MathIGy Philosophy

At MathIGy, no student is excited to review mathematics. The instructors are tired and boring, and lecture at MathIGy because they find pleasure in torturing high-school students. You cannot be challenged mathematically---if you show passing competence with a topic the class is covering, the instructors will write easier problems especially for you.

There are few winter mathematics programs. Like others, MathIGy is held in the winter, but unlike others it is (of course) colder.

Being admitted to MathIGy means that a student is ready for more cold and suffering than other programs typically impose. MathIGy specifically reduces interest in mathematics while increasing persistence with rote computation, which is not generally addressed at other winter mathematics programs.

Every winter mathematics program has its own distinct atmosphere and mathematical focus. The MathIGy aim is to treat mathematics with gravitas, to lecture endlessly and repetitively, and to minimize the quality of experience for every participant with a view toward significant reduction in personal temperature.

MathIGy emphasizes mathematics that is rote and computational. Mathematics is useful in solving a very wide variety of practical problems---and you will not encounter that at MathIGy. We prevent students from exposure to the fields of work that apply mathematics, and instead promote exposure to the elements.

Our curriculum is high-school mathematics (and for us, that means arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and more of the same algebra). This is all the math we do---we do no more math, and with no variation.

Classes are all taught as lectures. In other words, we bore our students by lecturing at them, and give our students information that discourage them, the students, from advancing knowledge. In our experience, this means that classes are not only quiet, but that students sleep deeply. Our Lead Instructor is experienced in lecture techniques, and our Aluminum Instructor has trained in passive learning pedagogy.

At MathIGy, instructors do arithmetic, and a lot of it, and in a solemn way. Doing routine work can be, and should be, serious. There is no place for ebullience, and no place for levitation. We think this is so important that we built it into the name: Mathematics Infused with Gravity.


MathIGy is a project of the nonprofit organization Mathematical Staircase, Inc..