Early and Eager 

Epsilon Camp is for extraordinary children who are exceptionally gifted and also love mathematics.

All of our campers have suffered silent boredom in unfulfilling classroom settings. These experiences can derail budding mathematical talent and quell promising interest in a field that offers a lifetime of possibilities and satisfaction. Epsilon campers experience the gleeful epiphany when understanding dawns on new mathematical concepts. 

The School Predicament - What About the Outliers?

Individual IQs in a school classroom range widely. Except in a few schools, the majority of students in a class will be average. The curriculum and pedagogy are therefore designed to serve this majority. In some school districts the gifted or the highly gifted are provided separate instruction.

Even at a school for gifted children, there may only be one child with this acute mathematical ability. Schools cannot tailor instruction to this single person, even if the teacher is knowledgeable. Epsilon Camp allows these children to experience a classroom environment with their mathematical peers. At Epsilon, our campers experience the joy of learning and persevering through difficult problems, often for the first time in their lives.

Creating Learning Opportunities

Acceleration, enrichment and math contests are often not enough for the young mathematicians of Epsilon Camp. These children yearn to think more deeply and work with peers who share their passion and ability for math.

The few mathematically profoundly gifted students in the nation deserve intervention and tailored instruction to meet their educational and social needs. Epsilon Camp offers this as a unique summer experience for these children and their families.

Epsilon Camp provides appropriate instruction for a future mathematician, but is also of great value for those who will later choose another career path. We encourage children who love math but also have many other passions and interests.

Mission and Values

Epsilon Camp connects profoundly gifted children to professional mathematics and builds a supportive community of peers and families. This mission is supported by our core values:

Contribution

  • willing and confident participation

Respect

  • mutual appreciation of diverse abilities and efforts

Community

  • inclusive and supportive community of peers and families

Mentorship

  • connecting youth with professional mathematicians

Collaboration

  • collegiality instead of competition and comparison

Broad View

  • breadth and depth of the field rather than acceleration

Origins of the Epsilon Camp Name and Logo

Mathematicians all over the world customarily use the lower-case Greek letter epsilon to represent an arbitrarily small positive quantity. From this custom, mathematician Paul Erdős (1913-1996) developed his habit of calling children “epsilons.” Named in his honor, Epsilon Camp is devoted to young children who love mathematics.

The Epsilon Camp logo is adapted from Lietzmann's spandrel with corona (1928), described in Mann, Casey. Heesch's Tiling Problem. American Mathematical Monthly (2004): 509-510.

Further Reading

Renzulli, J.S., What Is This Thing Called Giftedness, and How Do We Develop It? A Twenty-Five Year Perspective, "Journal for the Education of the Gifted," Volume 23, Number 1 (1999).