You're sitting in a classroom surrounded by really smart people. The instructor is speaking with a foreign accent, and you can understand only every third or fourth word. You have no idea what he's talking about.

Heck, you can't even make out the symbols he's scratching on the blackboard.

Welcome to the Boise Extravaganza in set Theory.

This weekend, mathematicians from all over the world gathered at Boise state University to discuss set theoretic research.

What is set theoretic research?

You'll have to figure that one out for yourself.

The Extravaganza, which began Friday, continues this morning. At 10 a.m., E. C. Milner will discuss the fixed-point property for posets, in Room 115 Math/Sciences Building.

If you haven't been in a math class in decades, get ready to be stumped. These folks don't even use numbers.

The conference is the brainchild of BSU math professors Tomek Bartoszynski and Marion Scheepers. Bartoszynski is a native of Poland; Scheepers is from South Africa.

"About four years ago, we decided that the most efficient way to share ideas is to invite people here," Scheepers said.

This year, the conference is attended by 25 set theorists from Canada, Israel, Germany, Switzerland and other nations. All men.

Women have attended in previous years, but Bartoszynski admits math is still pretty much a male discipline. For instance, he says, there are only three women among the 25 members of BSU's math faculty.

What do these guys get out of this conference?

"We learn some things from each other. We go home, and we think about things", Scheepers said.

They also appear to have a good time. In between presentations, groups flock to the blackboard to discuss the problems.

They exchange excited looks during discussions on F filters and continuously null additives.

They laugh, too.

It was hard to tell Saturday afternoon whether they were laughing at the diagram on the overhead or the giant neon arrow blinking over this reporter's head: Caution, female mathphobic.