Peter Schultz looked seriously at the manuscript Roth Dugan handed to him.
It was actually very simple.
Even if he truly was inspired by Qiao Ze's defense, it wouldn't be possible to consider everything thoroughly in a short amount of time.
However, Lotte Dugan's ideas were very clear.
Although there were only a few formulas on the manuscript, they allowed him to quickly understand what this meticulous old man was thinking.
"Very interesting, so what you need to do next is ensure numerical stability, and more importantly, ensure its convergence. This is indeed a very thought-worthy direction. Oh, Professor Dugan, if it's successful, it could greatly simplify the calculations for this type of equation."
"Exactly what I was thinking! You also find this interesting, don't you?" Lotte Dugan said delightedly.
"Of course, I think..."
"Please forgive me, but I think what should be done first is to prove that the theorems you are relying on are correct, instead of making baseless conjectures."
An abrupt voice interrupted their conversation.
Roth Dugan turned his head unhappily toward the direction the voice had come from, and couldn't help frowning when he saw Robert Stephen.
"Well, Professor Stephen, thank you for your insightful opinion. But do you think there might be a possibility that you have obstinately fallen into a misconception? Of course, I am not saying that Qiao Ze is definitely right, but at least, I haven't yet found any flaws in his two-hour lecture. Obviously, you're different. Either you didn't listen carefully to that presentation, or your comprehension has declined too severely with age. Regardless of which one it is, I don't think you have any right to evaluate my ideas. Or has working at MSRI made you so arrogant that you've lost the most basic scientific literacy?"
Don't expect Roth Dugan to spare anyone's feelings.
In fact, this diminutive old man has always been a maverick in the mathematical community, and his status as the head of the Princeton Mathematics Institute gave him the capital not to give others face. Just like he enjoyed making unrestrained comments about the jurors of the Fields Medal, and many times, his words were extremely harsh.
His confidence stemmed from having mentored three Fields Medal and two Abel Prize laureates. He himself had long since received both the Abel Prize and the Wolff Prize.
As for Robert Stephen, he truly hadn't come looking for a fight.
He was originally looking for Edward Whitten.
But after searching around the cafeteria and not finding him, he just happened to see Lotte Dugan and wanted to ask the head of Princeton's School of Mathematics where Edward Whitten had gone. Just as he approached, he overheard the discussion between Dugan and Peter Schultz and couldn't help but interject.
Lotte Dugan's response also made him quite emotional, but facing this old man, he lacked a better response.
"I don't want to argue with you, Professor Dugan. But one thing, I believe that questioning is precisely because I retain a reverence for science."
Having said that while suppressing his anger, Robert Stephen was about to simply ask about Edward Whitten's whereabouts and then leave immediately, but Roth Dugan had already turned away and continued talking to Peter Schultz: "Ignore this foolish fellow. What do you think if we follow this train of thought to design and develop a new algorithm?"
Peter Schultz glanced at Robert Stephen, whose face was turning a bit green, and showed a helpless, regretful smile, then shifted his gaze and said earnestly, "Of course, Professor Dugan. I think it could serve as a project. But actually, Professor Stephen has at least one thing right, we need a deeper understanding of transcendental geometry if we want to make smoother progress."
"Hah, that's exactly why I came to find you. I have an appointment with Qiao Ze to discuss some academic matters tonight. So please help me think, if this research direction is feasible, what problems we need to address. Sigh... I am ultimately old, thinking more slowly, and not as comprehensive."