MathILy (serious mathematics infused with levity)

MathILy is an intensive 5-week-long residential summer math program for high school students. In 2015, it will be held at Bryn Mawr College. The number of students at the camp is 30–40.

The math instruction is interactive and inquiry-based. Math class meets for about 7 hours a day total, in a morning and evening shift, six days a week. The instructor is a mathematician with a Ph.D and the apprentice instructors are graduate or undergraduate math students. The math content covered is undergraduate- and graduate-level.

The cost is $4600, with financial aid available.

MathILy History

MathILy was founded in 2013 by dr. sarah-marie belcastro. The program took place at Bryn Mawr College in both 2013 and 2014, and grew from 17 attendees the first year to 26 attendees the second.

Application Process

Here's what the MathILy application process looks like:

• Start by filling out the Short Form, so we know you're interested in us!
• Next comes the Exam Assessing Readiness, hereafter referred to as the EAR. The EAR is generally released early in the year the program takes place. We'll send you a copy once you've sent us a short form – at least, assuming that it's ready at the time you send your short form.
• You should also fill out a Not-as-short form, components of which are: biographical information, academic information, and more information about you, including a short essay about why you want to attend MathILy.
• In order to complete your MathILy application, we'll also need a recommendation letter from a teacher who can speak to your mathematical preparedness.

Admission to MathILy is determined by a combination of student performance on the Exam Assessing Readiness (hereafter referred to as the EAR), a teacher recommendation, and the information gathered on the Not-as-Short form.

Course Structure

Class meets for about 7 hours per day, in two shifts (morning and evening), 6 days per week. Each class has a Lead Instructor who is a mathematician with a Ph.D. and one or two Apprentice Instructors who are graduate or undergraduate mathematics students. The weeks break down into a 2-1-2 schedule: We start with two weeks of Root Class, which consists of a gallimaufry and melange of mathematics that gives all students a base on which to grow. (Topics for Root Class will certainly include combinatorics, graph theory, affine geometry, and theoretical linear algebra, and are likely to include some proof techniques, number theory, probability, group theory, and cardinality.) This is followed by Week of Chaos, in which there are many many short classes with topics suggested by students and instructors alike. The denouement of the program offers more advanced Branch Classes in the final two weeks. (For 2015, the Branch Class topics are likely to include topological graph theory and the mathematics of paperfolding.)

Each class is taught in an entirely interactive way, with students discovering mathematics and leading the way in sharing conjectures and providing proofs. Classes include independent and collaborative problem solving as well as lots of laughter; in this way, students learn creative and rigorous mathematical thinking and writing.

External Links

• Check out the MathILy website!
• Mathematical Staircase, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that runs MathILy.