DPatrick (18:29:38)
Greetings and welcome to tonight's Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics (HCSSiM) Math Jam.

DPatrick (18:29:52)
HCSSiM co-director sarah-marie belcastro is here to help students get an idea of what HCSSiM has to offer, and to answer questions regarding the program. I also understand that some HCSSiM alumni may be in attendance, and they can also share their experiences.

DPatrick (18:30:03)
But before I turn the floor over to her, I would like to briefly explain our classroom to students who have not previously attended a chat here.

DPatrick (18:30:11)
First of all, this classroom is moderated. This means that the messages you type will come to the moderators rather than going directly into the room. The moderators will choose some of the messages and questions to share with all of the students.

DPatrick (18:30:24)
Next, only the moderators have the ability to send private messages in the classroom. Sometimes they will use these to respond to your comments.

DPatrick (18:30:38)
At this time I will turn the floor over to sarah-marie.

smbelcas (18:30:53)
Hi, everyone!

smbelcas (18:31:18)
Would any of the alumns like to introduce themselves?

snorkack (18:31:23)
I'm Hannah.

Bictor717 (18:31:52)
Barry Weng '03 here

smiley (18:31:54)
I am Amber.

smbelcas (18:32:42)
Welcome to the HCSSiM Math Jam.

smbelcas (18:33:08)
We are here (we = me, sarah-marie belcastro, HCSSiM Co-Director, and some alumns) to answer any and all questions about HCSSiM.

JackPo (18:32:27)
I'm Jack Po '00

arkleseizure (18:33:20)
Sorry about that! I'm an alum, I went to HCSSiM last year and enjoyed it immensely.

smbelcas (18:33:53)
(There are more alumns than non-alumns here!)

smiley (18:34:15)
We all loved it, sarah-marie!

smbelcas (18:34:45)
So, you non-alumns, what sorts of things would you like to know? (Would you like us to give an overview of the program?

arkleseizure (18:34:36)
Indeed! I think that might just say something about how strongly we loved it.

smbelcas (18:36:11)
Hmmmm.... apparently the non-alumns are shy.

arkleseizure (18:36:33)
Should we start with an overview and hope people ask questions based on that?

smbelcas (18:36:47)
Yes, let's.

smbelcas (18:37:02)
HCSSiM is a six-week residential summer program for high-ability high school students.

smbelcas (18:37:24)
Every day, there are 4 hours of class (in the morning) and 3 hours of problem session in the evening.

smbelcas (18:37:36)
Everyone eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner together.

smbelcas (18:37:57)
We also have a talk for the whole program each day called the Prime Time Theorem.

smbelcas (18:38:07)
About half of those talks are given by visiting mathematicians.

masmd44 (18:37:58)
Hi. I'm the dad of an interested student ... he's finishing a paper due tomorrow. What are the age ranges of the participants?

smbelcas (18:38:52)
Yay! A question! The age range depends on the year (I know that's not very helpful to a dad).

smbelcas (18:38:58)
The youngest student we ever had was 11,

smbelcas (18:39:02)
and I think the eldest was 19.

arkleseizure (18:38:24)
I got the impression that it was just as much high-[i]interest[/i] as high-ability. That is to say, enjoyment of math for its own sake seemed just as important as ability.

snorkack (18:38:40)
The program has recently consisted of about 34 to 51 students, right?

smbelcas (18:39:49)
Yes, it's been hovering near 40 recently. But we don't have a cap; we invite every qualified student to participate.

snorkack (18:39:06)
I first attended HCSSiM after my freshman year in high school.

arkleseizure (18:40:01)
I knew a number of rising high school freshmen who were very active and outgoing participants at HCSSiM, if that helps.

snorkack (18:40:01)
Oh yes, arkleseizure is right, definitely. They tell us this thing about knowing versus growing...

smbelcas (18:40:42)
Yes. It's not how much you know, but how much you grow: we don't have prerequisites. We're looking more for creativity and interest than experience.

smbelcas (18:41:08)
(That said, we do have plenty of participants who have lots of mathematical experience.)

smbelcas (18:41:54)
Most of our students are in the 14 - 17 range.

arkleseizure (18:42:08)
HCSSiM made it for the first time clear to me just how much mathematics (and how much amazing mathematics!) you can do with little more than high school algebra, although it require that you learn how to think about math correctly!

smbelcas (18:42:50)
That points out another hallmark of HCSSiM: we avoid doing calculus-related mathematics so as not to spoil high-school classes when participants return to school.

smbelcas (18:43:27)
Oh, by the way, congrats to Barry on his recent Putnam performance.

snorkack (18:43:42)
To some extent, arkleseizure is right about not having to know much; however, you do build up a lot of background over the course of the program that gives you access to even more topics.

smbelcas (18:44:28)
The first half of the program is known as Workshop, and each class learns similar material (which ranges over many fields of mathematics).

smiley (18:44:05)
Also, HCSSiM was, for me, a chance to get a wide experience to all the different kinds of math. It gives a little bit of a lot of different subjects in math and that's part of what makes it such a great program. You do a little bit of everything.

smbelcas (18:45:34)
In the second half of the program, there are classes with topical focus, known as maxi (2.5 hrs/day) and mini (1+ hrs per day) classes.

smbelcas (18:45:58)
In the middle of the program the staff produce a catalog of courses and students express their preferences. There are lots and lots of options...

smbelcas (18:46:24)
...and I should point out that even in classes with a topical focus, many areas of mathematics come together.

smiley (18:45:55)
You also get plenty of down time so you're not overwhelmed, while still getting 8+ hours of math a day.

smbelcas (18:46:50)
That's what afternoons are for. Down time and Frisbee.

arkleseizure (18:46:29)
How many were there last year? Five minis? Six? (It might have been different for the different mini-halves.)

smbelcas (18:47:42)
Five in the first half of the second half, and six in the second half of the second half. (I just looked it up, heh.)

Bictor717_2 (18:46:58)
The faculty was supportive too

snorkack (18:47:05)
Eventually, though, the whole afternoon fills up with activities such as dancing and cheese.

arkleseizure (18:47:39)
Yes, much Frisbee. (And most of the Junior staff play Frisbee, too...many fun afternoons!)

smbelcas (18:48:18)
Junior staff, by the way, are undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants.

smbelcas (18:48:39)
They're called "junior" because each class is led by a senior staff member, who is a college faculty member.

smbelcas (18:48:53)
This statement is almost true:

snorkack (18:48:37)
I was just going to mention junior versus senior staff: each workshop and each maxi has (at least) one senior staff, a real-live grown-up professor.

smbelcas (18:49:29)
Real, yes. Live, yes. Grown-up...? Sometimes. Our faculty tend not to act like grown-ups in the way that most teachers do.

Bictor717_2 (18:49:39)
They actually spend time with you too

smbelcas (18:50:33)
Spending time with students is one of the highlights of our years (speaking for myself and David Kelly, the founder and other Co-Director of HCSSiM).

arkleseizure (18:50:04)
"Supportive" is something of an understatement; the staff were always around (not every staff member was always around, but at any given time most of them were) and were always happy to talk or play a game of frisbee or a board game, depending on the staff member.

snorkack (18:50:34)
There is a lot of being happy and running around and getting off-topic and using many colors of chalk.

snorkack (18:51:23)
Odder games exist: I remember a speed-walking race.

smiley (18:51:31)
But there's still a lot of serious math mixed in.

smbelcas (18:52:47)
I sometimes describe HCSSiM as amazing amounts of very serious math done in the silliest way possible.

snorkack (18:53:32)
That does sound like a good description of your classes, sarah-marie.

arkleseizure (18:53:40)
That...is accurate in every way.

arkleseizure (18:54:35)
I agree wholeheartedly with snorkack on that one. Memories of pirates and evil sheep that go "baa-ha-ha" come to mind.

smbelcas (18:55:27)
Rumor has reached this Co-Director that a particular pirate may reappear this summer.

DiscreetFourierTransform (18:56:16)
Is the Jam over?

smbelcas (18:56:47)
No!

smbelcas (18:56:51)
Please ask questions.

Bictor717_2 (18:57:35)
Did you mention math movies yet?

smbelcas (18:57:57)
I did not. Please describe them for everyone...

snorkack (18:58:09)
Math movies are very hard to describe. I was extremely confused at my first math-movie viewing.

Bictor717_2 (18:58:25)
Every Wednesday night, a math movie is screened, usually an old one

snorkack (18:58:58)
They're really very amusing.

masmd44 (18:58:05)
Do many students return for more than one summer?

smbelcas (18:59:41)
No, not many. We do not guarantee that a student will be invited back after a summer at HCSSiM; it's to be considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

smbelcas (18:59:55)
That said, every summer several alumns reapply and we invite a few to return.

smiley (18:59:21)
Last year there were only 4 returnees.

snorkack (19:00:27)
Well, it certainly does change your life; however, after attending, people often want to return.

snorkack (19:00:41)
The two years before that, there were three returning people per year

smbelcas (19:01:57)
The alumns who are invited to return do well on the Interesting Test, and successfully make a case that they will benefit from and contribute to the program in a second summer.

smbelcas (19:02:10)
I'll let alumns handle thsi question:

masmd44 (19:01:39)
Why the yellow pig?

arkleseizure (19:02:19)
Because it's yellow, and piggy.

Bictor717_2 (19:02:30)
Why not?

smiley (19:02:43)
Because.

snorkack (19:02:53)
You have to go to HCSSiM to understand the yellow pig. People this year kept wanting to know before they were ready to absorb the knowledge.

Ciaccona (19:02:54)
"She was fathered by Mike Spivak in a bar across the street
With beauty in her bosom but with only sixteen feet
Because she was consistent she could hardly be complete
Her proofs go marching on! "

Ciaccona (19:03:17)
From "The March of the Yellow Pig"

arkleseizure (19:03:19)
I think snorkack put it best...

snorkack (19:04:14)
The standard answer is, "You'll find out more at Yellow Pigs Day", a celebration that happens every July 17.

smbelcas (19:05:00)
So, those who want to know about the yellow pig should apply to HCSSiM: applying is free, fast, obligationless (while other options are being considered, for example), and doable online.

smbelcas (19:05:16)
Not applying means not seeing the Interesting Test and may cause headaches and drowsiness.

snorkack (19:05:41)
Well, it's fast if you don't spend excessive energy freaking out that the Friendly Letter entry box is too big, as my friend did.

smbelcas (19:06:56)
Perhaps one of the alumns *cough**arkleseizure* would be willing to tell me after the Jam how to alter the form so that the box is not as big but still has a large character limit.

arkleseizure (19:05:34)
It's also very fun: the Interesting Test is...there's no other word for it--interesting.

Bictor717_2 (19:06:15)
The IT was much more interesting than it was a test

masmd44 (19:06:23)
It seems to me that alumni really stay in toudch with each other. True?

arkleseizure (19:07:15)
Of course!

smiley (19:07:24)
Yes, as often as we can!

Bictor717_2 (19:07:29)
Pretty much, yea

smbelcas (19:08:11)
We have an alumni database online (it's password-protected so only alumns can get into it) where participants from previous summers can locate long-lost friends.

snorkack (19:07:58)
I'd say that I got to know several people much better after the program than during it; I'm not sure how that happened.

smbelcas (19:08:50)
We have two alumns (at least) who are married, and one alumn became the Ph.D. advisor of another alumn.

smbelcas (19:09:03)
I meant two alumns who are married to each other.

arkleseizure (19:09:21)
I have kept in closer contact with alums than with most people I consider friends at my school. Perhaps that's unusual, but after the program I've done everything with other alums from collaborating on working out crazy math ideas to discussing odd anecdotes of our days, even though we live across the US.

arkleseizure (19:09:48)
(From each other.)

snorkack (19:09:58)
Oh, I'm certainly in closer contact with HCSSiM alumni than with people at my school.

arkleseizure (19:10:30)
That reminds me, we should mention HCSSiM occasionally has international students.

masmd44 (19:10:35)
Have any students come from florida? are most particpants local?

smbelcas (19:10:53)
Yes, students have come from Florida.

smbelcas (19:11:54)
In some years many participants are local in the sense that they're from the Northeast quadrant of the U.S., but we always have students from other areas of the country (and some overseas) as well.

arkleseizure (19:11:26)
Some states are particularly well represented, but I remember we had a fair number of Californians last year, so it's by no means a local thing.

smbelcas (19:12:31)
So far this year we have applicants from 18 states and 4 foreign countries.

snorkack (19:12:25)
I'm from Colorado, and I seem to be sending more and more Coloradans to the program each year.

smbelcas (19:14:25)
Last year there were applicants from 26 states and 5 foreign countries. I think the participants came from 17 states and one foriegn country.

snorkack (19:13:50)
Most people don't know each other at the beginning of the program. It's great to watch the program cohere socially over the course of the first week or two.

masmd44 (19:14:51)
The enthusiam of the participants is obvious from this forum ... sounds like a great way to spend a summer.

smbelcas (19:15:33)
Oh, it is! (And I'm saying that as someone who does ~17 hours/day of work there. It's that much fun!)

snorkack (19:15:23)
It's the best way ever to spend a summer!

smbelcas (19:17:51)
This summer we're going to have a couple of special additions.

smbelcas (19:18:40)
We have been granted some money from the Tensor Foundation to get a few alumnae to come speak.

smbelcas (19:19:14)
We've already confirmed that Elizabeth Wilmer will come to teach a mini-course. She's a faculty member at Oberlin College, and was HCSSiM '85, '86.

smbelcas (19:19:55)
We're in the process of inviting others.

arkleseizure (19:20:35)
Excellent!

arkleseizure (19:22:27)
I have to agree with snorkack in that even afterwards, I cannot imagine a way to spend a summer that could possibly be more rewarding than HCSSiM was.

arkleseizure (19:22:58)
(I've actually given that some thought, and meant that statement literally.)

smbelcas (19:25:44)
Really, please feel free to ask questions---we love questions!

masmd44 (19:26:39)
Are cell phones allowed?

smbelcas (19:27:05)
Yes. We expect that students won't use them during class, however.

snorkack (19:27:21)
There's really nothing prohibited except illegal things and sloppy thinking and TV-watching and mispronouncing Euler and such.

smbelcas (19:28:02)
That last is particularly important this year, as it's Euler's 300th birthday this April 15th.

snorkack (19:28:16)
Oh yeah, I saw a poster about that!

smbelcas (19:29:02)
That's probably the Mathematical Association of America's poster.

smbelcas (19:29:27)
We are including, as a bonus, an Euler Fact Sheet with every Interesting Test.

Bictor717_2 (19:31:52)
Do you still do the spelling bee? The prize was pretty sweet, figuratively and literally.

smbelcas (19:33:12)
Most activities at HCSSiM are student-generated or -requested. We haven't done the spelling bee recently because it wasn't what students were excited about.

snorkack (19:34:09)
We did have multiple toga nights that were organized exclusively by students this past year. They were very well-attended.

smbelcas (19:34:39)
HCSSiM 2006 also had several impromptu dance parties.

snorkack (19:34:40)
They were inspired by the story of a poison-ivy mishap from long ago.

snorkack (19:35:14)
(The poison ivy related to the togas, not the dancing, although there was some dancing in togas that took place.)

arkleseizure (19:35:50)
Often people (staff or students) demonstrate unusual talents; one staff member swung fire a few times last year, and a number of people demonstrated unusual juggling talent. I'm reminded of one who juggled apples and ate them simultaneously.

smbelcas (19:37:02)
It's pretty amazing how many non-math activities there are, given how many mathematical activities there are at HCSSiM.

arkleseizure (19:37:28)
There are often "quasis" which are basically courses organized informally by staff or students in the afternoon, on any topic imaginable. There was a regular quasi on cheese tasting last year, as well as dance quasis, a programming quasi, and occasionally some informal movie-watching that could be called a quasi.

smbelcas (19:38:54)
Sometimes quasis happen after problem sessions and before quiet time, as well. A few years ago there was a well-attended quasi on the structure of topological 3-manifolds. It met for a few afternoons running for a couple of hours each time.

snorkack (19:37:43)
We had unusually many music groups, too, last year, including a dance band for a Saturday-morning mathematical contra dancing activity.

arkleseizure (19:39:43)
Well, there was also the two evening contradances, one of which had a five minute mini-quasi on the group actions aspect of contradancing in general.

snorkack (19:40:46)
One junior staff member exclaimed that she'd never understood square dancing until it was explained in terms of group actions.

masmd44 (19:41:12)
Is it worth bringng an instrument ... i.e. clarintet?

smbelcas (19:41:22)
Yes!

snorkack (19:41:47)
I brought a violin. Someone even brought a cello.

arkleseizure (19:42:29)
I'll mention for the benefit of people who are reading this and thinking, "I don't dance, or eat cheese, or watch funny math videos, or anything like that...": I was [i]not[/i] the kind of person who would think of doing any of these things before HCSSiM. It's something that becomes natural after a week or two, just because it's so interpersonal and vibrant. It's really life-changing.

smbelcas (19:43:22)
Additionally, every year is very different. Last year was the first year in the past decade in which dancing was popular, and the only one I know of in which eating cheese was a social event.

smbelcas (19:44:37)
Truly, HCSSiM participants create the program each year. They decide communally what activities will happen; each program has its own personality both mathematically and socially. Classes often cover slightly different material in response to student interests.

arkleseizure (19:45:05)
Should we discuss the housing setup? (I think last year's was unusual, but the general idea, I think, was typical, and worth discussing.)

smbelcas (19:46:29)
Sure. HCSSiM participants live in apartments (known as "mods". Every student has a single room, and each mod contains 4 - 10 students, a staff member, one or two living rooms, a kitchen, and one or two bathrooms.

smbelcas (19:46:57)
One of the mods contains the program library, which is a mathematics library maintained by HCSSiM.

snorkack (19:47:51)
The mods contain atrociously outdated furniture and are somewhat fun to hang around it, although hanging around can also be done outside.

arkleseizure (19:47:53)
The Library is generally an excellent resource for students curious about any particular aspect of mathematics in greater detail, and is generally well-used.

smbelcas (19:48:32)
Much of the outdated furniture is owned by Hampshire College students who live in the mods during the year.

snorkack (19:49:18)
Staff also live in the mods, with perhaps an exception or two.

snorkack (19:50:08)
Having the staff nearby is handy when you finish your proof at 11:30 instead of 10:30 and want to hand it in very quietly.

arkleseizure (19:50:20)
I ought to mention--Hampshire is a somewhat rural campus, and contains enormous amounts of open space and nice trees to walk around in. It's very, very nice, and it's easy to just walk outside and find someplace to relax alone or with others.

snorkack (19:50:48)
There are various animals nearby, such as sheep, llamas, and goats.

smbelcas (19:51:12)
Hampshire College has a Farm Center with visitable animals.

arkleseizure (19:51:08)
I don't recall any llamas...

smbelcas (19:51:31)
They are guard llamas---they guard the sheep.

snorkack (19:51:33)
I do remember sitting in or near trees and talking about whether all groups were subgroups of the symmetric group.

smbelcas (19:52:18)
Nature is a good place to do mathematics.

snorkack (19:52:53)
There are a lot of good places to do mathematics. The academic space is very convenient and comfortable.

arkleseizure (19:53:17)
There are also periodic visits to the town of Amherst, which is good for supplies of all sorts.

snorkack (19:54:11)
Some people just like going to town so they can eat ice cream and sushi.

smbelcas (19:55:12)
Every week we have a van that goes into town---what "town" means varies a bit, because HCSSiM takes place in the Five Colleges area, and so there's more than one town to visit.

smbelcas (19:56:32)
Well, we've been going for nearly an hour and a half---time to end the Math Jam. Thanks for coming, everyone, and you can get lots of information at http://www.hcssim.org and by checking in at the HCSSiM subforum here at AoPS.