Chapter 19: It's Also My First Time Tackling Such a Problem

Gao Shang was sincere in his words.

Based on his assessment of the two students, he believed they both had the potential to rank at least in the top three in the province, and possibly even reach the top two or top one.

They were even more outstanding than many students in the honors class.

In the beginning, Xu You indeed struggled to keep up.

But once he entered a deep learning state, Gao Shang's teaching pace was completely within Xu You's comprehension range. In fact, Xu You felt that Gao Shang could go even faster.

Of course, saying this outright might easily be misconstrued as sarcasm.

"I feel okay, I can keep up for now. If I have any questions, I will definitely ask you, teacher."

Xu You responded very politely, prompting Gao Shang to nod in approval.

It was rare for a student to keep up with his pace from the first lesson.

Lu Zhiyao, however, really couldn't keep up with Gao Shang's teaching rhythm.

Lu Zhiyao was used to self-study and wasn't very accustomed to Gao Shang's teaching method.

But in front of Gao Shang, Lu Zhiyao couldn't outright say this and just nodded perfunctorily.

After several days of classes, Gao Shang felt that everyone had more or less adapted, so he decided to present a problem to test everyone's learning outcomes.

"This is a problem of semifinal difficulty level. Since some of you might have encountered it before, I've made some modifications. You have 40 minutes at most, and finishing correctly within 20 minutes will be considered excellent. Those who finish can come up and submit it to me."

Hearing Gao Shang's words, the students panicked.

"What's this about? We haven't even gone through many preliminary round questions, and now it's a semifinal question?"

"Yeah, we don't even know if we can pass the preliminaries."

"I heard every question in the semifinals is tough, getting one right is already impressive."

Seeing the students' panicked expressions, Gao Shang couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"Usually, you all act so confident, complaining that high school physics questions are too easy. This will dampen your spirits."

Unlike the preliminaries, the semifinals' theory section consists entirely of major questions.

Eight major questions in three hours.

That averages to just over twenty minutes per question.

Of course, Gao Shang didn't expect anyone at their current level to solve these questions within twenty minutes.

Reaching this level would not just mean ranking first in the province but also having a good chance to make it into the provincial team.

Amidst the groans, Gao Shang projected the question onto the big screen.

Seeing the screen filled with text, the students were momentarily stunned.

The question seemed overly verbose!

If you didn't know any better, you'd think it was a reading comprehension question for language arts.

"A homogeneous solid sphere of mass m and radius R is placed on a horizontal table. The coefficient of sliding friction between the sphere and the table is μ. The cue stick is adjusted to be horizontal and in the vertical plane passing through the center of the sphere, striking the upper half of the sphere..."

Just the problem statement itself was hundreds of words long, involving over ten physical quantities.

Many students, after reading the question once, were still confused.

Of course, a few students had already understood the question and began analyzing their approach.

Among them was Hu Shucheng.

Hu Shucheng was a genuine physics talent.

If others scored 100 in physics because they had the ability, for Hu Shucheng, scoring 100 only meant that the test maxed out at 100.

"I think I've done this question before, just with some conditions and data slightly altered."

For Hu Shucheng, tackling a semifinal-level problem was just the right challenge.

The problem essentially modeled a billiard ball strike, involving collision, rotation, rolling, and other physical processes.

But with a solid grasp of rigid body mechanics, it was solvable.

Scratching his curly hair with his left hand, Hu Shucheng's right hand began writing down equations.

"Applying the momentum theorem for rigid body motion to the striking process, we have..."

"The impulse moment relative to its center of mass is..."

"According to the angular momentum theorem, we have..."

Unconsciously, Hu Shucheng had written down over ten formulas.

"Phew~ Almost there!"

Seeing that only fifteen minutes had passed and he was only short of the final result for the second question, Hu Shucheng knew he could score full marks within twenty minutes.

At this point, most students in the classroom were just beginning to grasp how to approach the problem.

Finishing the first question was already considered fast.

Indeed, in this year's National High

 School Physics Competition, Hu Shucheng remained the hope of Shengcheng Fourth Middle School.

Just as Hu Shucheng was about to calculate the final result and be the first to submit, he noticed someone standing up from the corner of his eye.

"Huh?"

On closer inspection, Hu Shucheng was surprised to see it was Xu You.

"This... impossible?"

According to Xu You, he had only been learning physics competition topics for just over a week.

How could he possibly finish faster than Hu Shucheng, an experienced competitor?

Could it be that Xu You had also encountered the original problem before?

Impossible, there wasn't enough time to practice many preliminary questions, let alone semifinal ones.

Hu Shucheng thought that even if Xu You did finish, it was likely incorrect.

Seeing Xu You being the first to come forward, Gao Shang also wondered.

None of the competition students he had taught before had finished a semifinal question faster than a regular class student just introduced to competitions.

While Xu You's talent was indeed exceptional, finishing a semifinal question within fifteen minutes on his first try was almost too incredible.

"Xu You, you're done?"

"Yes, teacher, please take a look. I'm not sure if it's correct."

Xu You was also tackling such a problem for the first time and wasn't completely confident in his solution.

After taking Xu You's notebook, Gao Shang glanced over it briefly.

The process seemed very complicated, with several corrections.

It was clear this was his first attempt at such a problem.

Gao Shang instinctively felt Xu You's solution was likely flawed and didn't rush to check the results, instead reviewing the process from the beginning.

"Hmm... the first few steps are correct..."

"This calculation is indeed valid, the velocity is correct..."

"The acceleration calculation is a bit cumbersome, took a roundabout way, but it's not wrong..."

Step by step, despite the cumbersome process, there were no theoretical errors.

Gao Shang could tell this was the work of a student new to competitions.

No special problem-solving techniques were used; each step was figured out on his own.

Yet, relying on strong problem-solving skills, he managed to calculate the result.

While the process isn't commendable, it's certainly worthy of full marks.

What puzzled Gao Shang even more was that despite Xu You's cumbersome method, his speed was fast, and he was the first in the class to finish.

(End of Chapter)