Department of Mathematics

Search

ETH Math Youth Academy

The ETH Math Youth Academy, established in 2015, is a joint project of the Department of Mathematics and external page SwissMAP. It is specially designed for Gymnasium students, age 13 or above who want to engage in creative thinking and to delve deeper into exciting mathematics. The regular weekly classes are in the form of mini-courses on various extracurricular topics.

Kaloyan Slavov with students
Kaloyan Slavov with students of the ETH Math Youth Academy

Courses Autumn 2024

Students can join any time during the school year. To register, please send an email to and include your name, school, number of years left in Gymnasium (counting the current year), and how you heard about the programme.

Main class

  • Start: 4.9.2024
  • 18:15–20:00
  • Room: ML E 12 (Sonneggstr. 3)

Intermediate/advanced class

  • Start: 5.9.2024
  • 18:15–20:00
  • Room: ML E 12 (Sonneggstr. 3)

More information about the programme

Dr Kaloyan Slavov

Kaloyan Slavov

Objectives

The ETH Math Youth Academy is an ambitious long-term project especially designed for Gymnasium students (age 13 or above) who like mathematics and want to delve deeper into its exciting world. The regular weekly sessions take place at ETH Zentrum and treat various topics that go beyond the regular Gymnasium curriculum.

Even though Switzerland is best in Europe in terms of the general quality of mathematical education in school and the level of the students is homogeneously very high, opportunities for the enthusiastic students to reach a level beyond the standard mathematical curriculum do not abound, at least in comparison to other countries (in Eastern Europe or the US, for instance). Our goal is to close this gap by providing students with such opportunities.

Topics outside the regular curriculum

The focus is on creative, out-of-the-box thinking and on rigorous proofs. The treated topics are not part of the regular Gymnasium or university curriculum and are not relevant for exams in school. Instead, the classes can lead to participation in mathematical Olympiads and can inspire various projects. Students will gain momentum for further university pursuits in technical disciplines. Just as a student who likes music can play in an orchestra outside of school, a student who likes mathematics is welcome to attend our programme.

Prerequisits

Participation is free of charge. There are absolutely no specific prerequisites besides being comfortable with the standard school material and having the interest and motivation to come to ETH Zurich for two hours of extra mathematics a week. The classes are fun, friendly, and intellectually stimulating. The language of instruction is English.

Organization of classes

The classes are organized in the form of mini-courses on various topics, each one starting completely from scratch and reaching interesting and challenging problems. In this way, students can attend as often as their schedules allow.

There are also separate intermediate and advanced classes. It is therefore possible for a student to attend the programme over the course of several years.

Current situation

About 40 enthusiastic students currently attend the programme, without formal credit or grades, but just for personal enrichment and academic satisfaction. Most of them are from Zurich, but some commute from Wetzikon, Zug, Luzerne, or even Solothurn or Romanshorn in order to attend the classes. We are pleased that the engineers and scientists of the next generation have such a zeal for challenging mathematics already during years in school.

2024

  • At the International Mathematical Olympiad, Felix Xu wins a gold medal, Mark Neumann wins a bronze medal, and Hongjia Meng, Louis Renner, Eric Lüscher win honorable mentions.
  • At the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad, Evelyn Ebneter and Hongjia Meng win bronze medals, and Irina Tikhonovskaia wins an honorable mention.

2023

  • At the International Mathematical Olympiad, Mathys Douma wins a gold medal, Bora Olmez and Felix Xu win bronze medals.
  • At the Middle European Mathematical Olympiad, Mark Neumann wins a silver medal and Louis Renner wins an honourable mention.
  • At the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad, Lena Libort wins an honourable mention.

2022

  • At the International Mathematical Olympiad, Mathys Douma, Bora Olmez, and Ricardo Olivo win bronze medals.
  • At the Middle European Mathematical Olympiad, Evelyn Ebneter wins a bronze medal.
  • At the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad, Evelyn Ebneter wins an honourable mention.

2021

  • At the International Mathematical Olympiad, Joël Huber and Bora Olmez win bronze medals.
  • At the Middle European Mathematical Olympiad, Ricardo Olivo wins a bronze medal.
  • At the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad, Ema Skottova wins a bronze medal.

2020

  • At the International Mathematical Olympiad, Joël Huber wins a bronze medal.
  • At the Middle European Mathematical Olympiad, Ema Skottova, Ricardo Olivo, and Bora Olmez win honourable mentions.
  • At the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad, Ema Skottova wins a bronze medal

Video recordings of students' presentations

The ETH Math Youth Academy was featured in an interview for the D-MATH News.

The 2023 issue of the annual external page SwissMAP Perspectives Journal highlights national outreach activities and features Download comments of students (PDF, 297 KB) participating in the ETH Math Youth Academy.

This Download article (PDF, 709 KB) in the Bulletin of the VSMP, Issue 131, has been addressed specifically to mathematics teachers and includes a full detailed class sample, giving readers a concrete idea of how a class at the ETH Math Youth Academy looks like.

The project was featured at ETH News: Creative proofs with pigeons and boxes.

The following Download one-page article (PDF, 55 KB) has been written for the European Mathematical Society Newsletter and is addressed to the entire mathematical community in Europe.

This external page interview (Russian) was published in the Russian-language Swiss newspaper Nasha Gazeta and is also available as an unofficial Download translation to English (PDF, 82 KB).

Parallel to the weekly classes, we have launched an initiative for giving public talks at various Gymnasiums in Switzerland, emphasizing the aesthetic side of mathematics. We would love to communicate some of the most beautiful pieces of mathematics and to present them in an elementary and accessible way. These talks are designed for a broad general student audience. We are looking forward to further invitations.

Visited Schools

27.10.2015: Literargymnasium Rämibühl, Zurich

07.04.2016: Kantonsschule Baden

31.09.2016: Realgymnasium Rämibühl, Zurich

  • Mathematical Colorings

09.02.2017: Kantonsschule Enge, Zurich

06.09.2017: Information days, ETH Zurich

  • Patterns in plane drawings: Euler's formula: video

07.09.2017: Information days, ETH Zurich

  • From integers to reals: a walk in the world of numbers: video

02.02.2018: Kollegium Spiritus Sanctus, Brig

08.05.2018: Kantonsschule Solothurn

  • Pick's formula

05.09.2018: Information days, ETH Zurich

  • The answer is ... 1,2,5,14,42,...: video

25.06.2019 Hull's school

04.09.2019: Information days, ETH Zurich

  • From clock arithmetic to Diophantine equations: video

05.09.2019: Information days, ETH Zurich

  • The second root of the quadratic equation: video

08.09.2022: Information days, ETH Zurich

Talk: Diffie-Hellman key exchange

Is it possible for two parties to establish a common secret, if they are only allowed to interact through an insecure channel? The talk is fully accessible to advanced high school students, who are familiar with elementary number theory (specifically with modular arithmetic). external page Video

YouTube channel

Some of the talks are also available on our external page YouTube channel.

External links

Logo SwissMAP
JavaScript has been disabled in your browser