MEDIA RELEASE — January 14, 2016

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Canadian Mathematical Society

OTTAWA, Ontario — Three students have received top national honours in a three-way tie after competing with almost 6,000 students across Canada and internationally – in the 20th annual 2015 Sun Life Financial Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC) – Canada’s premiere national mathematics competition.

Richard Chow (Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ont.), Thomas Guo (Olympiads Schools, North York, Ont.) and William Zhao (Richmond Hill H.S., Richmond Hill, Ont.) achieved the top score of 75/80 winning gold in the most prestigious category of Best in Canada Overall.

Guo, a grade 7 student at Olympiads School has earned gold, Best in Canada, Grade 8 or under. Zhao, a grade 9 student at Richmond Hill H.S has earned gold, Best in Canada, Grade 9. Chow, a grade 12 student at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute has earned gold, Best in Canada, Grade 12 or Cégep. Chow has competed since 2012, earning COMC honour roll each year, improving steadily from silver, Best in Toronto, Grade 9 in 2012. Last year, Chow made the COMC honour roll and earned gold, Best in Toronto, Grade 11.

“I always found the problems to be both fun and challenging. This year’s contest was no exception, and I am thankful to participate in the COMC. Every year I improved, and this year’s result is the best I have ever achieved. I learned a lot from participating, so would like to thank the CMS for conducting the contest.” said Chow.

Top national honours have been awarded to these Canadian students:

• Kai Sun, A.B. Lucas Secondary School (London, Ont.) – Canada Silver Award
• Ruizhou Yang, University Hill Secondary School (Vancouver, B.C.) – Canada Silver Award
• Zehao Zhou, A.Y. Jackson S.S. (North York, Ont.) – Canada Silver Award
• Steven Chow, Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute (Toronto, Ont.) – Canada Bronze Award
• Alex You, Olympic Educational Centre (Vancouver, B.C.) – Canada Bronze Award
• Daniel Zhou, Centennial Collegiate (Saskatoon, SK) – Canada Bronze Award

The top Canadian COMC students (66/80 or higher) are invited to the Sun Life Financial Canadian Mathematics Olympiad (CMO) in April. Canadian students with COMC scores between 55 and 66/80 are invited to the Sun Life Financial Qualifying Repêchage(CMOQR) in February.

The COMC is the first in a series of mathematics competitions held by the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) that leads to the selection of Math Team Canada – a group of Canada’s top students who participate at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). The 57th IMO will be held this summer in Hong Kong, July 6 to 16th.

Registration for COMC 2016 opens in September.