
Photo: ZHANG BINGQING/CHINA DAILY

Photo: Cai Tianxin
“It was a very imaginative solution,” Tianxin said. “He has never received any systematic training in number theory nor taken advanced math classes. All he has is an instinct and an extreme sensitivity to numbers,” the mathematics professor added about the unlikely math genius.News of Yu Jianchun’s achievements has reached mathematics experts all over the world. William Banks, a mathematician at the University of Missouri who also worked on Carmichael numbers, told CNN that he was excited about the new solution. “There have been additional theoretical results in this area — including several by myself and my co-authors — but these are all variations on a theme,” he said. Yu’s proof, however, is completely different to the classic algorithm used since 1910, when R. D. Carmichael found 15 of these psudo primes.
Photo: Weibo
The young delivery man is being praised as a hero in China, and he’s even received job offers from large companies like investment firm Silk Road Holding Group. They’d love to have him working as a statistics expert. However, for the moment, Yu seems more concerned with finding a girlfriend than building a career. “I want to have my own family first and then comes math,” he said in an interview.Another impressive thing about the remarkable young man is his modesty. “I’m slow-witted,” he says. “I need to spend far more time studying math problems than others. Although I am sensitive to numbers, I barely have any knowledge about calculus or geometry.”Well, others didn’t find a solution to a complex math problem, you did.
Photo: Cai Tianxin
When asked what he thought about the world comparing him to Mat Damon’s character in the film Good Will Hunting – a young janitor working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who who solves a complex math problem – Yu Jianchun didn’t know what to say, because he hasn’t seen it. He’s curious about it, though. If you haven’t seen it either, do it, it’s a really good film.