The Mandelbrot Set is one of the most famous images in mathematics. Even if you never studied much math, there's a good chance this looks familiar.

The Mandelbrot Set is a fractal, which means it has a repeating pattern to it. No matter how much you zoom in, the same kind of complex structure recurs. But where does it come from? And what could it possibly have to do with 𝜋?

Everyone learns about place value in school. The ones place, the tens place, the hundreds place… it all seems so boring! It's just memorizing, right?!?

As usual, though, when you think deeply about a topic, you discover hidden depths. For this year's set of holiday problems, I looked for place value problems because I wanted to show that even with something you learn in elementary school, there are still interesting problems to do and more to discover. Let's have some fun with this!

Summer is a special time at BEAM, when hundreds of middle schoolers from New York City and Los Angeles attend BEAM camps to dive into advanced mathematics. This past summer, BEAM campers built strong, lasting communities, grew their problem-solving skills, and deepened their love and appreciation for math. 

“It was like a dream,” said Ruby, a student who attended BEAM Summer Away at Marist University. “All the activities BEAM offers are so, so great. And the math is like the strong knot that brought the students and staff here together.” 

BEAM is thrilled to announce our third class of College Scholars! This year, three students have been awarded a scholarship through Jane Street, a research-driven global trading firm that’s one of BEAM’s amazing corporate partners. Jane Street College Scholarships make it possible for BEAM students to attend strong-fit colleges that meet their academic goals, even when those schools do not meet 100% of financial need. 

Here are the stories of our College Scholar recipients, in their own words.

We are immensely proud to announce the recipients of the Jane Street and Hudson River Trading Summer STEM Stipends, awarded to BEAM high school students in partnership with Jane Street Capital and Hudson River Trading.