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Math camps are multiplying in part because families are seeking an edge in competitive college admissions and worry about the quality of U.S. math instruction.
Many parents of MathPath students, including Ryan's, are highly-educated immigrants from China, South Korea and other countries who don't share native U.S. notions of carefree summer days.
"Ryan has found something he's really good at," says Gia Yoo, Ryan's mother, a chemist who was born in Korea. "I'm helping him shine. I don't think that many American parents drive kids that hard."
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Who Can't Get Enough;
Alice's Moment of Glory
July 28, 2006 11:06 p.m.; Page A1, WSJ
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- A breeze swept through a redwood grove. Surfers rode the Pacific waves. It was a perfect summer day in Northern California, but 10-year-old Ryan Yoo was oblivious to the world outside a windowless lecture hall.
Ryan was exploring the outer reaches of infinity, represented by the Greek letter omega. "Is there any number bigger than omega to the omega to the omega?" Ryan asked his renowned professor, Princeton University mathematician John Conway.
"Yes!" Prof. Conway replied and turned to the blackboard to scribble a cascade of omegas that expressed the bewildering numbers beyond infinity.
A college math student might grapple with this topic in an advanced elective. Ryan was stretching his elementary-school mind at MathPath, perhaps the nation's toughest summer camp for numerical prodigies.
posted by Whitney Tilson at 3:54 AM
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