January 31, 2008
SUN LIFE FINANCIAL CANADIAN OPEN MATHEMATICS CHALLENGE CHAMPIONS
OTTAWA, Ontario - Seven students earn top honours and 16 students named provincial winners in the 2007 Sun Life Financial 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 7300 students from all across Canada wrote the twelfth Open on November 21, 2007. Students had to solve 12 questions during the two and one-half hour time limit.
"On behalf of Sun Life Financial, I extend my congratulations to the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge champions," said Dean Connor, President, Sun Life Financial Canada. "We are pleased to continue supporting the tradition of promoting excellence in mathematics - and future mathematicians - through our sponsorship of the CMS and this competition."
"The Sun Life Financial Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge is designed to provide an extra-curricular mathematics activity during the Fall term that is both accessible to a wide range of students and challenging to even the best students in the country," said Mr. Ian VanderBurgh, Director, CEMC (University of Waterloo), and Chair of the CMS COMC Committee. "In addition, the Open acts as a qualifying paper for the 2008 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad which will be written on March 26, 2008."
The top seven contestants in the 2007 Open are:
Bo Cheng Cui, West Vancouver Secondary School, West Vancouver,
BC; Dimitri Dziabenko, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, North
York, ON; Tony Feng, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA; Neil
Gurram, Indus Center for Academic Excellence (ICAE), Troy, MI;
Junjiajia Long, Glebe Collegiate Institute, Ottawa, ON;
Alexander Remorov, William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute,
North York, ON; Jonathan Schneider, University of Toronto
Schools, Toronto, ON.
For outstanding performance in the COMC, the 2007 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 - Chengcheng Gui, St. John's-Ravenscourt School, Winnipeg; New Brunswick - Joe Kileel, Fredericton High School, Fredericton; Newfoundland and Labrador - Mark Yang, Prince of Wales Collegiate Institute, St. John's; Nova Scotia - Kevin Tsai, King's-Edgehill School, Windsor; Ontario Central - Zhe Qu, Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School, Hamilton; Ontario East - Junjiajia Long, Glebe Collegiate Institute, Ottawa; Ontario Metro - Dimitri Dziabenko, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, North York; Jonathan Schneider, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto; Ontario North - Yuhan Chen, Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate Vocational Institute, Thunder Bay; Ontario West - Chen Sun, A.B. Lucas Secondary School, London; Prince Edward Island - Eman Wong, Colonel Gray Senior High School, Charlottetown; Québec - Nikita Lvov, Marianopolis College, Westmount; Saskatchewan - Weiliang Chen, Walter Murray Collegiate Institute, Saskatoon; International - Tony Feng, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts.
"All the winners have done extremely well on a very challenging competition and have demonstrated analytical and creative problem-solving skills that are so essential for a wide range of career options," said Dr. Neal Madras, York University and Chair of the CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee.
Approximately 75 of the top students from the 2007 Sun Life Financial Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge have been invited to write the 2008 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 2008 CMO and try to be one of six students who will be chosen to represent Canada at the 2008 International Mathematical Olympiad in Madrid, Spain 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 2007 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 director@cms.math.ca
or
Mr. Ian VanderBurgh
Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567, ext 32358 chair-comcc@cms.math.ca
