I'm a scientist, why can't I have faith?

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss, the world-renowned mathematical genius, gave Wang Dong a real headache.

Those bad memories are still vivid in my mind.

Wang Dong actually had no prejudice against these deities he worshipped.

Why is it that when it comes to this moment that deserves a reward, only Lord Gauss is chosen?

It wasn't that he had any issues with John Gauss; it was just that, if he could, he would actually prefer the generous Sir Isaac Newton.

In comparison, Sir Isaac Newton had a much easier time obtaining a reward from either of these two than Sir Gauss.

Moreover, Lord Gauss's faith upgrade is even more difficult. It's already so hard to get rewards on a regular basis. Wang Dong can't imagine what level he would need to reach to complete Lord Gauss's faith upgrade.

Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to think. In the short moment he was lost in thought, the numbers on the panel became a little more transparent.

You have to finish quickly to get the reward.

Although simply increasing one's understanding of the figures of faith can raise one's faith level, this does not mean that Wang Dong does not need the numerical assistance provided by the system.

You should know that the people he idolizes are all historically renowned figures, not to mention an extremely abnormal mathematical genius like Mr. Gauss.

Without some kind of cheat code, he wouldn't even be able to understand the formulas that the experts casually wrote, let alone comprehend the experts who wrote such god-like formulas.

He needs to deepen his understanding of Lord Gauss before the numerical values ​​become weaker and more transparent, in order to complete the faith upgrade and preserve his hard-won numerical values.

It sounds simple, but in reality, it's not as simple as you might think.

Even though I've studied so many mathematical theorems developed by Gauss, why can't I improve my understanding of the characters?

Wang Dong recalled that when he visualized Sir Isaac Newton completing his spiritual upgrade, it seemed that in addition to the achievements of these great figures, it was also necessary to understand their feelings at the time. Only in this way could he increase his understanding of the characters.

Due to the decrease in the value, Wang Dong's thoughts are now completely in a mess.

"Where should I begin..."

He inadvertently glanced at the draft paper on his desk with a regular heptadecagon drawn on it; it was a sketch he had made while finishing his daily prayers the night before.

Thinking back on the heptadecagonal prayers he had been consistently performing every day for the past few months, Wang Dong had a sudden intuition.

The key to solving the problem lies in this regular heptadecagon.

Wang Dong turned on his computer and began frantically searching for everything related to Gauss and the regular heptadecagon.

Even though his current stats have decreased compared to before, fortunately, the [Perception] attribute is still playing its role.

Under the influence of [Perception], Wang Dong seemed to be instantly transported to that early morning in Brunswick.

Eighteen-year-old Gauss was sitting at his desk, his eyes fixed on the scratch paper on the table.

He wasn't thinking; the word "thinking" was too slow, too clumsy.

To be precise, a storm was raging in his mind.

Is it possible to construct a regular heptadecagon using only a ruler and compass?

This simple question stumped him all night.

For over two thousand years, ever since Euclid wrote "Elements," mathematicians have known how to construct equilateral triangles, squares, regular pentagons, and regular polygons by doubling the number of their sides using a ruler and compass.

But what else?

A regular heptagon? A regular unelectragon? A regular heptadecagon? Nobody knows the answer.

In this era, people generally believed that apart from a few basic regular polygons, none of the others could be constructed using rulers and compasses.

They even assume that this is the boundary of elementary geometry, a limit set by God that mortals cannot cross.

But in the eyes of young Gauss, there was another possibility.

Ruler and compass constructions may seem like purely geometric problems, but in essence, they are simply about determining the position of a point by finding the intersection of a line and a circle.

Since both straight lines and circles can be represented as algebraic equations, the coordinates of their intersection points can only be obtained through addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root extraction.

If he can obtain the coordinates of the vertices of a regular heptadecagon, he can manually recreate the regular heptadecagon.

Gauss began to perform calculations, but not with paper and pen; rather, he used his thoughts, and all the calculations took place in his mind.

x¹⁷-1=0.

This equation appeared before Gauss's eyes like a blooming flower, with x=1 as the center and the other sixteen petals as the sixteen mysterious roots.

He tried to divide the sixteen roots into two groups of eight each.

Their sum is a real number.

Four groups, two groups, further subdivided, and all remain real numbers.

Each division is a square root extraction.

With cubic partitioning and cubic square root extraction, as long as the correct partitioning method can be found, the coordinates of each root can be expressed using a finite number of additions, subtractions, multiplications, divisions, and square roots.

These sixteen roots alone mean there are countless ways to group them.

Of these methods, only one can yield the correct solution.

What's truly disheartening is that you don't even know if this unique solution exists.

This was almost an impossible task, but young Gauss, a true genius, seized that fleeting moment of inspiration.

Original root 3.

When he arranged the sixteen roots in powers of 3, the whole world seemed to stand still.

3¹=3， 3²=9， 3³=27≡10， 3⁴=30≡13， 3⁵=39≡5， 3⁶=15， 3⁷=45≡11， 3⁸=33≡16， 3⁹=48≡14， 3¹⁰=42≡8， 3¹¹=24≡7， 3¹²=21≡4， 3¹³=12， 3¹⁴=36≡2， 3¹⁵=6， 3¹⁶=18≡1。

Perfect.

This is the only correct solution among countless possibilities.

Gauss actually accomplished what seemed almost impossible.

It didn't take much effort; I just grasped that fleeting thought in my mind.

That's what genius is.

Euclid's rule, which was regarded as truth, crumbled on its own.

But does that mean Euclid was wrong?

No, he was not wrong.

He did indeed explore the limits of ordinary people, and where he stopped, he erected a sign that read "Boundary".

Countless people who came after saw this sign stopped there, obediently standing there, looking up at the sign.

It's not that they're unwilling to take another step outward, or that they've never thought of reaching out to push that invisible wall; it's that they simply can't do it when faced with the boundary.

Until Gauss appeared.

He not only shattered boundaries, but also made people realize that behind the invisible walls lies a vast world where much can be accomplished.

So this is what it feels like to be a genius.

[The mathematical genius Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss endorsed your beliefs]

[The attendant of the Prince of Mathematics]

[Gain perception*0.1, thought*0.1, memory*0.1]

The numbers on the panel became tangible again.

In an instant, Wang Dong felt that everything he had lost had returned, and that he himself had changed compared to before.

Even his way of looking at the world has changed.

It's become more of a given.

John Gauss: Welcome to the world of genius, child.