Fox of France

Since Napoleon did not change his position, Fourier naturally did not change his position either. So a few days later, at the French Academy of Sciences, a hearing officially began.

Before the hearings, Napoleon and his brain trusters pored over the paper, hoping to spot errors in its arguments. But although they spent a lot of effort, they still haven't found such a loophole.

"I don't even know how this terrible paradox was created. But his error is beyond doubt. So, in the debate, I suggest that we can only hold on to this paper and reality does not match, no It is a realizable model to attack it.” In the end, Laplace et al. made such a proposal.

Although Napoleon felt that this was not enough to completely defeat his opponent, he could only use this method now. With this method, at least he can remain undefeated.

The weather on the day of the hearing was good, and Napoleon and his allies arrived at the door of the small auditorium where the hearing was held on time. Just happened to meet Joseph with Gauss, Fourier and a group of people.

"Mr. Fourier, how could you support such a strange paper." Laplace approached Fourier and asked.

"Ah, Mr. Laplace, what's so strange about this paper?" Fourier said, "I think this is the best, most groundbreaking, enlightening, and discussing paper in recent times in mathematics." A paper. In fact, this is not only my opinion, but also that of Mr. Gauss and Dean Bonaparte."

In fact, Laplace talked with Fourier at this time, to a large extent, it was the art of war, and he wanted to put a certain amount of psychological pressure on Fourier. But Fourier dragged Gauss and Joseph out, which made Laplace feel a lot of pressure. Because although Gauss is young, his series of achievements in mathematics are really heart-wrenching. Moreover, his talent and his ability to deal with difficult problems are admired by everyone. As for Dean Bonaparte, he has the reputation of "Joseph who never makes mistakes". So when I heard that the two of them also thought the paper was excellent, although Laplace was very confident in his academic level, he still felt quite stressed. As for Napoleon, there was already a premonition of being tied to the guillotine.

At this time Joseph said: "Since everyone is here, let's go in and get ready to start."

So everyone entered the small auditorium and sat down in their respective seats. Joseph then said:

"According to the general procedure, we should invite the author of this paper, that is, Mr. Lucien Evans to be present. But the address left by Mr. Lucien Evans does not exist. Therefore, this hearing can only be It was carried out in the absence of the parties."

"He knew that his thesis could not stand up to cross-examination, so that's why he didn't dare to come?" Napoleon couldn't help but asked.

"Academician Napoleon, haven't you read the "Outline of Disciplines for Meetings of the Academy of Sciences"? Please abide by the meeting disciplines. If you want to speak, please raise your hand first, and then speak after getting permission from the meeting host." Joseph said.

Napoleon fell silent.

"Since the author is absent, we will skip this step and go directly to the next step. First, the opposing party will ask questions and point out mistakes. Alright, Academician Napoleon, please come to the stage to state your reasons."

Napoleon looked around, then walked towards the podium. At the same time, I thought in my heart: "When I gave a speech, I didn't bring a team of fully armed guards by my side. I really felt a little guilty."

But the guilty conscience is a guilty conscience, but I still have to talk about it. So Napoleon said: "As we all know, the reason why mathematics can become a science respected by people is that it can accurately describe our world. We can even say: mathematics is the most basic rule of the world. The language in which God created the world. Therefore, mathematics and reality are inseparable. The conclusions of mathematics cannot and should not exist apart from reality. And this paper has such a problem.

For example, if the paper is correct, there will be triangles whose interior angle sums are less than 180 degrees. I want to ask, can any of you draw such a triangle?

Also, according to this paper, we see the conclusion that the vertical and oblique lines of the same straight line do not necessarily intersect. So who can make such a picture? Impossible, just like the interior angle and the triangle less than 180 degrees, the situation that the perpendicular and oblique lines of the same straight line do not intersect does not exist in reality. Obviously, the person who created this paper completely ignored the real world and the basis for the existence of mathematics. He reduced mathematics to a meaningless game of logic. This is why I judged this paper to be ineligible. "

After saying this, Napoleon glanced at Fourier, and said, "I'm done talking."

The mathematicians of the Ecole Normale Supérieure applauded together. Napoleon bowed slightly to them and stepped off the podium.

At this time, according to the rules, the person who should come to the stage to speak should be Fourier. But at this time, it was Joseph who stepped onto the podium.

Seeing Joseph step onto the podium, Napoleon trembled all over, his hands and feet were cold.

"Gentlemen, in fact, Mr. Fourier discussed this paper with me before making that judgment. His evaluation of this paper is actually my evaluation. I think it is a Subversive, pioneering, extremely important, and epoch-making paper. I predict that the significance of this paper is no less than that of Euclid's "Elements of Geometry". Now, I want to make a statement on the questions raised by Academician Napoleon just now. answer."

"First of all, Academician Napoleon just mentioned that mathematics is not a meaningless logic game, it must have realistic meaning. I agree with this very much. However, I also want to remind Academician Napoleon that reality is It’s not something he can judge subjectively.” At this point, Joseph glanced at Napoleon triumphantly,

"We know that if a sound is a little higher, or a little lower, we can't hear it at all. But that doesn't mean the sound doesn't exist. Bats rely on higher frequency sounds that we can't hear to locate. Yes. Through photosensitivity experiments, we can also find that in areas other than purple light and red light, where we seem to have no light, silver iodide can still be photosensitive. Therefore, what we hear is not necessarily complete The real reality, what we see with our eyes, is also not necessarily the complete reality. So don't think that you can define reality. Reality is not necessarily what you think it is."

Napoleon really wanted to retort: ​​"Then you should find a triangle whose interior angle sum is less than 180 degrees!" But after thinking about it, he still didn't make a sound.

"Well, let's take a look at this paper, let's take a look at the first part of the paper first." Joseph said while using the slide projector to project the first part on the curtain hanging on the wall.

"Academician Napoleon, please tell me, is there any mistake in this part?" Joseph asked.

This part is mainly about the five axioms in Euclidean geometry, the first four postulates, and the latter assumption: "Through a point outside a straight line, there are two or more straight lines parallel to the straight line."

Napoleon was taken aback. He looked at the content of the projection, and then hesitantly returned: "The ones in front are naturally all right, but the last one is absurd and does not match reality."

"Napoleon," Joseph said with sarcasm, "I remember that when you were ten years old, I already taught you what is proof by contradiction?"

Napoleon hurriedly said: "Then there is no problem here." He knew that he had said the wrong thing just now, and if he continued to talk about "proof by contradiction", he would really behave like a fool who didn't finish elementary school .

Now that Napoleon was silent, Joseph continued to show the following content on the slide projector, and every time he showed a piece of content, Joseph would ask Napoleon: "Academician Napoleon, is there any problem with the argument in this paragraph?"

Of course there is no problem. If there is a problem, Napoleon and the guys from the Paris Ecole Normale Supérieure have been working together for so long these days, how could they not find it? Therefore, every time Napoleon could only reply in frustration: "No, no."

The slide projector projected the thesis one by one. In Napoleon's "no, no question" answer, it finally reached the last paragraph.

"Napoleon, is there no problem here?" Joseph asked.

"Yes, there is no problem, but it does not match the reality..." Napoleon still wanted to save himself.

"Napoleon, the reality you speak of is not the real reality!" Joseph responded.

"Then you draw a triangle whose interior angle is less than 180 degrees." Napoleon couldn't help but counterattacked. He also knew that if he didn't fight back, he would be defeated.

"Hehe, Napoleon," Joseph said with a smile, "you see, the entire argumentation process is in compliance with the rules. If the premise is correct, the entire argumentation process is fine, but it is different from reality as you assume. Reality It is impossible to be wrong, so what is wrong? Is the entire mathematical method and mathematical system wrong? Napoleon, your judgment is really brave, and you are trying to overthrow almost the entire mathematical system.”

"I'm not, I don't. I just want to look at the interior angles and triangles less than 180 degrees." Napoleon can only bite the interior angles and triangles less than 180 degrees at this time as a lifeline.

"No problem, I'll show you now." Joseph looked confident. Seeing Joseph's appearance, Napoleon's heart skipped a beat. He knew that if something bad happened, the most devastating blow would come.