Data and Chance
- Grades 5-6
- CTY-Level
-
Day
- Mathematics
Your new friend at CTY teaches you a dice game. If you roll a 4, you win and the game ends. If your friend rolls a 5, they win and the game ends. You take turns rolling until one person wins. If you roll first, what is the probability you will win? This course explores probability and statistics, two areas of mathematics that easily transfer from the classroom to the real world. You and your classmates will conduct experiments and learn to make graphs, charts, and tables to display data. You’ll learn to determine the effects of particular variables; for example, examine how various design characteristics like weight and length affect the distance a paper airplane will travel. You’ll calculate the number of possible outcomes for various events; determine probabilities of independent, dependent, and compound events; and distinguish between theoretical and experimental probability. You’ll even learn ways to spot incorrectly gathered or misrepresented data in sources like newspapers and journals.
Typical Class Size: 14-16
This course is
ungraded.
Summer Dates & Locations
After May 2, 2025, registration is available upon request pending eligibility and seat availability. To request placement, email [email protected] after submitting a program application.
Session One
Session Two
Testing and Prerequisites
| Math | Verbal | |
|---|---|---|
| Required Level | CTY-Level | Not required |
Students must achieve qualifying scores on an advanced assessment to be eligible for CTY programs. If you don’t have qualifying scores, you have several different testing options. We’ll help you find the right option for your situation.
Sign up for Testing Learn MoreCost and Financial Aid
Tuition
- Varies
Application fee
- Nonrefundable Application Fee - $55 (Waived for financial aid applicants)
- Nonrefundable International Fee - $250 (outside US only)
Financial Aid is available
We are committed to serving all talented youth regardless of financial circumstances. Financial assistance is available based on need.
About Mathematics at CTY
Explore the study of shapes
Many of our courses allow students to describe the world around them in basic and profound ways. Younger students build foundational skills by exploring shape, scale, and proportion in Geometry and Spatial Sense. Middle School students delve into real-world applications of lines and analyze data with curves that follow uniform, symmetric, bell-shaped, or skewed patterns in Data and Chance. Advanced students unveil the deep interplay between numbers and shapes, investigating how triangular, square, and polygonal numbers create patterns that bridge geometry and algebra in Number Theory. By examining these elegant number patterns and symmetries, students discover how mathematics captures the intricate beauty and underlying structure of the natural world.
Dive deep into logic and reasoning
Our courses in formal logic give you the tools to question the world around you. Inductive and Deductive Reasoning introduces younger students to different types of reasoning, as well as the strengths and weaknesses inherent in various forms of critical analysis. Older students explore how logical reasoning can explain (or fail to explain) counter-intuitive results in Paradoxes and Infinities, or take a more rigorous approach to formal logic in Mathematical Logic.
Meet our instructors and staff
My favorite thing about teaching at CTY is watching the students' curiosity and excitement lead their learning. It's exciting as an instructor to witness their confidence increase and watch as their 'aha' moments manifest into increased knowledge and mastery of the content.
Laya Theberge
Robotics Instructor
The students are so bright, interesting, and often willing to try some of the most silly and unique activities that the RAs create.
Rebecca Somer
Resident Assistant
CTY students have a contagious energy combined with a thirst for knowledge that I look forward to each summer. They remind me of why I became a teacher.
Antonia Richards
Chemistry Instructor