MEDIA RELEASE May 5, 2004

OTTAWA, Ontario -- Eleven students receive top honours in the 36th Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO). The CMO, Canada's premier mathematics competition, is organized and administered by the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS). A total of 79 students from 51 Canadian schools were invited to write the 2004 CMO based upon their performance in the 2003 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC) (November 26, 2003), the CMS Correspondence Training Programme and other mathematics competitions. Students had to solve five difficult questions during the three hour 2004 CMO examination held on March 31, 2004.

"We have some really outstanding mathematics students in Canada," said Dr. Terry Visentin, University of Winnipeg, Chair of the CMS Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Committee. "Contests like the CMO and COMC motivate students to explore mathematical ideas not encountered in a standard school curriculum."

2004 Prize Winners: The top winners in the 36th Canadian Mathematical Olympiad are:

FIRST PRIZE and the Sun Life Financial Cup goes to Yufei Zhao, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, Don Mills, Ontario. SECOND PRIZE goes to Jacob Tsimerman, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Ontario. THIRD PRIZE goes to David Rhee, McNally School, Edmonton, Alberta. HONOURABLE MENTIONS were awarded to: Boris Braverman, Simon Fraser Junior High, Calgary, Alberta; Dennis Chuang, Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School, Okotoks, Alberta; Gabriel Gauthier-Shalom, Marianopolis College, Montreal, Quebec; Oleg Ivrii, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, Don Mills, Ontario; János Kramár, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Ontario; Andrew Mao, A.B. Lucas Secondary School, London, Ontario; Richard Peng, Vaughan Road Academy, Toronto, Ontario; and Peng Shi, Sir John A. MacDonald Collegiate Institute, Agincourt, Ontario.

Almost 5,000 students wrote the 2003 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge and the winners of the 2003 Open and the 2004 CMO will be honoured at the CMS Awards Banquet which will take place at the University of Waterloo on Tuesday, June 15, 2004 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

"All of these winners have done very well in a most challenging competition. The students who participate in these competitions develop the creative problem solving skills so valuable in today's workplace." 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 2004 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad and the other sponsors which include: Alberta Learning; Department of Education, New Brunswick; the Department of Education, Newfoundland and Labrador; the Department of Education, Northwest Territories; the Ministry of Education, Ontario; the Ministry of Education, Quebec; the Department of Education, Saskatchewan; Nelson Thomson Learning; John Wiley and Sons Canada Ltd.; A.K. Peters; Maplesoft; the Department of Mathematics, University of Winnipeg; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New Brunswick at Fredericton; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa; the Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto; the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, University of Waterloo and the Department of Mathematics, University of Western Ontario.

Problems, solutions and other contest information is available at: www.cms.math.ca/Competitions/CMO/

For more information, contact:

Dr. Graham P. Wright
Canadian Mathematical Society Executive Director
director@cms.math.ca
(613) 562-5702

Dr. Terry Visentin
Chair, CMS Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Committee
Department of Mathematics
University of Winnipeg
T.Visentin@uwinnipeg.ca
(204) 786-9374

Dr. Peter Cass
Chair, CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee
Department of Mathematics
University of Western Ontario
fcass@uwo.ca
(519) 661-3639