Railing Codex

质数是间谍：首先是2，最后是1907。一通计算过后，意大利量子物理学家的小说暂时停留在了8.0分。扭转的两个0，光滑像平面，与无穷垂直，读之，嘴唇面临一种爆破——b，2，乘以2，2的三次方。敌人无处遁形，敌人简单易懂。
每一部加密机器的背后都是无穷大无穷多的质数。它们除去（÷）自己一无所有，因此难以破解，从而所向披靡。质数与质数的关系被称作互质，是说了也等于没说的套套逻辑，却话里有话：质数只有敌人。仰赖质数为谜底的一切现代密码都是战争机器。
但偏偏是物理学家认为，质数如此孤独且委屈。密码被爆破，质数一丝不挂，却仍旧是纯粹数学的一大谜团：敌人与敌人能够相隔多远？他们坚信，存在一种固定的距离，可以把敌人标记为孪生的亲人。他们也因此没有忘记，在坐标系的两端，数学的语言和语言的语言面面相觑。
语言的语言提问：一无所有 ≠ 0，≠1，= 2 × 2，且2 ≠ 2。求：2和2。
那一年，欧洲之星倒行在漆黑的隧道，我腹背受敌，一面是质数的难题，一面是语言的。物理学家的书我买了两本，一本在纽约，一本在北京。某天之后，除了那个密码之外的一切都豁然开朗了，我再也没翻开过那本书 1。

Prime numbers are spies: the first is 2, the last is 1907. Once all the calculations are in, the Italian quantum physicist’s novel stops at 8.0 for now. Two twisted zeroes smooth as planes, perpendicular to infinity. Reading this, one’s lips confront a kind of obliteration: b, 2, multiplied by 2, 2 cubed. The enemy has nowhere to hide, the enemy is easy to understand.
 
Behind every encryption machine lurks an infinite multitude of infinitely large prime numbers. Nothing other than themselves can divide (÷) them apart, making them difficult to decrypt, even invincible. Two primes make a coprime, a tautological statement with an overtone: prime numbers have only enemies. Every modern cipher that relies on prime numbers for encryption is a war machine.
 
But physicists are the very same people who believe prime numbers are steeped in solitude and grievances. When the cipher is broken and prime numbers are left stark naked, they remain a major mystery of pure mathematics: how much distance can you put between enemies? They are adamant that there exists a fixed distance whereby the mark of the enemy becomes a twinned kin. As such, they never forget that on either end of the coordinate system are the language of math and the language of language, staring at each other in dismay.
 
The language of language proposes: To have nothing at all ≠ 0, ≠1, = 2 × 2, thus 2 ≠ 2. Find: 2 and 2.
 
That year, as the Eurostar went retrograde through the pitch-black tunnels, I was attacked by enemies from both sides, the conundrum of prime numbers on one side, language on the other. I’d bought two copies of the physicist’s book, one in New York, one in Beijing. A few days later, I was suddenly enlightened about everything apart from the cipher. I never opened that book again. 1

保罗·乔尔达诺，《质数的孤独》。在小说中，“孪生质数”这个数学概念被赋予了一种情感的因子。相差为2的“相邻”质数对，即(p, p+2)，被认为是一对孪生质数，例如3和5，5和7。但随着数字增大，孪生质数也越来越少见，“孤独而失落”。是否存在无穷多对孪生质数？这是数论领域的一个百年未解的难题——孪生质数猜想。

Paolo Giordano’s The Solitude of Prime Numbers. In the novel, the mathematical concept of “twin primes” is given an emotional factor. Pairs of “neighboring” prime numbers that differ by 2, namely (p, p+2), are considered twin primes, such as 3 and 5, 5 and 7. But as numbers grow larger, twin primes become more and more uncommon, “lonely and lost.” Are there infinite pairs of twin primes? This is a puzzle that has remained unresolved in number theory for over a hundred years—the twin prime conjecture