Summer Lectures | BCA Math Team

Summer Lectures 2024

The 2024 Summer Lectures have already concluded. Thanks to everyone who attended!

Although the BCA Math Team is typically geared towards high school students, it has recently begun offering lecture series during the summer to help prepare rising high school freshmen and middle schoolers. This summer, four lecture series will be offered in Algebra, Combinatorics, Geometry, and Number Theory throughout August.

Each lecture series will meet four times for 90 min via Zoom. Homework assignments and class materials will be managed on each series' respective Google Classroom.

Here is a PDF containing more information about the summer lectures!

If you have any questions or would like to join a lecture series, please contact andche25@bergen.org and/or gabher26@bergen.org.

2024 Archive

Algebra - Andrea Chen, Sundays @ 3 pm

CODE: gswz2hj

In this course, we will discuss various topics in algebra and develop strategies to be used in solving high school math competition problems. Topics covered will include polynomials and Vieta's formulas, sequences and series, logarithms among other important functions. We will also look at techniques to recognize and solve problems faster.

Note: This class will be taught in the context of competition math, so it will likely be more challenging than the algebra you've done!

Dates: August 4, 11, 18, 25

Combinatorics - Jeremy Lee, Thursdays @ 3 pm

CODE: zxlhn4c

In this course, we will go over various fundamental topics in combinatorics including methods of counting, combinations and permutations, and probability. We will learn about and practice techniques such as PIE and stars and bars which frequently come up in math competitions, and we will take a look at some seemingly complicated problems and methods of simplifying them down to something more approachable.

Dates: August 8, 15, 22, 29

Geometry - Gabriele Herr, Wednesdays @ 3 pm

CODE: l6vcmnv

In this class, students will learn geometry techniques for competition math. The first two weeks will cover all about triangles, including triangle similarity & congruence, and special triangles. The last two weeks will be problems with circles and 3D geometry, with examples from the AMC and early AIME.

Dates: August 7, 14, 21, 28

Number Theory - Daniel Gilman, Sundays @ 10 am

CODE: rutei3v

In this course, we will go over various topics in Number Theory, covering both the fundamentals and seeing their applications to contest problems. These topics include bases, divisor problems, the Euclidean algorithm, modular arithmetic, Chinese Remainder Theorem, and Fermat's Little Theorem.