mathcamp intent

[mathemonster]

Is mathcamp more about contest math or about learning difficult math?

[Darmani]

If all you want to do is do contest math all day, go to AwesomeMath.

Mathcamp will give you a deep understanding in topics you've never heard of. The classes are in areas you might not see again until your graduate years (though, because of the 1-week timeframe, they're often very specific).

Of course, we certainly do do contest math at Mathcamp, but it's not the main focus (though you can make it your main focus if you really want). Every week there are problem-solving classes (usually two -- one "intro class," which last year was taught by a different visitor every week and ranged in difficulty from Mathcounts to USAMO with them), and an advanced problem class). Every Wednesday there's Team Problem Solving, where teams of about 8 people (the same team every week -- scores are cumulative) are given 2 hours to collaborate on a USAMO-style test. Finally, every Saturday there are Relays, where teams work on two questions at a time to compete for a bag of candy. Relays can get quite wacky -- questions usually just ask you to find some number like an ARML individual round, but other times they might ask your team to stand with 3 feet total on the ground, or play a game blindfolded. The last Relay included a competition to make up the best rap on a mathematical topic for bonus points (Laura Zehender has a video of this on Facebook). One Relay was done in the swimming pool area, where a team member had to swim across to turn in an answer.

[LadyKn1ght]

The video mentioned above is here: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=73908337943

[calc rulz]

I really would say that in general, the answer to your question is "about learning difficult math." (Or I might replace it with "abstract" or "advanced.")

[mathemonster]

then i think I will definately attend because i don't like contest math very much and am not very good at it
will people look down on me if im not good at it? (right now i cud prb get 7 on the AIME)
As for the video no offense but i could freestyle ALOT better than that, i'd post link to some vids but real names scare me im PROMYS this summer but maybe ill do mathcamp next summer if I get in

[Darmani]

Last year I got a 4 on the AIME, and I did not feel "looked down on" at all.

[solafidefarms]

I believe some people last year did not make AIME. I know at least one of this years' campers did not make AIME. And no, we don't really care. It's not something that comes up much.

[benzi455]

Personally, if someone can't get at least a 12 or 13 on the AIME, I don't find it worth trying to have an intelligent conversation with them. Math ability is a good indicator of intelligence; and besides, the best mathematicians are usually the ones who do contests in high school.

[Zeph]

12 or 13 on the AIME? Why aim so low!? I personally refuse to talk to anyone in real life who isn't either a member of my immediate family or a perfect scorer on the IMO.

Click to reveal hidden content

To be honest, when I first saw benzi's post the only reason I took it for sarcasm was because it was kinda outlandish; hence, I made it even worse to emphasize that we are, in fact, being sarcastic. And then I made this hidden message because I realize that sarcasm can be hard to detect on the internet sometimes <_< (and actually in real life, apparently. Only my group of friends can recognize when I'm being sarcastic; random people I talk to think I'm being serious usually)

[solafidefarms]

I too am curious to know if Benzi's post was sarcastic.

[Zeph]

I'm fairly sure it is.

[perfect628]

Hmm is associating AIME score with math ability also sarcastic?

[LadyKn1ght]

I sure hope so .

(And I'm one of those people who's pretty oblivious to sarcasm. Once I actually thought my friend was deaf because of that...heh . but I was able to catch on with Zeph's post, at least.)

[benzi455]

Lol. Thank you for your help, Zeph.

[mathemonster]

[quote="benzi455"] Third, mathematicians are often not the ones who do contests in high school. [quote]
Is that really true? *cough Terence Tao
while I kno wjust b/c one mathematician did well on contests that is not the rule i am interested to know if most top mathematicians did math contests in HS

[ycz9000]

I think he's saying that while there is a correlation between contest skill and higher-level math success, it's not as prominent as some people make it out to be. I'd say it also depends on the contest; for instance, the ARML Power Round is probably a better indicator than Mathcounts Countdown.