Canada/USA Mathcamp is a five-week academic summer program for middle and high school students in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

. Mathcamp was founded in 1993 by Dr. George Thomas, who believed that students interested in mathematics frequently lacked the resources and camaraderie to pursue their interest. Mira Bernstein became the director when Thomas left in 2002 to found MathPath, a program for younger students. Mathcamp is held each year at a college campus in the United States or Canada. Past locations have included the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, Colorado College, Reed College,

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound (UPS or Puget Sound) is a private university in Tacoma, Washington. The university draws approximately 2,600 students from 44 states and 16 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 traditional an ...

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the city where it resides. The donations of Christian philanthr ...

, the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

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. ...

, and the Colorado School of Mines. Mathcamp enrolls about 120 students yearly, 45-55 returning and 65-75 new. The application process for new students includes an entrance exam (the "Qualifying Quiz"), personal essay, and two letters of recommendation, but no grade reports. The process is intended to ensure that the students who are most passionate about math come to camp. Admission is selective: in 2016, the acceptance rate was 15%. Mathcamp courses cover various branches of recreational and college-level mathematics. Classes at Mathcamp come in four difficulty levels. The easier classes often include basic proof techniques,

number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777� ...

graph theory In mathematics, graph theory is the study of ''graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of '' vertices'' (also called ''nodes'' or ''points'') which are conne ...

, and combinatorial game theory, while the more difficult classes cover advanced topics in

abstract algebra In mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures. Algebraic structures include groups, rings, fields, modules, vector spaces, lattices, and algebras over a field. The term ''a ...

topology In mathematics, topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformations, such ...

theoretical computer science Theoretical computer science (TCS) is a subset of general computer science and mathematics that focuses on mathematical aspects of computer science such as the theory of computation, lambda calculus, and type theory. It is difficult to circumsc ...

category theory Category theory is a general theory of mathematical structures and their relations that was introduced by Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders Mac Lane in the middle of the 20th century in their foundational work on algebraic topology. Nowadays, cate ...

, and

mathematical analysis Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series (m ...

. There are generally four class periods each day and five classes offered during each period intended for varying student interests and backgrounds.

Graduate student Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

mentors teach most of the classes, while

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

junior counselors, all of them Mathcamp alumni, do most of the behind-the-scenes work. Mathcamp has had a number of renowned guest speakers, including

John 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 o ...

, Avi Wigderson, and

Serge Lang Serge Lang (; May 19, 1927 – September 12, 2005) was a French-American mathematician and activist who taught at Yale University for most of his career. He is known for his work in number theory and for his mathematics textbooks, including the i ...

Culture

In 2004, some campers created Foodtongue, a

constructed language A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction. ...

in which every word is a word that means a

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

. One of the cardinal rules of the language is an agreed ban of direct translation. Foodtongue remains popular among campers, and was compiled into an online

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...

, updated and referenced by speakers of the language.

Notable alumni

Scott Aaronson Scott Joel Aaronson (born May 21, 1981) is an American theoretical computer scientist and David J. Bruton Jr. Centennial Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin. His primary areas of research are quantum computing an ...

, American theoretical computer scientist * Jennifer Balakrishnan, mathematician *

Sam Bankman-Fried Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried (born March 6, 1992), also known by the initialism SBF, is an American suspected fraudster, entrepreneur, investor, and former billionaire. Bankman-Fried was the founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX ...

, founder and former CEO of

FTX FTX Trading Ltd., commonly known as FTX (short for "Futures Exchange") is a bankrupt company that formerly operated a cryptocurrency exchange and crypto hedge fund. The exchange was founded in 2019 and, at its peak in July 2021, had over one mi ...

* Greg Brockman, co-founder and CTO of OpenAI * Tamara Broderick, computer scientist *

Ivan Corwin Ivan Zachary Corwin (born May 24, 1984) is a professor of mathematics at Columbia University. Research His research concerns probability, mathematical physics, quantum integrable systems, stochastic PDEs, and random matrix theory. He is particu ...

, mathematician *

Sherry Gong Sherry Gong is an American mathematician specializing in low-dimensional topology and known as one of the most successful female competitors at the International Mathematical Olympiad. She is an assistant professor at Texas A&M University. Early ...

, mathematician * Shotaro Makisumi, mathematician and

speedcuber Speedcubing (also known as speedsolving, or cubing) is a competitive sport involving solving a variety of combination puzzles, the most famous being the 3x3x3 puzzle or Rubik's Cube, as quickly as possible. An individual who practices solving tw ...

* Palmer Mebane, former World Puzzle Championship winner * Mike Shulman, mathematician *

Sam Trabucco John Samuel "Sam" Trabucco is an American business executive. He was co-CEO of Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, along with Caroline Ellison until August 2022 when he stepped down from the role of CEO. Acc ...

, former co-CEO of Alameda Research and a

The New York Times crossword puzzle ''The New York Times'' crossword puzzle is a daily crossword puzzle published in ''The New York Times'', online on the newspaper's website, syndicated to more than 300 other newspapers and journals, and on mobile apps. The puzzle is created by ...

constructor

References

* * * *

External links

*
Art of Problem Solving Mathcamp Forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canada USA Mathcamp Mathematics summer camps Summer camps in Canada Summer camps in the United States

Culture

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links