"I just don't see him turning up in a stretch limo with four over-endowed women and waving his cheque in the air. It's not his style," Jeremy Gray, a math historian at the University of Oxford, was quoted as saying.
Three years ago, Perelman published several papers online explaining his idea for proving the conjecture, but after giving lectures at MIT and several other schools he returned to Russia, where he's remained silent since. Now, mathematicians in the U. S. and other countries have finally finished going over his work and have produced several papers, totaling 1000 pages that give step-by-step, complete proofs of the conjecture.
3. In addition to winning some or all of the $1 million Millennium Prize, Perelman now seems to be the forerunner for the Fields Medal at the International Mathematical Union. The Fields Prize is the mathematical analogue of the Nobel Prize, conferred once in four years at the international mathematics congress.
The prize is to be awarded next week, but it remains unclear whether Perelman will actually show up to receive it in person. Some of Perelman's colleagues, however, have criticized his disinterest in cash prizes, saying that due to the poor state of the Math Institute building in St. Petersburg, the latter could certainly use some funding for repairs and restoration.
(from The Moscow News 2006 / №34)
STRUCTURE STUDY
I. Entitle each part of the text.
II. Choose out the key-words which may help you to retell the text.
WORD STUDY (VOCABULARY)
I. Translate the words marked in the text (select a particular meaning a word has in the text) and learn them by heart.
II. As you read the text work out what the following words and phrases mean in it:
1. general consensus
a) public opinion b) mutually-beneficial compromise
2. to plague the mind
a) to worry about b) to be interesting for
3. whereabouts
a) the place of residence b) address
4. step-by-step proof
a) a trial investigation b) a detailed analysis
5. to remain silent
a) to keep silence b) to avoid comments
6. a private man
a) a lonely person b) a serf
COMPREHENSION STUDY
I. Finish the sentences so that they suit the contents of the text:
1. The $1milion prize for the proof of the Poincaré Conjecture is given by …
2. The Fields Prize is awarded at …
3. Grigory Perelman presented his view on proving the most complicated math problem in the world in …
II. Find out if the statements are true, false or there is no such information in the text:
1. Grigory Perelman is unemployed since the spring of 2003 in Russia.
2. Grigory Perelman is about to accept the prize of one of the private maths research institute to sponsor restoration of the Steclov Mathematics Institute.
3. Grigory Perelman refused to take The Fields Medal at the International Mathematical Union.
CREATIVE RESEARCH ACTIVITY
Consult the computer search systems and find information about:
The Clay Mathematics Institute
The European Mathematical Society
The Fields Prize of the International Mathematical Union.
Критерии оценивания результатов вводного тестирования:
STRUCTURE STUDY
I. Оценивается от 3 до 5 баллов в зависимости от объема и качества выполнения задания.
II. Оценивается от 3 до 5 баллов в зависимости от объема и качества выполнения задания.
WORD STUDY (VOCABULARY)
I. Оценивается от 3 до 5 баллов в зависимости от объема и качества выполнения задания.
II. Каждый правильный ответ оценивается 1 баллом.
COMPREHENSION STUDY
I. Каждый правильный ответ оценивается 1 баллом.
II. Каждый правильный ответ оценивается 1 баллом.
CREATIVE RESEARCH ACTIVITY
Оценивается от 3 до 5 баллов в зависимости от объема выполнения задания.
Шкала оценивания результатов вводного тестирования:
От 0 до 9 баллов - «неудовлетворительно».
От 10 до 16 баллов - «удовлетворительно».
От 17 до 24 баллов - «хорошо».
От 25 до 32 баллов - «отлично».
Примерный вариант текста и заданий для самостоятельной работы
The 1st year of studies, the 1st term
A Step Away from Ideal
(by Michail Kazartsev)
1. All the indications are that the era of traditional silicon computers is coming to a close. A discovery made by scientists at the Weizmann Institute could turn around the high-tech market.
Israeli researchers under Professor Ehud Shapiro of the Weizmann Institute built a computer with DNA molecules. An article in the Science journal minutely describes this miracle of scientific thought. According to the scientists, the computer of one trillion molecules will be able to perform one billion operations per second with a 99.8 percent accuracy.
This claim is not at all groundless. One cubic centimeter of DNA can contain more information than a trillion CDs. Moreover, DNA-computers use very little energy. And although Israeli scientists are not the only ones to experiment with DNA technologies, they argue that their system is the first programmable computing machine where the entire data I/O and software/ hardware is built on bio-molecules.
2. Research in DNA computer technology began when scientists saw a striking similarity between the way a DNA works and the way an ideal computing machine — the so-called Turing machine — could be organized. In 1994, Professor Leonard Adelman of South California University first used test-tube DNA to solve a mathematical problem. Already at the time he said that it was far more convenient to work with DNA computers than with the usual kind. They have capacity to store vast amounts of information. The density of data storage on such machines is approximately 100,000 times higher than on a regular hard disk.
The NanoComputer — which is what the creators called their machine — consists of DNA molecules and molecules of enzymes, or DNA analyzing substances. Ehud Shapiro maintains that the new computer can work entirely on its own. This miniature electronic computing machine does not need a human. "Thus far," he says, "the NanoComputer can only process synthesized DNA. But it will soon graduate to real molecules. "
3. Contrary to claims by Microsoft specialists, an ordinary computer is unable to perform several tasks simultaneously.
It performs them consecutively — true, very fast, so fast in fact that users are unaware of the defect. If a defect it is. The NanoComputer is free from any such shortfall. DNA molecules work "as a team," and this is why the new machine is "polyphonic," so to speak, being able to perform several tasks at once.
4. According to Professor Shapiro, "the Turing machine should process information and store it in the form of a chain of symbols. Just as a live DNA does."
So far the Israelis have created just one of possible Turing machine versions. Designed at the Weizmann Institute, the NanoComputer operates with only two symbols, the way ordinary computers operate with the notions of "logical 0" and "logical 1." Thus far the system is too elementary to perform any specific tasks. But it can serve as a platform for DNA computers of the future that will be able to work directly in a human cell, identifying potential diseases and curing them. It may still be a long way from Ehud Shapiro's discovery to the shining pinnacles of the future. But the first step has already been made.
(from The Moscow News 2006 / №30)
I VARIANT
STRUCTURE STUDY
I. Find the following information in the parts of the text:
a) To begin the construction of a DNA-based computer, researchers had to discover that DNA-molecule works as an ideal computing machine.
b) One of the possible ways of using the NanoComputer is medicine.
c) The NanoComputer tends to obtain an absolute level of accuracy in operation.
d) A traditional silicon computer fails to fulfill several tasks simalteniously.
e) The researchers have been working to solve a problem of constructing a DNA - based computer already for 15 years.
WORD STUDY (VOCABULARY)
I. Change the underlined words with the synonyms from the right column:
1. The hardware of an ordinary silicon computer operates with the notions of "logical 0" and "logical 1". 2. The NanoComputer excludes the possibility of failure in solving mathematical problems accurately. 3. A perfect computing machine is that one which a person cannot differ from a human while communicating with it. 4. A live DNA organizes its contents as a consequence of signs. 5. Up to now researchers may use only artificially created bio-molecules in computer technologies. | a) a chain of symbols b) shortfall c) synthesized d) a Turing-machine e) a regular hard disk |
COMPREHENSION STUDY
I. Choose the most suitable translation for the sentences paying attention to the usage of modal verbs:
1. A discovery made by scientists at the Weizmann Institute could turn around the high-tech market.
a) Открытие, сделанное учеными Вейсмановского института, могло бы перевернуть весь рынок высоких технологий.
b) Открытие, сделанное учеными Вейсмановского института, возможно кардинально изменит весь рынок высоких технологий.
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