A Day at Mathcamp

It's a bright 'n early morning in Vancouver as you get ready for another day at Mathcamp. Today, mentor Dave's Number Theory track class is at 9am, but tomorrow it will be in the afternoon. Your roommate in the college dorm room has decided to do the Algebra track, so she won't be getting up until it's time for the colloquium at 10. Those at breakfast this morning are a little bleary-eyed because the hiking trip came back late yesterday, but you had decided to go with the people who went downtown to check out the science museum.

After an hour of Number Theory, going over the problems Dave had given last week, it's time for the colloquium on "Folding Polygons into Polyhedra" with Professor Anna Lubiw. She's handing out cardboard, scissors, and tape, trying to see how many ways one can make a 3-D figure by folding and taping together the sides of hexagons and stranger-looking figures. Later in the week, she'll be showing how one can cut out any given polygonal figure on a sheet of paper with only one cut (and lots and lots of folds). Still, she gives food for thought right now, for sometimes there's more than one solid that can be made with the same sheet of paper -- even when you keep the same sides taped together!

Time for lunch, which can be hectic; it's a time to pick the brains of the mentors and J.C.s (junior counselors) about stuff going on in the classes, what college is like, or perhaps what movie is going to be shown tonight (Jackie Chan or James Bond?). You don't need to hurry, because you don't have a class to go to at 1:30pm. Some Mathcampers overdo it, trying to go to a class every single period, but it can be tiring for a lot of people (even the mentors!) So you'll use the time enjoying the nice day on campus, and perhaps you'll find some blackberry bushes after you check out the UBC Student Center.

Now it's time for problem sessions, so you go to the room where Dave is working with people on their latest Number Theory proofs. Since the only kind of math you've had before is the kind usually found in schools - Algebra and Geometry - Number Theory is a good place to get used to the kind of abstraction that is used in "real" math.

Next you'll be going to "Adding Things Up" where mentor Julian will show you how to figure out formulas for things like adding up the first 15 perfect squares. You had wanted to go to mentor Evelyne's "Epsilons and Deltas", but you've already learned the difficulty in having to choose -- with 3 to 4 different classes offered during the same period, there's bound to be conflict in interests (even with Mathcamp's Committee for a Conflict-Free Schedule throwing everything, even quantum computers and fractional graph theory, at the problem!)

One more class to go, so you'll go to mentor Meep's last class in the series on "Proofs and Reasoning", in which you've gone over basic symbolic logic ("or" doesn't mean what you think it means! False implies true is true!), proof by contradiction, proof by induction, and other tools that all mathematicians should have in their utility belts.

It's time for dinner, but perhaps a quick game of ultimate outside the dorm before braving the cafeteria lines. There's so many things one could do tonight! There's a Jackie Chan video that some of the campers have rented, the inevitable games of Monopoly, Scrabble, chess, and any number of card games, a Canada vs. U.S. soccer game (with some becoming honorary (or, as some will loudly insist - honoUrary!) Canadians to fill up their ranks), working on team problem sheets (but they're not due until the end of the week), or just hanging out around the lounge, talking with the other campers and staff. Later in the camp, as it becomes more obvious time is running out, extra classes will be scheduled in the evening; one night people present solutions to the problems on the application quiz, and some nights campers give lectures on their favorite topics. In any case, you've scheduled in FUN with Ari tonight; you hear he's going to teach you the power of the "Schwartz".

Time goes so fast, you're shocked back into reality when the J.C.s tell everyone curfew is in 15 minutes. Time to pick the Monopoly hotels off the floor and get ready to go to sleep.

This was a hypothetical day at Mathcamp, actually composed of activities and classes on Tuesday, July 18, 2000 in the second week of camp. Classes are rated on a "star system", according to pace and difficulty. One-star classes have little or no prerequisites and proceed at a mellow pace; with four-star classes, the sky is the limit! Our hypothetical student was sticking to one-star and two-star classes; you can look up the entire schedule for that day to see what the more advanced options were.

The Mathcamp schedule is set by faculty and mentors at the camp; some classes ("tracks") last all camp, most will last from one or two sessions to a couple weeks. Though not mentioned in the schedule above, problem-solving classes are numerous and range from fairly accessible to International Math Olympiad-type toughness. Class days are Tuesday through Saturday (though usually Saturday afternoon is given to Math Relays, a very informal type of competition), and there's usually planned field trips on Mondays, though there have been some in the evenings as well. Some of these field trips in the past years have included: hiking trips, trips to amusement parks, rock-climbing expeditions, canoeing, a trip to Microsoft Research, going to see Symphonies of Fire fireworks displays, attending baseball games, and much more.

There's many non-academic activities planned by the students themselves. We've had Scrabble, bridge, spades, and chess tournaments; The level of activity outside of classes can be positively frenzied, especially as the last days of camp arrive -- time to hand out t-shirts and sign yearbooks, time for the 24-hour Mathcamp fest which is kicked off by a talent show, time for the mentors to strut their stuff with "30 proofs in 30 minutes" (though last year we actually did 40 proofs), time for those last good-byes as the campers are shepherded off to the airport.

Mathcamp is an total experience - academically, socially, emotionally. This is a chance for students to interact with their intellectual peers and glory in their love of math and mental pursuits as a whole. The Mathcamp experience can extend beyond camp - friends made and ideas started can be renewed when former Mathcampers come back as Junior Counselors, or by keeping up with Mathcamp e-mail lists.

For a listing of Mathcamp 2002 staff, and for past schedules and descriptions of classes, check out The Mathcamp Academic Program.