36TH CANADIAN MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD WINNERS

[Graham Wright]

NEWS RELEASE

For release: IMMEDIATE (May 5, 2004)
Attention: Education Reporter, City Desk

	36TH CANADIAN MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD WINNERS

OTTAWA, Ontario -- Eleven students receive top honours in the 36th
Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO). The CMO, Canada's premier
mathematics competition, is organized and administered by the Canadian
Mathematical Society (CMS).  A total of 79 students from 51 Canadian
schools were invited to write the 2004 CMO based upon their
performance in the 2003 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC)
(November 26, 2003), the CMS Correspondence Training Programme and
other mathematics competitions. Students had to solve five difficult
questions during the three hour 2004 CMO examination held on March 31,
2004.

"We have some really outstanding mathematics students in Canada," said
Dr. Terry Visentin, University of Winnipeg, Chair of the CMS Canadian
Mathematical Olympiad Committee. "Contests like the CMO and COMC
motivate students to explore mathematical ideas not encountered in a
standard school curriculum."

2004 Prize Winners:   The top winners in the 36th Canadian
Mathematical Olympiad are:

FIRST PRIZE and the Sun Life Financial Cup goes to Yufei Zhao, Don
Mills Collegiate Institute, Don Mills, Ontario. SECOND PRIZE goes to
Jacob Tsimerman, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Ontario.
THIRD PRIZE goes to David Rhee, McNally School, Edmonton, Alberta.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS were awarded to: Boris Braverman, Simon Fraser
Junior High, Calgary, Alberta; Dennis Chuang, Strathcona-Tweedsmuir
School, Okotoks, Alberta; Gabriel Gauthier-Shalom, Marianopolis
College, Montreal, Quebec; Oleg Ivrii, Don Mills Collegiate Institute,
Don Mills, Ontario; János Kramár, University of Toronto Schools,
Toronto, Ontario; Andrew Mao, A.B. Lucas Secondary School, London,
Ontario; Richard Peng, Vaughan Road Academy, Toronto, Ontario; and
Peng Shi, Sir John A. MacDonald Collegiate Institute, Agincourt,
Ontario.

Almost 5,000 students wrote the 2003 Canadian Open Mathematics
Challenge and the winners of the 2003 Open and the 2004 CMO will be
honoured at the CMS Awards Banquet which will take place at the
University of Waterloo on Tuesday, June 15, 2004 from 5:30 p.m. to
8:00 p.m.

"All of these winners have done very well in a most 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 from the Sun Life Financial as
the Major Sponsor of the 2004 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad and the
other sponsors which include: Alberta Learning; Department of
Education, New Brunswick; the Department of Education, Newfoundland
and Labrador; the Department of Education, Northwest Territories; the
Ministry of Education, Ontario; the Ministry of Education, Quebec; the
Department of Education, Saskatchewan; Nelson Thomson Learning; John
Wiley and Sons Canada Ltd.; A.K. Peters; Maplesoft; the Department of
Mathematics, University of Winnipeg; the Department of Mathematics and
Statistics, University of New Brunswick at Fredericton; the Department
of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa; the Department of
Mathematics, University of Toronto; the Centre for Education in
Mathematics and Computing, University of Waterloo and the Department
of Mathematics, University of Western Ontario.

Problems, solutions and other contest information is available at:
www.cms.math.ca/Competitions/CMO/

For more information, contact:

Dr. Graham P. Wright
Canadian Mathematical Society Executive Director
director at cms.math.ca
(613) 562-5702

Dr. Terry Visentin
Chair, CMS Mathematical Olympiad Committee
Department of Mathematics
University of Winnipeg
T.Visentin at uwinnipeg.ca
(204) 786-9374

Dr. Peter Cass
Chair, CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee
Department of Mathematics
University of Western Ontario
fcass at uwo.ca
(519) 661-3639