MathPath is a mathematics enrichment summer program for students ages 11–14 (middle school age in the US). It is four weeks long, and moves to a different location each year. MathPath is visited by mathematicians such as

John H. Conway John Horton Conway (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English people, English mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to ...

and

Francis Su Francis Edward Su is an American mathematician. He joined the Harvey Mudd College faculty in 1996, and is currently Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics. Su served as president of the Mathematical Association of America from 2015–201 ...

. It was probably the original, and is still one of the few, international residential high-end summer camps exclusively for mathematics and exclusively for students of middle school age.

History

MathPath was founded in 2002 by George Rubin Thomas, who had previously founded Mathcamp for high school students and has since founded Epsiloncamp for children age 7–11 (in 2011, originally aged 8-11) and Delta Camp for children 6 and 7 (in 2014 and 2015, now merged with Epsilon Camp). His goal was to inspire and advance the most mathematically gifted middle school age students, through a summer camp.

Subjects

At MathPath, students learn about many math topics that are rarely taught in American schools, or taught in much depth, such as non-Euclidean geometry, advanced Euclidean geometry, number theory, combinatorics, induction, spherical trigonometry, mathematical origami, and the mathematics of card shuffling. They also learn some history of math and work on mathematical writing. Topics vary somewhat each year, depending on instructor interest. As well, students have the opportunity to prepare for contests such as

MATHCOUNTS Mathcounts, stylized as MATHCOUNTS, is a nationwide middle school mathematics competition held in various places in the United States. Its current lead sponsors are Raytheon Technologies and the U.S. Department of Defense STEM. Topics covered inc ...

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

, or

AIME Aime (; frp, Éma) is a former commune in the Savoie ''département'' in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Aime-la-Plagne.John Horton Conway John Horton Conway (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branches ...

Sam Vandervelde Samuel Kendrick Vandervelde (born 12 February 1971) is a mathematician who, along with Sandor Lehoczky and Richard Rusczyk, is most notable for creating the Mandelbrot Competition, and being listed first under "Thanks" in the mathematical textboo ...

, and

Glen Van Brummelen Glen Robert Van Brummelen (born May 20th, 1965) is a Canadians, Canadian historian of mathematics specializing in historical applications of mathematics to astronomy. In his words, he is the “best trigonometry historian, and the worst trigonometr ...

. Visiting staff are participants for one year or occasional years. Usually they attend for one week, or for a day or two to give a few lectures. Often they are faculty at the host institution or nearby institutions. Notable visiting mathematicians have included

Gene Abrams Gene Abrams is an American mathematician and Professor of Mathematics at University of Colorado Colorado Springs. He works in the area of Algebra, and he earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Oregon in 1981. Abrams' research inter ...

and

Robin Hartshorne __NOTOC__ Robin Cope Hartshorne ( ; born March 15, 1938) is an American mathematician who is known for his work in algebraic geometry. Career Hartshorne was a Putnam Fellow in Fall 1958 while he was an undergraduate at Harvard University (under ...

Admissions

MathPath is selective. The primary criterion for admission is the applicant's work on the yearly Qualifying Test, though academic and nonacademic references are also required.

Locations

* 2002 –

Black Hills State University Black Hills State University (BHSU) is a public university in Spearfish, South Dakota. Close to 4,000 students attend classes at its campus in Spearfish, at sites in Rapid City and Pierre, and through distance offerings. Enrollment comes from ...

, Spearfish, SD * 2003 –

, Spearfish, SD * 2004 –

Roger Williams University Roger Williams University (RWU) is a private university in Bristol, Rhode Island. Founded in 1956, it was named for theologian and Rhode Island cofounder Roger Williams (theologian), Roger Williams. The school enrolls over 5,000 students and e ...

, Bristol, RI * 2005 –

Colorado College Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...

, Colorado Springs, CO * 2006 –

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, Santa Cruz, CA * 2007 –

, Colorado Springs, CO * 2008 – The

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

* 2009 –

, Colorado Springs, CO * 2010 –

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

, St. Paul, MN * 2011 –

, Colorado Springs, CO * 2012 –

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

, South Hadley, MA * 2013 –

, St. Paul, MN * 2014 –

, South Hadley, MA * 2015 -

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & Cl ...

, Portland, OR * 2016 -

, St. Paul, MN * 2017 -

, South Hadley, MA *2018 -

, Portland, OR *2019 -

Grand Valley State University Grand Valley State University (GVSU, GV, or Grand Valley) is a public university in Allendale, Michigan. It was established in 1960 as Grand Valley State College. Its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids. The universit ...

, Allendale, MI * 2020 and 2021 - Held online due to

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

concerns.

References

* *

External links

Epsilon Camp website

MathPath website

Mathcamp USA website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathpath Mathematics summer camps Summer camps in the United States