragement, urging the students to be bold in taking on challenges and to dare to innovate.

Just when everyone thought he was about to conclude his speech, Academician Liang’s tone suddenly shifted. His gaze traveled over the sea of faces, all thirsty for knowledge, before finally settling on a corner in the back row.

"However," Academician Liang said, a knowing smile playing on his lips, "there is actually someone else here today who is more qualified than an old man like me to say a few words."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed directly toward Chen Lin.

"Let’s give an equally enthusiastic round of applause and welcome Yannan University’s own Chen Lin to the stage to share some of his experiences with us!"

BUZZ—

Chen Lin felt his mind go completely blank.

He froze in his seat, his face a mask of utter astonishment.

’Wait... What’s happening?’

’I was just here to watch, how am I getting dragged on stage for no reason?’

However, before he could even process it, every eye in the classroom snapped in his direction, focusing on him in unison.

Those gazes were filled with curiosity, scrutiny, shock, and... a hint of undisguised excitement.

Chen Lin could even hear the hushed whispers of a few girls nearby.

"Wow! So that’s Chen Lin? He’s here in person! He’s so handsome!"

"Oh my god, he was sitting right behind us? How did I not notice him earlier!"

Under the weight of everyone’s stares, Chen Lin took a deep breath. He had no choice but to brace himself, stand up, and walk briskly to the podium amidst the applause.

Standing at the podium and looking out at the young, energetic faces in the audience, Chen Lin’s mind raced as he quickly tried to organize his thoughts.

After a moment, he cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone.

"Good afternoon, everyone. First, I’d like to thank Academician Liang very much for giving me this opportunity."

His voice, clear and steady, came through the sound system.

"To be honest, and strictly speaking, I’ve never participated in a mathematical modeling competition in the truest sense of the word.

I’m sure some of you have seen the videos of me at this year’s competition that were circulating online, so you probably have some idea of what happened.

During the national competition, my involvement was limited to providing an optimized core algorithm for Shen Yan’s team after they had already completed the majority of the work."

He offered a candid smile before continuing, "But if you had asked me to solve that modeling problem from scratch by myself, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.

It was only after her team had already abstracted a complex, real-world issue into a purely mathematical problem that I was able to apply my specialized knowledge to perform the subsequent proofs and calculations."

He paused for a moment before changing the subject. "This is actually quite similar to my own company’s business model. We take on technical challenges for other businesses. First, the specialists on my team convert those challenges into pure mathematical problems, and then I’m the one who solves the mathematical problem itself."

"So, that just goes to show," Chen Lin said, looking down at the students with a mischievous grin, "how important it is to have a pro you can latch onto when you’re doing mathematical modeling."

"HAHAHAHA—"

His joke instantly broke the slightly tense atmosphere, and the students erupted in good-natured laughter.

Chen Lin chuckled along with them, then waved his hand, his expression turning serious once more.

"Of course, I’m just kidding."

"What I really want to say, based on my own limited experience, is that I’ve discovered mathematical modeling doesn’t require every single person on the team to have world-class math skills."

"What’s more important is a team where everyone has their own role and their strengths are complementary. Some people are good at research and information gathering; others excel at coding and data visualization; and still others have a knack for precisely translating complex, real-world problems into clear mathematical models."

"So, the most important thing is to find the part you’re best at and most passionate about, and then be willing to invest enough time and energy into it. As long as you can do that, I believe every one of you has the chance to get the results you’re hoping for."

After he finished, Chen Lin gave a slight bow to the audience and turned to leave the stage.

The entire classroom fell silent for a few brief seconds.

Then, someone started to clap, and the room suddenly erupted in applause.