MEDIA RELEASE May 25, 2007

OTTAWA, Ontario - Seven students receive top honours in the 39th Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO). The CMO, Canada's premier mathematics competition, is organized and administered by the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS). A total of 76 students from over 50 schools wrote the 2007 CMO based upon their performance in the 2006 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC) (November 22, 2006), the CMS Correspondence Training Program and other mathematics competitions. Students had to solve five difficult questions during the three hour 2007 CMO examination held on March 28, 2007.

"Preparing for the Olympiad gives students the incentive to explore mathematics beyond the regular curriculum. The candidates become very knowledgeable and skilful at mathematics, and I congratulate the winners of this year's Canadian Mathematical Olympiad." said Dr. Edward Barbeau, University of Toronto, and Chair of the CMS Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Committee.

2007 Prize Winners: The top winners in the 39th Canadian Mathematical Olympiad are: FIRST PRIZE and the Sun Life Financial Cup - Yan Li, Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute, Scarborough, ON; SECOND PRIZE - Jonathan Schneider, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, ON; THIRD PRIZE - Jarno Sun, Western Canada High School, Calgary, AB. HONOURABLE MENTIONS were awarded to: Jia Guo, O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute, Oshawa, ON; Kent Huynh, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, ON; Steven Karp, Lord Byng Secondary School, Vancouver, BC; and Alexander Remorov, William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, North York, ON.

Over 7000 students wrote the 2006 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge and the winners of the 2006 Open and the 2007 CMO will be honoured at the CMS Awards Banquet which will take place at Renison College, University of Waterloo, on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

"All of these winners have done very well in a very 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 received from Sun Life Financial; Alberta Learning; Department of Education (New Brunswick); the Department of Education (Newfoundland and Labrador); the Department of Education (Northwest Territories); the Department of Education (Nova Scotia); the Ministry of Education (Ontario); the Department of Education (Saskatchewan); Nelson Thomson Learning; John Wiley and Sons Canada Ltd.; A.K. Peters Ltd.; Maplesoft; the Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Calgary; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Regina; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University; the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, University of Waterloo; and the Department of Mathematics, Wilfrid Laurier University.

Problems, solutions and other contest information is available at:
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

or

Dr. Edward Barbeau
Chair, CMS Mathematical Olympiad Committee
Department of Mathematics
University of Toronto
barbeau@math.toronto.edu
(416) 653-1961