After just talking about CTY as I did, it's difficult to change to Mathcamp. I remember one day, in the cafeteria at "U-DUB" (the University of Washington in Seattle), and some friends (you know who you are!) asked me to compare the two. I was lost for words, because despite the outward similarities (bring together a bunch of intelligent kids and let them go at some work), the two were totally different. I loved them both, though.

Mathcamp refocused me. It taught me what Math really is, and reawakened a dormant passion. I don't know if Mathcamp is really for everyone, but it can really open your eyes.

First of all, it opens your eyes to math. There is so much math that just isn't covered properly in high school. There is so much cool stuff out there... when you see a proof that just makes sense, or when something clicks and you see what "algebra" really is (and it's not what you learned in high school!). There is so much out there, and it connects so beautifully, that it is quite unbelievable.

I learned all of that thanks to a summer camp called Mathcamp. Mathcamp introduced me to what math is really about, and showed me some incredible stuff. But Mathcamp, as the many discussions I've had there have proven, is about more than just the math.

Of greater importance than even the math, Mathcamp can open your eyes to friendships. It's about discovering people who are weird, and strange, and because of that, they are interesting. It is about meeting friendly people with whom intelligent conversations are both possible and frequent; about people with whom you'll share and enjoy many of the same interests, and then enjoy things you never knew you had. Mathcamp is a sort of a cultural mecca, where all sorts of nerds (in a good way!) meet up and share their thoughts and acceptance of one-another. It's a great place.

Mathcamp allows you to interact with undergraduate and graduate students in math to find out more about the subject. It lets you discover new concepts and ideas. It lets you really enjoy a subject you never knew could be so good. Some examples of what I've done, besides all of the friends I'm still in contact with, include classes in topology, abstract algebra, generating functions and partitions, p-adic numbers, advanced number theory, linear algebra, and Galois theory. I've learned to swing dance, gotten involved with improvisational acting, put together a yearbook, organized a stargazing trip, hiked up part of Mt. Rainier (and other mountains both in Washington State and Vancouver, Canada), had some of the best discussions of my life, taught a lecture in computer algorithms, played Ultimate Frisbee, and got beaten horribly in tennis. And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Thus, I highly encourage anyone who feels that they would benefit from an experience like this to go to Mathcamp. Mathcamp is not a place to go if you're being forced by your parents (all you'll discover is that classes are optional and won't count for credit anywhere anyway). But if you want to go, and you love math (or even aren't sure if you do - I sure didn't realize it before I went), you'll discover a great world.

Some links:
• Mathcamp, the official site.
• MARTI, MAthcamp Ray Trace Implementation, a project I had at Mathcamp where we created a ray tracer for the "circle light universe."

Page by Daniel Zaharopol.