But "1+ 1=2" studied by mathematician Chen Jingrun is by no means a simple algorithm 1+ 1=2, but a research topic in the famous Goldbach conjecture, that is, any even number greater than 2 can be expressed as 1 prime number plus 1.
"1+2=3", that is, a big even number can be expressed as the sum of the products of a prime number and no more than two prime numbers, which Chen Jingrun has proved before, but he spent a lot of time and energy but could not prove "1+ 1=2".
Some people think that such research is meaningless, but we must understand that many things are directly or indirectly related. If the basic science is compared to the foundation, then the applied science is a tall building. How can there be a tall building without a foundation? Chen Jingrun studied basic science.
When Descartes invented imaginary number I, he didn't expect it to appear in Schrodinger equation 300 years later; Riemann would not have thought that the geometry he founded would appear as a mathematical basis in Einstein's general theory of relativity; The group theory of mathematics turned out to be the shortest step to find the Rubik's cube and restore it. Theory points out that there are 432.5 billion combinations of the third-order Rubik's cube, but group theory proves that any third-order Rubik's cube needs only 20 steps at most.
Prove the significance of Goldbach is:
1. If science wants to lay the foundation for future science and technology, it should actively explore the unknown, instead of trying to explore and solve related problems after they appear. If human science and technology want to advance, it needs to solve unknown problems that exist but have no answers.
2. In the process of proving the unknown, people are likely to put forward creative ideas and tools, and these derived ideas and tools may have greater value.
3. The theme of Goldbach's conjecture research seems simple, but it has not been completely confirmed. The laws between mathematics are closely related to human real life.
Chen Jingrun's theory of "1+2=3" has shocked the international mathematical community. His thesis is still a masterpiece of analytic number theory. Chen Theorem is not only a brilliant milestone in the history of mathematics in China, but also a great contribution to the study of mathematics in the world.
Don't jump to conclusions about something. Some theoretical studies are boring or even meaningless to many people, but we must clearly realize that the potential value of these studies is unpredictable.
Everything is relative, and some research will directly or indirectly make science progress in the future. Some research may have a direct impact on the existing science, but this impact can also bring sparks and creative things, so that the loopholes that have already appeared can be repaired, and the impacted science can be repaired and perfected, which will be more solid and bloom with new brilliance.
If the inventor of papermaking thinks that there are already tools for recording words such as bamboo slips, why should he study the seemingly unsuccessful thin paper? Then there will be no or delayed papermaking for many years. After the success, with the continuous progress of papermaking, convenient paper tools such as silver ticket and title deed came into being, so that many scholars and writers in later generations could conveniently write countless well-known quatrains on paper. Now, the use of paper is also all over our lives.
RSA encryption involves network information security and is closely related to the application of prime numbers. We can't just think about the present. Research that seems useless now may be of great use in the future. The potential value of some theories lies in the excavation of human nature.
So some things may seem meaningless, but the value it can bring is immeasurable. To make progress and improve science, we need to rely on foundations and seemingly simple problems that have never been solved.