"Wow, it's really beautiful here. Look at that mountain. I thought Africa was pretty poor. I didn't expect there to be such developed cities here."

Zhao Xiancai, who was sitting by the window on the plane, looked at the beautiful scenery outside the window and said in amazement that this was his first time flying and it was also his first time going abroad, and he came all the way as soon as he went abroad.

"It's really beautiful to be surrounded by mountains and rivers. Look, there's a building there that looks like the Bird's Nest in our capital."

After Zhao Xiancai finished speaking, Zhou Wen, who was sitting next to him, also stretched his head to look out the window and said with the same sigh.

When they said this, several other teammates, whether they were sitting by the window or not, looked out the window.

"That mountain is very famous all over the world. It's called Table Mountain. 'Tebul' in English means table, so it's also called Table Mountain.

The reason why it has this name is because its top is as flat as a table.

As for the bird's nest-like building, it was the football stadium they built for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It was indeed inspired by the bird's nest..."

Seeing that they were quite interested in the city below the plane, the team leader Yao Yijun gave them a brief introduction.

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“Not all places in Africa are so poor. South Africa used to be considered one of the ‘BRICS’ countries.

Alas, it’s just that among the five BRICS countries, only our country is slowly getting better. Except for India, the other three countries are getting worse and worse.

As for developed cities, Cape Town is the second largest city in South Africa, the legislative capital, and the provincial capital of the Western Cape Province.

The South African Parliament and many government departments are located in this city, and it is famous for its beautiful natural landscape and docks. It is also known as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, attracting a large number of foreign tourists.

, of course it is developed.

If this place were still a primitive tribe like other places, no one would be willing to come here for tourism..."

In fact, Yao Yijun didn't know much about Cape Town. He had only traveled here once before, so he and Zhao Xiancai didn't talk much.

As for the various problems that exist here, as a foreigner, he has neither long-term living experience here nor a special in-depth understanding of it, so naturally he does not know the various problems that exist in Cape Town.

"Mandela was the president of South Africa before and died last year. Teacher Yao, why did South Africa decline?"

Zhao Xiancai's understanding of South Africa was limited to Mandela, but he could also understand what Yao Yijun said.

Take the country as an example. You cannot go to the capital city and say that the whole country is like this. Even if you go to the countryside, the countryside in different places is different.

"I don't know the specific situation and reasons. If you are interested, you can check the relevant information after IMO is over.

If you want to truly understand something you don't understand, you can't just read what people say on the Internet, you must learn to find relevant information yourself.

Even sometimes the information may not be accurate. Learning is also a principle. You can trust the knowledge and content compiled by predecessors.

But it cannot be regarded as an absolute axiom that cannot be overturned, refuted or doubted. There are no axioms and theorems in this world that are absolute and will not change..."

This was originally about South Africa, but while Yao Yijun was talking, he started talking about studies again.

However, when he said this, he paused for a moment, smiled mysteriously and expectantly, and then continued, "If you can really find some problems with the existing known axioms or theorems in the future, put them into practice."

Overturn and rebuild it, or make it more perfect, and you will be enough to leave your name in the history of mathematics."

Although he and Zhao Xiancai said so, Yao Yijun himself also knew that this was very difficult. I am afraid that no one among the six children present could complete it.

But even if he thinks so in his heart, he still has to say what needs to be said. After all, when people like Newton and Einstein were young, who could have known that they would change the world in the future?

After they chatted for a while on the plane, the plane finally landed smoothly.

When leaving the airport, Zhao Xiancai and the others were greeted by an enthusiastic translator who graduated from the Confucius Institute at the University of Cape Town.

Normally, the host country of each IMO will assign a translator and tour guide to students from each region who come to participate in IMO. For some small countries, this is a huge burden.

After all, there are as many as 101 teams coming to Cape Town to participate in this event this year. Even if you exclude some teams that speak the same language, there are enough translators and tour guides needed.

South Africa is not a small country, and in 2010, the third Confucius Institute in South Africa was officially established at the University of Cape Town, so it was possible to arrange a Chinese translator and tour guide for Zhao Xiancai and the others.

"Hello, welcome to Cape Town, my name is..."

The translator and tour guide said hello to Zhao Xiancai and the others, briefly introduced themselves, and then took Zhao Xiancai and the others to the hotel.

Along the way from the airport to the hotel, the translator not only talked to Zhao Xiancai and others about the scenery and culture of their country, but also talked about some things about China.

It can be seen from his words that he is still very interested in some Chinese culture, which is why he chose to learn Chinese.

However, after arriving at the hotel, Zhao Xiancai and the others went to bed early.

There was nothing I could do. It took such a long time to fly, and I had to change planes twice in the middle. Moreover, there was still a six-hour time difference between South Africa and China.

Zhao Xiancai and the others have been through a lot of trouble along the way, and now they just want to rest early.

Among the six members of the national team, except for Zhao Xiancai and Qi Ruilin, although the other four have never been to Cape Town, they all have experience abroad, so they feel better than Zhao Xiancai and the others.

However, the team leader and others cannot be like Zhao Xiancai and others, and rest as soon as they arrive here.

After arriving in Cape Town, the team leaders from each country will have a meeting.

In the next few days on the 4th, 5th, and 6th, the team leaders will have meetings and are not allowed to have any contact with the members of each team.

Because they go to the meeting not to chat, but to choose exam questions.

A few days before the official IMO exam, the team leaders and an observer from each country must gather in advance to select the final six questions that will serve as this year's IMO exam questions.

In the year of the competition, after receiving a total of more than 100 questions from various countries, the IMO organizer will first conduct a rough sorting and then form a topic selection committee.

The topic selection committee will select truly high-quality and brand-new topics from these topics and classify them. Generally speaking, there will be 6 to 9 questions in each of the four areas of elementary algebra, combinatorics, plane geometry, and elementary number theory, for a total of about 30 questions.

Then, they will sort the questions in each area from easy to difficult.

The approximately 30 questions selected are called pre-selected questions.

The six test questions finally selected by the team leaders and an observer from each country were selected from these approximately 30 pre-selected questions.

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