Mathcamp has a new roadmap for the future! Read our 2025–2029 Strategic Plan.

2021 Classes

Here is an overview of our courses from this summer. You can read the class descriptions ("blurbs"), view the global schedule in a grid, or see all the classes sorted by category.

Here is the list of classes by subject:

Algebra

  • Archers at the ready!
  • Conjugation in the symmetric group
  • Dirichlet's class number formula
  • Finite fields and how to find them
  • Finite fields: the power of Frobenius
  • Galois theory crash course
  • Introduction to group theory
  • Introduction to linear algebra
  • Introduction to ring theory
  • Kleinian groups and fractals
  • Lights, camera, group actions!
  • Noncommutative ring theory (1 of 2)
  • Noncommutative ring theory (2 of 2)
  • Representations of symmetric groups
  • Symmetries of a (hyper)cube
  • The fundamental theorem of algebra and its many proofs
  • The word problem for groups
  • What are your numbers worth? or, the part of algebraic number theory we can actually do

Analysis

  • A pair of fractal curves
  • Completeness of the real numbers
  • Finite Fourier analysis
  • Functions of a complex variable (1 of 2)
  • Functions of a complex variable (2 of 2)
  • Introduction to analysis
  • Kakeya sets over finite fields
  • Multivariable calculus crash course
  • Nowhere differentiable but continuous functions are everywhere!
  • PDEs part 1: Laplace's equation
  • The calculus of variations
  • The derivative as a linear transformation
  • The inverse and implicit function theorems
  • Vitali's curse

Applied Math

  • Axiomatic music theory
  • Better sheep through modeling
  • Better sleep through modeling
  • Cryptography and how to break it
  • Introduction to auction theory
  • Introduction to quantum computing
  • Lattices that make up the world
  • Supervised machine learning: the essentials
  • The mathematics of voting
  • The pirate game
  • The quantum factorization algorithm
  • The Schwarzschild solution
  • The special theory of relativity
  • Traffic and the price of anarchy

Combinatorics

  • A combinatorial proof of ``the'' quintic formula
  • A Combinatorial Proof of the Jacobi Triple Product Identity
  • A property of $a^n$
  • Ben's favorite game theory result
  • Combinatorial species
  • Compactness in combinatorics of coloring
  • Evolution of random graphs
  • Graph colorings
  • Incidence combinatorics
  • Introduction to graph theory
  • Nonunique factorization in the Chicken McNugget monoid
  • Perfection
  • Sperner's lemma and Brouwer's fixed point theorem
  • The probabilistic method
  • There are less than $10^{39}$ Sudoku puzzles

Computer Science

  • Algorithms on your phone
  • Computability theory and finite injury
  • Learning online learning online
  • Mechanical computers
  • Sit down and (don't) solve SAT?
  • Sparsest cut

Geometry

  • Curvature lies within
  • Euclidean geometry beyond Euclid
  • Insert geometry joke here
  • Myth of the 13 Archimedean Solids
  • Non-Euclidean geometries
  • Taxicab geometry
  • The 17 worlds of planar ants

History/Literature

  • Is math real?

Logic/Set Theory

  • Hilbert's 3rd problem
  • Martin's axiom
  • Mathcamp crash course
  • Model theory
  • Surreal numbers
  • Ultra-fantastic ultra filters

Number Theory

  • Arithmetic progressions and primes and parrots
  • Arithmetic progressions and primes and parrots
  • Continued fractions
  • Counting, involutions, and a theorem of Fermat
  • Factoring large prime numbers
  • Fractal projections and a number theory question
  • How to count primes
  • Quadratic forms
  • Topics in number theory

Probability/Statistics

  • Causal inference: how can we tell if $X$ causes $Y$?

Problem Solving

  • Problem solving: geometric transformations
  • Problem solving: lecture theory
  • Problem solving: linear algebra
  • Problem solving: tetrahedra

Topology

  • Classifying infinite-type surfaces
  • Draw every curve at once
  • Knot theory
  • Topology through Morse theory

Variety

  • How to ask questions
  • Party parrot workshop
  • Trail mix

2021 Academics: The Details

For those who would like to dig into the details of the class archives, these PDFs are for you. Here is the chart of Prerequisites and here is a list of Themes.

We post schedules and course descriptions ("blurbs") each week throughout camp. Here are the 2021 classes: