After chatting for a while about Olympiad math, the reporter took out a pre-prepared elementary school Olympiad math problem and asked this mathematician to give it a try. "Surprise!" Upon hearing that the reporter wanted him to solve the problem on the spot, he burst into laughter and showed no intention of refusing.
"The problem is like this: 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 4, 3, 4, 5, 4, 5, 6... The question is: what is the sum of the first 500 numbers?" After listening to the problem roughly, Okounkov revealed a relaxed smile, "Oh, it's very simple." The reporter handed him the problem and gave him a piece of scratch paper. Puckering his lips, he read the problem carefully several times with his head down but didn't pick up the pen for a long time. After waiting for a few minutes, the reporter still didn't see him come up with an answer. Just as the reporter was puzzled, Okounkov chuckled somewhat sheepishly, "Hehe, can I not do this problem? I feel that my thoughts are a bit disorganized right now..."