Days at MathPath differ a bit from year to year, to fit in with the schedule of the host institution. Typically a day begins with wake-up between 7-7:45 am and ends with bedtime around 10 pm. Do not apply to MathPath if you can't go to bed by 10 pm. Lights are out around that time. Academic activities take place Tuesday through Saturday.

Below is the schedule for 2011 on Tuesday-Friday, and then on Saturday.

6:00-7:45 am: Optional Activities for early risers, supervised by staff: Working on the Problem of the (previous) Day, thinking about other problems from yesterday or your original ideas, jogging around the track, playing chess or ping pong, etc.

7:30 am: Last wake-up call

8:00 am: Breakfast

8:45–9:35 am: First Plenary Session (class for the whole camp). Usually history of mathematics. For a listing of all the 2011 plenaries at all the different hours, click here.

9:50–10:55 am: Morning Breakout Sessions – Several weeklong classes run simultaneously on various topics (5 days, 65 minutes each day). Students get to rank their choices and usually get their first choice. For more on the topics offered, including a list of the breakout topics for each week, click here.

11:10–12:00 noon: Second Plenary Session. Often a distinguished visiting speaker, this year Prof Francis Su in the first week and Prof John Conway in the 3rd week.

12:00–12:15 pm: Morning announcements.

12:30: Lunch

1:00–2:45: Free time.  Work on problems, or do games, informal sports, sometimes swimming.

3:00–3:25 pm: Writing in mathematics. Discussion of the Qualifying Test problem solutions, as a vehicle to talk about mathematical proof and good communication style. Sometimes instead there is a plenary math lecture by a guest speaker who is not available to speak in the morning. In this case we convene at 2:30 pm to give the speaker 50 minutes.

3:40–5:00 pm: Afternoon Breakout sessions. A second, independent set of weeklong classes (4 days, 80 minutes each day).

5:15 pm: Problem of the Day. Student solutions to yesterday's problem of the day, including a prize for a best solution, and presentation of the new problem of the day.

5:30 pm: Wrap up  – announcements.

6:00 pm: Dinner

Evenings are planned around the athletic and social needs of the students, with some time arranged for mathematics.

6:30–8:30 pm: Evening Free Time

8:30 pm: Campers back in the dorm (math conferencing time). Faculty for the week's breakouts make themselves available in the public rooms on the first floor of the dorm and students can visit them to ask questions or work on homework or the Problem of the Day. Students can also work on math in their rooms. Students don't have to do math during this period, but they cannot play games or make noise on the first floor. (Note: This quiet time was an innovation in the 4th week of 2011 – or rather, a revised version of the evening math time of the early years of MathPath – and it is likely to be continued in future years. Prior to the 4th week, campers still had to be back in the dorm at 8:30, but 8:30–9:15 was unstructured free time.)

9:15 pm: Dorm meetings with counselors

9:45 pm: Campers preparing for bed. Campers clean up and go to their rooms. This is a good time for a parental phone call.

10:15 pm: Lights out; quiet!

Saturdays follow the same morning schedule, but the afternoon is replaced by a show-and-tell at 2:30 about the breakout selections for the coming week, followed by students submitting their choices, followed by some sort of games or contests, usually mathematical, organized by the counselors or the other staff.

Weekends – which will be Sunday and Monday – Trips to the various attractions in the area as well as nature trips, hiking, biking, white water rafting, kayaking, and the like.

MathPath – "BRIGHT AND EARLY"
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Last updated October 28, 2011