Tsinghua Mathcamp 2018

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. - Galileo.

The Tsinghua Mathcamp is a summer camp for mathematically talented and strongly motivated secondary school students from all across China. A highly selected group of students will be invited to join a four-week rigorous program to explore the art of creative problem solving with masters. Mathcamp will also offer a great opportunity for students to work on research projects through collaborative discoveries guided by their coaches and teachers.

This year’s Mathcamp promises to be an especially exciting one! First, 2018 will be the Inauguration Year for the newly created Yau Tsinghua Junior Math Talent Program which has recently been approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education. The program promises to provide great opportunities for our most talented Mathcampers to join the ranks of top students around the country to engage in advanced study in mathematics at Tsinghua University. Students in this program will also participate in research projects by collaborating with world class mathematicians at Tsinghua and elsewhere.

Second, our talented Mathcampers will get to work with Mathematical Olympiad masters to sharpen their MO problem solving skills. Mathcampers will also learn how these skills can be applied to real math research problems. There will be lectures on the powerful use of advanced mathematics to MO problem solving in a four-weekend lecture series. Mathcampers will also be introduced to some real research works from former Mathematical Olympiad players. The contents include polynomials theories, abstract algebras, algebraic number theory, analysis, combinatorics, topology, cluster algebras, <Proof from the BOOK> and more.

In addition, we have invited Professor Po-Shen Loh of Carnegie Mellon University www.math.cmu.edu/~lohp/ to initiate a post-mathcamp Mathematical Olympiad training program for our Mathcampers. Prof. Loh is renowned for his work in MO coaching both in the USA and internationally. With his colleagues, he will lead a two-week training session at Tsinghua this summer, right after the regular classes at Mathcamp.

The 2018 Mathcamp will be held on the Tsinghua University campus in Bejing. The camp is sponsored by the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Tsinghua University, the Yau Mathematical Sciences Center, and by generous donations from donors in China.

• • Time: the 4-week camp will begin on Saturday July 14 and end on Sunday August 12, 2018.
• • Place: Department of Mathematical Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing.
• • Mathcamp activities: we expect to run two parallel academic tracks this year. Each track will run three 1.5-hour classes, 5 days a week, conducted by research mathematicians. in addition, we have a 2-3-hour daily discussion session in small groups led by coaches, who are advanced graduate students or postdoctoral fellows recruited from China and the U.S. On weekends, there will be full day Mathematical Olympiad training sessions conducted by Dr. Luo Wei and Dr. Qiu Yu; classes and discussions are expected to be conducted in English, though Chinese may be used through an interpreter occasionally. Highlights of the camp feature guest lectures by world-renowned mathematicians including the Fields Medalist Professor Shing-Tung Yau of Harvard University and the Yau Tsinghua Mathematical Sciences Center. In addition, Mathcamp may organize weekend excursions to famous institutions and historical attractions in Beijing。
• • Subjects: our courses are expected to cover a range of topics from Linear Algebra, Galois Theory, Number Theory, Algebraic Combinatorics, Analysis and Topology.
• • Selection criteria: students are recruited on a competitive basis from a group of students nominated by some of the top high schools from across China. A selected group of math competition winners will also be invited to apply. About sixty of the very best students, usually aged 13-16, will be invited to join one of the academic tracks of Mathcamp.
• • Tuition fees: as in the last four years, admission to Mathcamp will be offered free of charge to all qualified students.