HomeProgramsCamp EuclidProgram Description

Camp Euclid - A Mathematics Research Camp

Difficulty Level: U N K N O W N

Meet and Collaborate Online

Camp Euclid is a mind-tingling mathematics research program for middle school and high school students. Participants will encounter solution-defying math problems (which have never been solved before). Mull over and grapple with tantalizingly difficult math problems within a circle of fellow researchers . . . .

Program Description

Eligibility Requirements

You must be a middle school or high school student, 13 - 18-years-old, to participate.

Groups

You will be assigned to a small group of other participants during the application process. Mentors will help group members to work together.

(A mentor is a cross between a peer counselor and a tutor.)

Friends

Friends may request to be assigned to the same group during the application process.

About the Mentors

Camp Euclid mentors are undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate mathematicians - all actively engaged in research.

Fact:

Euclid Lab has run Camp Euclid since the summer of 2010.

Location and Technical Requirements

Camp Euclid is a "distance" program which utilizes a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment).

You may participate from virtually anywhere! See below for information on the technical requirements.

Time Commitment and Weekly Schedule

Camp Euclid is 6-weeks-long, with 4 hours per week of regularly scheduled meetings, plus 6+ hours per week of independent work (thinking :)), writing and informal collaboration. The upcoming camp, Camp Euclid, Summer 2013, will be held Jun. 24 - Aug. 2. See below for details on the weekly schedule.

Activities

You will investigate unsolved problems in mathematics.

As a group, you will choose a few initial research topics during the first week of camp. Afterwards, your topics may evolve as your research progresses . . . .

You will

make conjectures and try to prove them;
alter your conjectures and try to prove those;
explore examples;
try to construct counter-examples;
try to prove special cases;
try to prove more general cases; and
exercise your analytical skills, communication and writing skills, concentration, acuity, intuition and creativity.

In the process, you will gain practical experience with constructing mathematical proofs while exploring/creating the topics which arise.

Visit U N S O L V E D :, our blog about unsolved problems in mathematics, for some examples of research topics; but the possibilities are endless!

Click here for some tips on doing mathematics research.

The Weekly Seminar

Your group will meet with a senior mentor, 1 1/3 hours per week, in the virtual seminar room - a time to present ideas and to brainstorm and explore ideas with others . . . .

The Common Room

You can also meet with fellow participants (besides those in your local area) in the virtual common room.

The Weekly Common Room Meetings

You will "talk math" with your group and a mentor, 2 2/3 hours per week, in the common room.

Your Research Journal

You will keep a personal journal of your work (problems, questions, ideas, guesses, examples, mathematical soliloquies, what you'd like to be able to show, sketches of proofs, etc.).

The Camp Blog

You will share your mathematical musings on the camp blog.

The Camp Wiki

You will summarize progress, explain ideas and pose questions on the camp wiki.

The Final Seminar Meeting

You will give (individually or with fellow participants) a final presentation on a mathematical topic of your choice - perhaps a question you have have been pondering, or a discovery you have made . . . .

Participant Testimonials

Click here to learn how past participants describe Camp Euclid.

Technical Requirements and Details

You will need a broadband-connected computer with a web cam and a headset microphone to log in to the online meeting rooms.

Our online meeting rooms are very user-friendly.

If you would like to try out an online meeting room, visit our virtual office during office hours.

What is an online meeting/"virtual" room like?

Attendees may

chat via a chat "pod", microphones and web cams;
upload/download files to share;
leave notes on a note "pod";
view/annotate documents collaboratively; and
brainstorm on a virtually unlimited number of collaborative whiteboards.

Camp Euclid, Summer 2013 Details

Dates

Jun. 24 - Aug. 2

Weekly Camp Schedule

The weekly camp schedule (the times for the weekly seminar and common room meetings) for your group will be determined (given prospective participants' and mentors' schedules) and announced during the application process.

Tuition

$1200

Grants

**We are committed to making Camp Euclid affordable for all students.**

Every student accepted to Camp Euclid may apply for financial aid (need-based and non-need-based tuition waivers).

NB We have a significant amount of financial aid available this summer!

How to Apply

(It's quick and easy.)

Click here for details on how to apply.

Important Dates

Weekly camp schedule determined and announced: Jun. 10

First day of camp: Jun. 24

Last day of camp: Aug. 2

It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. - C. F. Gauss

Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all. - Hypatia

"Camp Euclid definitely pushed me forward to become a more diligent, sophisticated, and hardworking student. Instead of being limited to the many math exercises provided in school, it provided me with an opportunity to confront a new level of challenges. It helped me to pursue new opportunities, when my educational opportunities were limited because of transportation and financial factors. Although it was very demanding to manage my online meeting time with other academic commitments, I was able to promptly deliver presentations and made some progress on an unsolved problem. In addition, it helped me to see the beauty of mathematics. While I assumed many of the solutions have been found for existing problems, it was amazing to see how there are so many unsolved problems, and it truly inspired me to improve my math skills to partially contribute to the processes of finding the answers for them." - GiHun Choi, Camp Euclid, Fall 2011

Du Zhang

"Camp Euclid was my first time doing math research. It completely changed my perspective of math and taught me the basic principles of math research: patience, experiment and conjecture. The problems we worked on are fun, mind blowing but understandable. More importantly, I got to meet motivated math students from all over the nation. It's been half a year and I still keep in touch with a number of them." - Du Zhang, Camp Euclid, Fall 2011

"As far as I remember, I have always liked math. For me, the gush of satisfaction when I did well on standardized tests, solving a difficult problem, was the sweetest treat that made me forget all the hard brain-struggles. But this mere interest wavered if I didn't achieve well enough on tests. However, Camp Euclid presented me with a series of difficult questions that, not only us, but so many ingenious mathematicians have pondered upon. I wrote out many ideas and casted many experiments that seemed to be leading nowhere. But when I finally found the patterns and shared each of our discoveries with my teammates, putting the puzzle pieces together of this great enigma, I could feel the true joy of mathematics. Unlike what school has always taught me: Find the Answer, I learned how to appreciate the joy of this pattern-finding, the ability to connect some problems that might seem totally (crazily!) different, and the power of cooperation (as they say, 'more' brains are better than one) that led to a great many discoveries. It was well above worth it." - Jiyoun Jennifer Ha, Camp Euclid, Summer 2011

"More than just learning and discussing math, Camp Euclid shows students what real mathematical research is like. It encourages students to delve into topics far beyond high school depth. The camp introduces students to worlds they never knew existed." - Brian Liou, Camp Euclid, Spring 2011