Nine students earn top honours in national math competition

2014 Sun Life Financial Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Winners Announced

OTTAWA— The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is pleased to announce the 2014 winners of the 46th annual Sun Life Financial Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO) competition. The top winners are:

1st Prize and Sun Life Financial Cup: Zhuoqun (Alex) Song, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH;
2nd Prize: Kevin Sun, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH;
3rd Prize: Caleb Ji, The Bear Creek School, Redmond, WA.

The six students who received honourable mentions are: Yan (Bill) Huang, Stuart Academy, Princeton Junction, NJ; Zhi Xue (Toby) Chen, Markville Secondary School, Markham, ON; Xiaoze (Jerry) Wu, Marc Garneau C.I., Toronto, ON; Fei Wu, Upper Canada College, Toronto, ON; Nicholas Sun, Kennedy Jr. High, Lisle, IL; and Vahid Fazel-Rezai, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH.

“It is very encouraging to see the tremendous range of young mathematical talent displayed by the participants in 2014,” said CMS President, Keith Taylor, when announcing the results. “They all can be congratulated for the talent shown in this competition.”

The Sun Life Financial CMO is Canada’s national advanced mathematics competition. Students are invited by the CMS to participate in the competition based on their scores in the Sun Life Financial Canadian Open Math Challenge (COMC). Students who obtain the highest scores have the opportunity to be selected to be part of Math Team Canada – a team of six students who represent Canada at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).

“The 75 contestants invited to the competition were among the strongest Canadian mathematics students of high school age,” said Andrew Adler (British Columbia), Chair of the CMO Committee. “To solve even one of the five questions on the CMO requires going far beyond the usual high school curriculum.”

The Sun Life Financial CMO aims to foster and recognize high achievement in mathematics and to help in the selection of students to represent Canada in the IMO. Students selected as part of this year’s Math Team Canada will train at the Banff International Research Station before traveling to Cape Town, South Africa to compete in the 55th annual IMO.

Sun Life Financial has supported Canadian mathematics since 1943 and, most recently, as the title sponsor of the CMS national mathematics competitions.

For more information, contact:

About the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS)

The CMS is the main national organization whose goal is to promote and advance the discovery, learning, and application of mathematics. The Society's activities cover the whole spectrum of mathematics including: scientific meetings, research publications, and the promotion of excellence in mathematics education at all levels. The CMS annually sponsors mathematics competitions that recognize outstanding student achievements.