MEDIA RELEASE April 24, 2002

OTTAWA, Ontario -- Ten students receive top honours in the 34th Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO). The CMO, Canada's premier mathematics competition, is organized and administered by the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS). A total of 81 students from 47 Canadian schools were invited to write the 2002 CMO based upon their performance in the 2001 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC) (November 28, 2001), the CMS Correspondence Training Programme and other mathematics competitions. Students had to solve five difficult questions during the three hour 2002 CMO examination held on March 27, 2002.

"To be an olympiad winner is a remarkable achievement" said Dr. Daryl Tingley, University of New Brunswick at Fredericton, and Chair of the CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee. "A real benefit of contests like the CMO is the motivation it gives students to explore problems not encountered in a standard school curriculum. It also helps students gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the role of Mathematics in the workplace."

2002 Prize Winners: The top winners in the 34th Canadian Mathematical Olympiad are:

First Prize and the Sun Life Financial Cup goes to Tianyi Han, Woburn Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario. Second Prize goes to Roger Mong, Don Mills Collegiate Institute Toronto, Ontario. Third Prize goes to Paul Cheng, West Vancouver Secondary School, West Vancouver, British Columbia. Honourable Mentions were awarded to Robert Barrington Leigh, Old Scona Academic High School, Edmonton, Alberta; Olena Bormashenko, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario; Xiaoxuan Jin, Vincent Massey Secondary School, Windsor, Ontario; Timothy Kusalik, Queen Elizabeth High School, Halifax, Nova Scotia; Cornwall Lau, David Thompson Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia; Feng Tian, Vincent Massey Secondary School, Windsor, Ontario; Yang Yang, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario.

More than 4,000 students wrote the 2001 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge and the winners of the 2001 Open and the 2002 CMO will be honoured at the CMS Awards Banquet which will take place at the University of Waterloo on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

"All of these winners have done extremely well in a very challenging competition. They have shown the critical problem solving skills and creativity which are so crucial in today's highly competitive global economy" said Dr. Graham Wright, Executive Director, Canadian Mathematical Society.

The Society is grateful for the support from the Sun Life Financial as the Major Sponsor of the 2002 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad and the other sponsors which include: the Ministry of Education, Ontario; the Ministry of Education, Quebec; Alberta Learning; Department of Education, New Brunswick; Department of Education, Newfoundland and Labrador; Department of Education, Northwest Territories; Department of Education Saskatchewan; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New Brunswick at Fredericton; the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, University of Waterloo; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa; the Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto; Nelson Thomson Learning and John Wiley and Sons Canada Ltd..

Problems, solutions and other contest information can be found at: www.cms.math.ca/Competitions/CMO/

Dr. Graham P. Wright
Canadian Mathematical Society Executive Director
(613) 562-5702

Dr. Daryl Tingley
Chair, CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee
Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
University of New Brunswick
(506) 453-4768