OTTAWA, Ontario -- Eight students earn top honours and 21 students are provincial champions in the 2003 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC). The COMC is the organized and administered by the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) in collaboration with the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (University of Waterloo). Over 5000 students from all across Canada wrote the eighth Open on November 26, 2003. Students had to solve 12 questions during the two and one-half hour time limit.

"The Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge is designed to motivate students beyond their regular classroom work and provide a mathematics enrichment challenge", said Professor Peter Crippin, University of Waterloo, and Chair of the CMS COMC Committee. "In addition, the Open acts as a qualifying paper for the 2004 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad which will be written on March 31, 2004."

Prize Winners: The top eight winners in the 2003 Open are:
Qi Chen, Cornwall Collegiate Institute and Vocational School, Cornwall, ON; Janos Kramar, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, ON; Yang Liu, Francis Libermann Collegiate High School, Scarborough, ON; Richard Peng, Vaughan Road Academy, Toronto, ON; David Rhee, McNally Composite High School, Edmonton, AB; John Sun, Vincent Massey Secondary School, Windsor, ON; Jacob Tsimerman, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, ON; and Peter Zhang, Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary, AB.

For outstanding performance in the COMC, the top contestants in a region are selected as the Provincial Winners. The 2003 Open Provincial Winners are:
David Rhee, McNally Composite High School, Edmonton, Alberta; Peter Zhang, Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, Calgary, Alberta; Rongtao Dan, Point Grey Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia; Chen Huang, Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia; John Zhou, Centennial Senior Secondary School, Coquitlam, British Columbia; Michael Lipnowski, St. John's-Ravenscourt School, Winnipeg, Manitoba; Daniel Scott, Fredericton High School, Fredericton, New Brunswick; Bo Tang Yu, Saint John High School, Saint John, New Brunswick; Andrew Critch, Clarenville Integrated High School, Clarenville, Newfoundland; Robert Embree, Dr. John Hugh Gillis School, Antigonish, Nova Scotia; Jaehun Kim, Bayview Secondary School, Richmond Hill, Ontario Central; Jaeseung Kim, Westmount Collegiate Institute, Thornhill, Ontario Central; Qi Chen, Cornwall Collegiate Institute and Vocational School, Cornwall, Ontario East; C. Silvia Li, Lisgar Collegiate Institute, Ottawa, Ontario East; Jacob Tsimerman, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Ontario Metro; Megan Lickley, Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, Sudbury, Ontario North; John Sun, Vincent Massey Secondary School, Ontario West; Koji Abei, Charlottetown Rural High School, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Yin Ge, Marianopolis College, Montréal, Québec; Si Zhang, Aden Bowman Collegiate Institute, Regina, Saskatchewan; Luke Lebel, F.H. Collins School, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

"All the winners have done extremely well on a very challenging competition and have demonstrated the essential and creative problem solving skills so essential in today's workplace", said Dr. Peter Cass, University of Western Ontario, and Chair of the CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee. "Students with excellent problem solving skills are vital if Canada is to be competitive in the global marketplace."

Approximately 80 of the top students from the 2003 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge are being invited to write the 2004 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO). The CMO is Canada's premier mathematics competition organized and administered by the Canadian Mathematical Society. "These top students will be busy honing their problem solving skills as they prepare for the 2004 CMO and try to be one of six students who will be chosen to represent Canada at the 2004 International Mathematical Olympiad in Athens, Greece in July", said Dr. Graham Wright, Executive Director, Canadian Mathematical Society. "These valuable enrichment activities are only possible because of the voluntary help received from many school, college and university teachers."

The 2003 results, questions and solutions are available at:

http://contest-cemc.uwaterloo.ca/results/2003-2004/2003_comc_results_ef.pdf

For more information, contact:

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

or

Dr. Peter Cass
Department of Mathematics
University of Western Ontario
(519) 661-2111, ext 86523

Professor Peter Crippin
Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567, ext 3480