Ch 228: The Strongest Brain’s Youngest Competitor

Chen Yuru watched Tang Yue with a mix of worry and anticipation. In the makeup mirror, Tang Yue smiled at Chen Yuru. “It’s okay, Mom, don’t worry.”

After the makeup artist finished adjusting Tang Yue’s hair, she looked into Tang Yue’s eyes. “Little one, are you satisfied with this look?”

“Satisfied, thank you, makeup artist.”

“Such a well-behaved child. Not only are you a good student, but you’re also so polite.”

The makeup artist gave Chen Yuru an admiring glance. This must be a very wise mother.

Chen Yuru returned a smile.

“Yueyue, don’t be nervous when you go on stage later. Mom will be cheering you on from the audience.”

Tang Yue nodded. She took a few deep breaths to compose herself. She had to do well in this CCTV interview.

“Lighting and camera crews are ready.”

“Host is in place, judges are in place.”

“Live broadcast countdown: 10, 9, 8… 2, 1.”

“Welcome everyone to the special live broadcast of 《The Strongest Brain》. Our guest today is Tang Yue, the mathematical genius child prodigy who has recently sparked heated discussions online. At the age of 10, she broke the national record for advancing to the national high school math competition and recently won the provincial championship…”

Tang Yue watched the scene silently backstage. After the opening and introduction of the judges, it would be her turn to appear.

“For this competition, we have invited three authoritative experts as judges. They are Dean Meng Haonian of the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Qingbei University.”

“Professor Qin Ruishu, head of the National Unified Examination for Admissions to General Higher Education Institutions Question Setting Group.”

“Jiang Zhilan, Vice President of Jianghua University. Welcome everyone.”

“This live broadcast also includes some mystery viewers, who may interact with the guest during the broadcast. Please watch the live broadcast…”

“Guest entrance countdown: 30 seconds.”

Although Tang Yue had never experienced such a large-scale live broadcast program before, she thankfully possessed the mentality of an adult and had participated in many large-scale events in university.

Besides, this interview was just someone watching her solve problems. Tang Yue felt a little more relaxed thinking about it.

“3, 2, 1, guest entrance!”

Hearing the cue, Tang Yue gave a bright smile and walked onto the live broadcast stage.

“Hello to all the judges and the host. I’m Tang Yue. I’m 10 years old and a fourth-grader from Jianghua City Experimental Primary School.”

Jiang Runqiu strongly insisted that Tang Yue say the last part. He promised to double her bonus for every mention of the school’s name, and Tang Yue naturally wouldn’t refuse such a win-win situation; she and her mother needed the money.

Meng Haonian and Qin Ruishu looked at Tang Yue with somewhat scrutinizing gazes. Although the program team had told them the general situation, they still couldn’t quite believe that a 10-year-old child could stand out in the high school group.

Only Jiang Zhilan’s gaze was full of admiration, because this was a student from Jianghua City. If the child’s abilities were genuine, Jiang Zhilan was willing to fight for a guaranteed admission spot for her in the Jiang University mathematics department after the national high school mathematics competition.

After seeing the judges, the live broadcast audience started a heated discussion. “Didn’t the program team give the child the questions beforehand?”

“Don’t you see who the judges are? Would the Qingbei dean do something like leak questions? And Old Qin, the head of the college entrance exam question setting group—who has a stronger sense of confidentiality than him?”

“But there’s also the Jianghua University vice-principal. Leaking questions within a city isn’t impossible, right?”

“You’re too naive. If this prodigy is real, these universities would all be vying for her. But the premise is that she truly has the ability. How would they confirm her real ability if she got the questions beforehand? No school would risk wasting resources on someone with unconfirmed abilities.”

“The above post is lengthy, but makes a valid point.”

“No matter what, the fact remains that she was the provincial champion at age 10. The level of invigilation was comparable to the college entrance exam. What’s there to question? Jianghua City children are the best!”

Tang Yue finished interacting with the host on stage and waited for the next question. A touchscreen computer rose from the stage, connecting to the background screen.

All of Tang Yue’s calculation processes would be enlarged and projected onto the big screen so that the audience on-site and online could clearly see the entire process.

“The questions for this round haven’t been prepared by the program team; they will be given by the judges on the spot!”

Tang Yue was mentally prepared and wasn’t surprised. For the audience, this design was more entertaining.

After discussion, the three judges decided that Qin Ruishu would go on stage to give Tang Yue the first question. Meng Haonian, as a dean who had been teaching at Qingbei University for many years, was afraid that the questions he posed would deviate too much from the high school curriculum, making the child feel too embarrassed.

Qin Ruishu quickly created the question at the computer. As the head of the college entrance exam question setting group, this kind of question-making was second nature to him.

It was a sequence problem. When the question was finished, the audience saw the various letters, numbers, and characters in the question stem and already understood the difficulty of this question.

“So complicated! Who among you can understand this? This would absolutely be a bonus question in an exam; I wouldn’t even look at it!”

“A 10-year-old can calculate such a complicated problem? The long string of numbers under the square root sign—let alone calculate it, I would need half a day just to write it down!”

“LOL, I think this old man is up to no good, the little sister will be crying soon hahaha!”

Meng Haonian nodded. This difficulty was very suitable. Although it was already quite impressive for a 10-year-old to do ordinary high school problems, being able to win first place in the provincial competition would certainly not be at the level of ordinary math olympiad problems.

Tang Yue walked to the computer, read the question, and picked up her pen.

“The host is a little excited. Tang Yue has started writing! So fast! I wonder what ability Professor Qin is testing with this question?”

Qin Ruishu smiled. “I cannot offer hints. Just watch Tang Yue answer the question.”

For the sake of the program’s effect, the host walked in front of Tang Yue, without considering whether it would affect her answering.

“Tang Yue, can you explain your problem-solving approach?”

Tang Yue didn’t mind. For someone from the mathematics department, this wasn’t a very complicated problem; the key was to comprehensively analyze all conditions.

“Faced with this seemingly complicated problem, we must learn to unravel it step by step. A math problem is like a maze, but as long as we carefully observe the clues within the maze, we can find the exit.”

“For this problem, we can first use the recursive formula to find a3 based on the value of a2. When n=1, comparing…”

Tang Yue explained her problem-solving approach while continuously writing with her pen, and the judges listened attentively.

“When n=2, we can determine the range of bn based on the value of a3…”

“The biggest difficulty of this problem is that when n is greater than or equal to 3, we need to use the substitution method to transform the recursive formula…”

“In this way, the relationship between a and the set is completely proved, and my conclusion is demonstrated. I am finished.”

The judges’ eyes all lit up. They never imagined that a 10-year-old child, under external interference, could solve such a complex problem so quickly and clearly.

The barrage on the online platform also started to explode. “I’m bowing down; it’s better explained than our math teacher.”

“How can I hire this 10-year-old teacher to be my tutor?”

“I don’t understand it, but her problem-solving steps are so complete. You can tell from the judges’ expressions that she aced it; those expressions don’t seem fake.”

“Seriously, am I just an extra in this world?”