CHAPTER 508: CHAPTER 161: THIS IS MATHEMATICS BASE PRACTICE_2

If we really can’t compete with them, the project and data will be sealed for now. After all, these two different technical solutions each have other pros and cons.

Even if we can’t beat them this time, this research is still valuable. Perhaps there will be an opportunity to restart in the future, so you can’t say it wasted resources.

To be honest, this project doesn’t greatly affect the mentor. The big shots have seen a lot; it’s common to see these major projects with different approaches fail to compete with others.

All the initial investment came from the sponsor, so it’s not unusual to lose the competition. Simply moving on to other projects is fine.

However, for the team members, it means that all the hard work over such a long period feels wasted, which is somewhat unsatisfactory.

Although the boss is pretty nice, if the team doesn’t perform, there definitely won’t be any bonuses. You can imagine how much of a blow that is to everyone’s morale.

So even though the mentor didn’t put pressure on him, Liu Hao felt even more pressure.

But these circumstances in the lab can’t be resolved just by pressure. Without a definitive direction to guide them, it’s like flying blind.

In the first few days, he would frequently ask Qiao Yu and Chen Zhuoyang on WeChat, but lately, he hasn’t been asking much.

After all, mathematicians aren’t omnipotent.

Maybe last time Qiao Yu seemed extraordinary, but that’s because there was directional data support.

During the post-mortem, team members almost all exclaimed, "It was so simple, why didn’t I think of that at the time," which is the best proof.

This time, the situation is clearly different.

So after having no news from Qiao Yu and Chen Zhuoyang, Liu Hao didn’t continue asking, and instead placed hope in what he called "fate."

Alright, for scientists, this is obviously not a good habit. But many results are truly a blend of science and luck.

Examples of this phenomenon are never lacking in the lab.

And honestly, placing hope in "fate" is often even more useful than relying on data analysis.

Really, as a lab hand, you can never predict what kind of odd results data analysis software like R or Python will yield before you get the results.

The results often turn out so poorly they’re unbearable to look at. So Liu Hao once thought that Qiao Yu’s method probably wouldn’t be that effective either.

After all, the code they were using to run the data had shown results before. As for Qiao Yu’s new method, they didn’t know about it, but since it’s new, it certainly hadn’t been tested in practice yet.

But who would have thought that just when he gave up hope of getting effective assistance from Qiao Yu, Qiao Yu called again, and from the way Qiao Yu spoke, it seemed as though he found a solution?

No matter what, a glimmer of hope rose in Liu Hao’s heart, and he hurriedly rushed downstairs and began pacing at the entrance of the chemistry building.

Fortunately, Qiao Yu was really punctual, saying fifteen minutes and arriving at the chemistry building almost precisely on time on a yellow bike.

Liu Hao immediately went up to meet him and reached out to help Qiao Yu steady the bike and then asked, "So... is there really a result?"

"Yes, but I can’t guarantee its accuracy yet. First, take a look at these two charts." Qiao Yu took out two printed charts from his bag and handed them to Liu Hao.

Chen Zhuoyang’s preparation of a color printer for Qiao Yu was indeed very useful.

Liu Hao quickly scanned them and was a bit confused.

"What analysis software did these results come from? And what’s the meaning of this highlight?"

"Hehe, that’s classified. I mentioned earlier that I used a very interesting new method. As for the first 2D chart, the brighter the color, the denser the effective points in that area."

"Uh..."

"It’s okay, Brother Liu, you don’t need to fully understand these charts. If you trust me, just follow my instructions in the lab today, and then we’ll talk after we see the results."

"Of course I trust you. Don’t worry, I’ve already told everyone to stop and wait for you."

With that one sentence, the level of trust soared. But actually, there’s no choice; the current situation is quite clear that their luck isn’t that good after all.

Recently, there hasn’t been any breakthrough progress. At least they haven’t found a stable direction for optimization yet.

Of course, if the mindset weren’t so impatient, the current situation is actually not bad.

In about half a month, they’ve tried out many wrong methods. By slowly using the process of elimination like this, they’re sure to find a correct way.

It’s just a matter of not knowing how long it will take. Research into new materials often involves continuously trying and erring and then waiting for a miracle to appear, before figuring out how to make the miracle stable and reproducible.

Especially in complex systems for developing functional materials, this trial-and-error nature is even more pronounced.

Even if a miracle occurs, making that miracle stable and reproducible is difficult for as long as the nonlinear relationships between variables remain entirely understood; an occasional nice set of data can even cause more distress for lab hands.

But for Qiao Yu, none of these is a problem. It’s not just about this project anymore.

If this method really works, then Qiao Yu’s next thought is how to make money... uh, no, it should be about how to benefit the major research groups in Huaxia!

Thus, Qiao Yu is now not only the math advisor for this research team, but in a sense, Liu Hao’s group is also like his experiment group; from this perspective, they’re already in a collaborative relationship.