Chapter 5: Strict Rules, Kung Fu Perfected

The sophomore exam questions were for the 78th-grade students; back then, Ha Gong Da's admission score line was only 350 points. After all, the students of the new three cohorts lived in a special era, they hadn't studied well from childhood, their knowledge reserves were limited, which led to them finding university studies rather difficult, and the exam papers set by Ha Gong Da were……relatively hard.

Of course, this score line was still quite high; the undergraduate admission score line back then was only 198 points! After the new three cohorts passed, the examinees' level obviously improved, everyone's scores rose together, which amounted to raising the admission line; by the mid-1980s, the line shot up to over five hundred points.

The materials mechanics specialty exam, full score 100 points, exam time 120 minutes; now Qin Miao actually says……he can finish it in fifteen minutes?

The meeting room fell silent, with only the sound of Qin Miao's pen tip swooshing across the exam paper!

The first problem, he used only one minute, it was practically second nature!

The second problem took one and a half minutes, swoosh swoosh swoosh, his pen danced like dragons and snakes!

The third problem……

Ten minutes later, only the last two problems remained.

Qin Miao continued writing on it, swish swish, swish swish……just as he wrote a few characters, snap!

Qin Miao put down his pen: "Forget it, I'm not doing it!"

"Kid, you did well, why aren't you doing it?"

"You just said I only needed sixty points to pass; the remaining two problems are worth exactly forty points, so I don't need to do them."

"Qin Miao, do one more, just in case there's a mistake among the earlier ones…" Zhou Ding said worriedly.

"It's fine, I won't make a mistake! Here's a fountain pen!"

Director Tao's eyes were full of praise: "Good, good, not bad! He's a talent! Just now, luckily we didn't set the questions, otherwise Old Du would surely think we'd leaked the questions in advance; Old Lu, check it over, if there's no problem, we'll take Qin Miao with us!"

Director Lu took it over with a complex expression.

Problem 1.

The cross-section of the thick-walled gun barrel is as shown in the figure; at the dangerous point, t = 550 MPa, r = -350 MPa, and the other principal stress is perpendicular to the figure and is a tensile stress of magnitude 420 MPa. Calculate the equivalent stress according to the third and fourth strength theories, respectively. (10 points)

Below is a concentric ring, with letters marked at the rifling positions.

No multiple-choice questions, no fill-in-the-blanks; it starts right off with the big questions!

Below, the writing flies like dragons and phoenixes.

The three principal stresses are……according to the third strength theory: ……according to the fourth strength theory: ……r4 = 842.6 MPa.

The process was clean and neat, the exam paper tidy, without any hesitation; this could practically serve as a model answer!

Problem 2.

The loaded overhanging beam is as shown in the figure……

The answer remains a model answer.

……

He answered the five major questions perfectly, and moreover, there were no calculation steps shown—this kid must be doing mental arithmetic; such talent……should be kept in the Mechanical Department!

Wait a moment!

Director Lu's gaze turned to the sixth problem, which had only a few characters written.

As shown in the figure, it is a workpiece pointed at both ends, hollow inside; the front profile satisfies the function equation……the rear profile satisfies the equation……the interior satisfies……Please design the machining process.

Answer: CNC machine tool machining, machining procedure……just these few characters, and nothing after!

Director Lu's expression changed instantly; he took a deep breath before stabilizing his emotions.

"Good, well answered!" Director Lu pulled out a red pen from his pocket, swish swish swish, and wrote a score in the upper right corner of the exam paper.

"57.5? Old Lu, you're being shameless! These five questions are flawless—where's the mistake?" Director Tao could no longer tolerate it and started arguing.

"These five questions are indeed correct, but for each answer process, one must write a solution and a colon beforehand; he didn't have those, so half a point is deducted per question!"

Exam points, exam points, exam points! Countless teachers in later generations, repeatedly urging, always emphasize paying attention to solution steps, solution steps!

Not listening to the teacher's words, you'll suffer the loss right before your eyes!

"Old Du, this kid's grades aren't up to standard, so don't approve him joining the Department Four project." Director Lu stood up laughing: "Qin Miao, you're hungry, right? Come on, I'll take you to Seven Stoves for a meal; their sliced meat is absolutely delicious!"

Whoosh! Zhou Ding stood up and blocked his way.

"Teacher Zhou, move aside, you don't have a secret research project, do you? Hurry up and get busy! Old Tao, why are you also coming over? Hey, why are you rolling up your sleeves? Zhou Ding, Zhou Ding, stay calm, calm down!"

"Old Lu, you're being too bullying! Our Ha Gong Da motto is 'strict rules, kung fu perfected'; I've also trained my kung fu to perfection!"

Cackle……the sound of joints being manipulated rang out.

"Hey, a gentleman uses words, not fists; our motto's kung fu isn't like yours……"

"You say it's not, so it's not? This isn't about exam points; you can't just say whatever score you want……"

"Alright, stop the fuss! You're already in your sixties, acting like a child!" Just then, a solemn voice came from outside.

An old man walked in at the doorway; he was of medium build, with a kind face, and even when criticizing people, one couldn't see much severity in him.

"President Liu? Your health isn't good, how……"

"Cough cough, I'm fine. Old Zhou, the task you've brought back this time is very important; since you've already reported it, hurry up and research, produce results as soon as possible, and hand in a satisfactory answer sheet to the motherland and the people!"

"Yes. Qin Miao, let's go!"

"President Liu, Qin Miao……"

President Liu looked kindly at Qin Miao: "Kid, you're not bad; from now on, work hard at Ha Gong Da!"

Then he glanced at Director Lu: "Old Lu, after Old Zhou's team finishes their project, if Qin Miao has any ideas, it's not too late to join your R&D team……"

"Alright, there's still over a month left in the summer vacation; Old Zhou, you'd better wrap up your project in half a month and leave Qin Miao with me for half a month! Hey, did you hear that!"

Watching Qin Miao leave, Du Yongfei looked again at the investigation report before him; it was time to write the conclusion!

He picked up a fountain pen, removed the cap, and began writing on the draft paper; wait, why can't I write? Just now Qin Miao—could it be because he had no water, so he simply didn't answer?

This kid……

Inside the stairwell.

"Teacher Zhou, what projects does the Mechanical Department have?"

"They might not have any projects; it's just that our 152mm howitzer's range is too short. In recent years, internationally, special date-shaped shells have appeared; we even helped calculate the aerodynamic parameters, and after modification, the range can be increased considerably, but the required machining precision is very high. Their Mechanical Department is researching machining techniques—this is nowhere near as important as our project……We're about to reach our project room; in a moment I'll introduce you to a few senior fellows."

Teachers who can secure a project all have their own labs, juggling teaching and research; the students they supervise are either graduate students or senior undergraduates.

Creak!

As the door was pushed open, the three men and one woman all lifted their heads, seeing Zhou Ding, they immediately got excited: "Teacher Zhou Ding, you're finally back!"

"Teacher, look, my undergraduate thesis is already written." The female student walked over, excitedly handing over a stack of paper.

In recent years during the special period, there had even appeared two-year colleges, and even one-year worker-peasant-soldier universities; but after the resumption of the college entrance examination, it became four-year. Even though this female student is from the first batch of the new three-year system, she is now at the stage of entering her fourth year; to have finished her thesis this early is not bad!

Qin Miao couldn't help but glance over as well; this topic… it's just so-so.

"Hey, what do you mean by shaking your head?" The female student became unhappy: "This thesis, I spent several months gathering materials and finally finished it, you..."

"Cough cough, senior sister, your thesis is indeed hard to write, requiring lots of materials, but... the direction of this thesis is just wrong!"

"What?"