OTTAWA, Ontario - Five students earn top honours and 16 students named provincial winners in the 2006 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC). The COMC is organized and administered by the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) in collaboration with the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (University of Waterloo). Over 7000 students from all across Canada wrote the eleventh Open on November 22, 2006. 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 Mr. Ian VanderBurgh, University of Waterloo, and Chair of the CMS COMC Committee. "In addition, the Open acts as a qualifying paper for the 2007 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad which will be written on March 28, 2007."

The top five contestants in the 2006 Open are:
Bo Cheng Cui, West Vancouver Secondary School, West Vancouver, BC; Jia Guo, O'Neill Collegiate Vocational Institute, Oshawa, ON; Yan Li, Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute, Scarborough, ON; Jeremy Pham, The Advanced Academy of Georgia, Carrollton, GA, USA; Danny Shi, Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary, AB.

For outstanding performance in the COMC, the 2006 Open Provincial Winners are:
Alberta - Danny Shi, Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary; British Columbia - Bo Cheng Cui, West Vancouver Secondary School, West Vancouver; Manitoba - Kedi Wang, Fort Richmond Collegiate Institute, Winnipeg; New Brunswick - Joe Kileel, Fredericton High School, Fredericton; Newfoundland and Labrador - Mark Yang, Prince of Wales Collegiate Institute, St. John's; Nova Scotia - Linhe Li, Queen Elizabeth High School, Halifax; Ontario Central - Sina Makaremi, John Fraser Secondary School, Mississauga, Yifan Wang, Laura Secord Secondary School, St. Catherines; Ontario East - Jia Guo, O'Neill Collegiate Vocational Institute, Oshawa; Ontario Metro - Yan Li, Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute, Scarborough; Ontario North - Xinyang Zhang, Orillia District Collegiate Vocational Institute, Orillia; Ontario West - Andy Kong, Vincent Massey Secondary School, Windsor; Prince Edward Island - Yufeng Chen, Colonel Gray Secondary High School, Charlottetown; Québec - Ran Li, E.S. Honore-Mercier, Montreal; Saskatchewan - Bobby Xiao, Walter Murray Collegiate Institute, Saskatoon; Northwest Territories - Nicholas Coffin, F.H. Collins School, Whitehorse.

2006 CANADIAN OPEN CHAMPIONS

"All the winners have done extremely well on a very challenging competition and have demonstrated the essential and creative problem solving skills so essential if Canada is to be competitive in the global marketplace," said Dr. Ed Barbeau, University of Toronto and Chair of the CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee.

Approximately 75 of the top students from the 2006 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge have been invited to write the 2007 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO). The CMO is Canada's premier mathematics competition organized and administered by the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS). "These top students will be busy honing their problem solving skills as they prepare for the 2007 CMO and try to be one of six students who will be chosen to represent Canada at the 2007 International Mathematical Olympiad in Hanoi, Vietnam in July," said Dr. Graham Wright, CMS Executive Director. "These valuable enrichment activities are only possible because of the voluntary help received from many school, college and university teachers."

The 2006 Open results, questions and solutions are available at:
www.cms.math.ca/Competitions/COMC/

For more information, contact:

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

Mr. Ian VanderBurgh
Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567, ext 32358