An article to understand Jiang Ping's shortlisting for the Ali Global Mathematics Competition, and the timeline

Sanyan Technology

2024-06-18 22:55Posted on the official account of Beijing Sanyan Finance

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Foreword: Jiang Ping's finalist in the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition has sparked heated discussions, and we have sorted out some key information for a comprehensive understanding of the incident and close to the truth.

1

What is the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition?

According to public information, the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition (Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition) is jointly organized by the China Association for Science and Technology, Alibaba Public Welfare Foundation, and Alibaba DAMO Academy.

The competition was launched by Jack Ma in 2018.

It is reported that the event attracted more than 250,000 people from more than 70 countries and regions around the world.

2

What is the purpose of the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition?

On March 29, 2019, the award ceremony of the first Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition was held in Hangzhou, and Jack Ma personally presented awards to the winners.

Jack Ma said at the award ceremony that the competition is first and foremost because of fun, "find a group of children who regard mathematics as the joy of life, encourage, help and support them, and let more people participate in and love mathematics." ”

3

What's the format for this year? Can the final be opened?

This year's competition is the same as in previous years in terms of basic format, divided into qualifiers and finals, and the finalists will be determined according to the scores of the qualifiers.

The qualifiers are 48 hours long and will be held in the form of individual and online competitions. The types of questions include multiple-choice questions, solution questions, and proof questions.

The qualifier is an open-book exam, which allows access to and reference online/offline materials, and allows the use of programming software to answer questions. It is forbidden to discuss with others, spread the contest questions, and all other forms of cheating.

However, since the question is answered online and lasts for 48 hours, it is difficult to determine whether there is any discussion with others.

The final competition lasts for 8 hours, and the format is also an individual competition and an online competition.

The types of questions include answer questions and proof questions. It is divided into five tracks: Algebra and Number Theory, Geometry and Topology, Analysis and Equations, Combinatorics and Probability, and Applied and Computational Mathematics.

Contestants need to select a track to enter the answer screen. The final exam is a closed-book exam, and no reference or use of scientific computing software is allowed.

Contestants are required to complete all questions independently. Cheating, discussing with others, or passing on questions are strictly prohibited during the competition.

According to the official display of the Ali Damo Academy, the organizing committee of this year's Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition is composed of a steering committee and an organizing committee.

The members of the steering committee include: Zhang Jianfeng, President of Alibaba DAMO Academy, Tian Gang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Chair Professor of Peking University, Li Jianshu, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dean of the Institute for Advanced Study of Mathematics of Zhejiang University, Zhang Yitang, Professor of the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Alessio Figalli, Professor of ETH Zurich and 2018 Fields Medal Winner, Tang Tao, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chair Professor of the Department of Mathematics of Southern University of Science and Technology. Professor Liu Jianya of Shandong University, Professor Yurii Nesterov of KU Leuven, Professor Frank Kelly of Newton Institute, Center for Mathematics of Cambridge University, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor of Peking University and Professor of Princeton University, Ling San, Vice President of Nanyang Technological University and Professor of the School of Mathematics, Sun Binyong, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor of the Institute for Advanced Study of Mathematics of Zhejiang University, Academician of the National Academy of Engineering, INFORMS Fellow, IBM Fellow, Brenda Lynn Dietrich, a professor at Cornell University, Wilfrid Gangbo, founder of EcoAfrica and a professor at UCLA, and Semeon Bogatyi, a professor at Moscow State University.

The members of the organizing committee include: Yin Wotao, director of the Damo Academy's Decision Intelligence Laboratory, Zhu Chenchang, professor at the University of Göttingen, and Liu Yi, researcher at the Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research at Peking University.

4

How can those who question Jiang Ping question it?

The main points that questioned Jiang Ping's views were as follows:

In a video, Jiang Ping writes Sigma as /2, gamma as inverse, and the last term of the Yu Yuan formula as an exponent when writing the board book.  

Jiang Ping is using LaTex to submit the answer sheet, how can a secondary school student be proficient in using LaTex?

Jiang Ping participated in the competition in the second semester of the second semester of high school, and the full score was 150 points, but she only scored 83 points. Advanced mathematics and partial differential equations will be difficult for her.

A screenshot of the chat record shows that Jiang Ping's math score in the monthly exam during the secondary school was not very good.

Jiang Ping's junior high school math teacher said that Jiang Ping was not the best student in math.

5

How can supporters support?

Science fiction writer North Star is also a professor of mathematics at the State University of New York. He also gave his opinion on the matter.

Beixing said that he took a moment to completely review Jiang Ping's proof in the video, and came to the conclusion that Jiang Ping's proof was written very non-standardly, as long as he had a master's degree in mathematics or above, he would not write it like this. But there is no mathematical error in the proof, so it must have been written by Jiang Ping herself. And equations (4) and (5) are general conclusions. Although correct, it is redundant in the solution and not needed at all in the complete solution. In other words, if you copy a ready-made solution, formulas (4) and (5) will not appear. Therefore, the blackboard is Jiang Ping's thinking process, and it is impossible to copy ready-made solutions.

North Star believes that this is a mathematically unproblematic solution written by a child who has not received much formal training in mathematics, and it cannot be a ready-made answer copied. Regarding some clerical errors and non-standard writing on the blackboard, it should be understandable to think that Jiang Ping is just a 17-year-old child who basically teaches mathematics by himself, and I am afraid that it is the first time to write on the blackboard under the camera.

A blogger who claimed to have won first place in the preliminary round of the Alibaba Mathematics Competition last year posted that he was worried that Jiang Ping would not do well in the final and would be attacked for cheating in the preliminary round. The preliminary round is for the undergraduate range, and the final round is for the doctoral and master's range. Jiang Ping's knowledge reserve may not be reached. If you don't do well in the finals, it's completely expected.

The blogger also posted a video saying that although he won a perfect score in the preliminary round and tied for the first place in the world, he only won the Excellence Award in the final.

6

Are there any secondary school and junior high school students among the finalists this year?

Sanyan checked the list of finalists and found that there were many middle school students, as well as a number of "scattered cultivation gods" who had no academic qualifications.

For example, Deng Leyan, ranked 26th, and Zhu Ruixuan, ranked 172nd, are both from Shanghai Huayu Middle School; Chen Ruichu, ranked 51st, is from Shanghai Middle School in Shanghai.

He Jinyin, ranked 345, Kejie Lin, ranked 353, Shang Heng, ranked 443, and Jack Lu, ranked 795, are all "scattered cultivators" with no academic qualifications.

7

Did Ali Damo Academy ask Jiang Ping to answer the question again?

Recently, it was reported on the Internet that after Jiang Ping achieved a high score, the Damo Academy team once again asked Jiang Ping to answer the question on the blackboard, and the results were announced a few days later.

According to Red Star News, on June 18, it was learned from the Alibaba DAMO Academy team that the online news was untrue and Jiang Ping was not asked to answer the question again.

8

Who are the previous champions?

In 2018, the final list of the first "Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition" showed that there were 4 gold medal winners.

The Gold Medal winner for Number Theory and Algebra is Allen Liu from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; The Gold Medal winner in the Geometry and Topology category is Yue Zhang from the University of California, Berkeley; The gold medal winner in the Applied Mathematics and Computational Mathematics category is Yang Yirui from Nanjing University; The winner of the Gold Medal in Analysis and Differential Equations was Wei Dongyi from Peking University.

In 2020, a total of 516 contestants were shortlisted for the finals, but the official website of the Ali Damo Academy did not announce the results of the finals.

In 2021, a total of 508 contestants were shortlisted for the finals, and a total of 70 contestants won prizes.

Among them, there are four gold medal winners, namely Wang Donghao from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tao Zhongkai from the University of California, Berkeley, Zhou Kangjie from Stanford University, and Noah j Taylor from the University of Chicago.

In 2022, a total of 715 contestants were shortlisted for the finals, and a total of 77 contestants won awards in the finals.

There are four gold medal winners, namely Lu Weixiao and Yao Yuan from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chen Zekun from Peking University, and Rao Zhenghao from Brown University.

In 2023, a total of 685 contestants were shortlisted for the finals, and a total of 70 contestants won prizes.

There are four gold medal winners, namely Zhai Xiaoyu, Li Yixiao, Hao Tianze from Peking University, and Zhang Shengtong from Stanford University.

9

What are the stories of the players in previous years?

So, in addition to this year's secondary school students shortlisted, are there similar "dramatic" stories in previous years?

The author has inquired about the relevant news in recent years, and there are indeed some.

Last year, there were many articles written about a post-95 courier brother who graduated from a junior college and loved mathematics and participated in the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition.

Last year, there were many articles written about Lou Yingen, a 20-year-old Chinese boy with ALS, who participated in the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition and won the Excellence Award.

This year, it is also rumored that among the finalists this time, He Jinyin, who ranks 345, is a takeaway brother.

However, there is no authoritative source for this information, and the authenticity of this information is questionable.

10

What do the media think?

The People's Daily commented on this matter, saying that it is not possible to "consume" other people's privacy for traffic, no matter what the results of the competition are later, it is valuable enough to feel the beauty of science in the pursuit of knowledge.

Red Star News commented that for a long time, creating gods and destroying gods has become a hidden interest, which has repeatedly appeared in the field of public opinion. As far as the attention to Jiang Ping is concerned, we must be vigilant against the development trend from "the stars holding the moon" to "the crowd is gold". What kind of person does the outside world want this child to be? The attitude in the field of public opinion is unpredictable, so that it is magical, what kind of perception and pressure will it bring to a child? Jiang Ping is very good in the field she is good at, but it is not appropriate to make gods at every turn. Excessive praise should not belong to her, and unwarranted slander should not be imposed on her. It is not advisable for the public to project too much of their personal emotions and carry too many things. Only with a normal heart can we be at peace with her pursuits and successes and failures.

Chao News commented that public opinion may be familiar with the matter of "creating gods" and "destroying gods" in a short period of time. To a certain extent, once an ordinary person is caught up in the whirlpool of public opinion, everything is involuntarily, and life will inevitably be turned upside down. Whether a 17-year-old girl can face all this calmly is still unknown.

As for Jiang Ping's future, it should still be in her own hands, and should not be designed by others.

The following is a timeline of Jiang Ping's incident:

2024-06-13 

A 17-year-old secondary school girl won the 12th place in the world in the mathematics competition

2024-06-14 

Jiang Ping: My dream is to go to Zhejiang University and study fashion design.

2024-06-14 

@江苏大学 Behind her, there is an equally legendary super teacher - Wang Yanqiu.

2024-06-14 

Teacher Jiang Ping and Wang Yanqiu are also contestants this year, with 125 players in the world.

2024-06-14 

Jiang Ping responded to the competition with Qingbei players: I feel that they are so strong.

2024-06-14 

@同济大学 Congratulations to Jiang Ping and welcome to apply for the exam.

2024-06-14 

@祖冲之微博号: The afterlife is terrifying! Looking forward to achieving great results!

2024-06-14 

Teacher Jiang Ping: I want to do my best to be her guide.

2024-06-14 

@东华大学 : Congratulations to Jiang Ping! Welcome to Donghua University!

2024-06-14 

Teacher Jiang Ping said that it was best to apply to Changshu Institute of Technology, @常熟理工学院 Response: Looking forward to Xiao Jiang's future application.

2024-06-14 

Zhejiang University's response to whether Jiang Ping can be admitted exceptionally: It involves the corresponding procedures and cannot be answered for the time being.

2024-06-14 

Jiang Ping's father responded to his daughter's 12th place in the math competition: he works outside all the year round, and he will pay her tuition when the school year starts.

2024-06-14 

The Organizing Committee of the Mathematics Competition responded: The difficulty of the final is equivalent to the qualification examination for the Doctor of Mathematics.

2024-06-14 

@浙江大学: Kudos to Jiang Ping.

2024-06-14 

Professor Jiang Ping, Professor Wang Runqiu@Professor Lu, Jiangsu University, posted a blog.

2024-06-14 

The junior high school teacher said that Jiang Ping was not biased towards the subject, and the subjects were relatively balanced, and the mathematics was better.

2024-06-15 

The 13th doctor in the number competition responded to Jiang Ping's popularity: she is very powerful.

2024-06-15 

The Chinese University of Hong Kong has denied contacting Ms. Jiang.

2024-06-15 

Harvard alumni called Jiang Ping to talk to the interviewer.

2024-06-18

Ali Damo Academy denied that it had asked Jiang Ping to answer the question again.

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