CANADIAN OPEN MATHEMATICS CHALLENGE CHAMPIONS

[Graham Wright]

For release: IMMEDIATE (February 16, 2005)

CANADIAN OPEN MATHEMATICS CHALLENGE CHAMPIONS

OTTAWA, Ontario - Six students earn top honours and 14 students are
provincial champions in the 2004 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
5750 students from all across Canada wrote the ninth Open on November
27, 2004.  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 Professor Peter Crippin, University of
Waterloo, and Chair of the CMS COMC Committee.  "In addition, the Open
acts as a qualifying paper for the 2005 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad
which will be written on March 30, 2005."

The top six contestants in the 2004 Open are:

Francis Chung, A.B. Lucas Secondary School, London, ON;  Oleg Ivrii,
Don Mills Collegiate Institute, Don Mills, ON; Taotao Liu, Vincent
Massey Secondary School, Windsor, ON; Richard Peng, Vaughan Road
Academy, Toronto, ON; David Rhee, McNally Composite High School,
Edmonton, AB; and Geoffrey Siu, London Central Secondary School,
London, ON.

For outstanding performance in the COMC, the top contestants in a
region are selected as the Provincial Winners.  The 2004 Open
Provincial Winners are:

Alberta - David Rhee, McNally Composite High School, Edmonton; British
Columbia  - Rongtao Dan, Point Grey Secondary School, Vancouver;
Manitoba - Yuchen Mu, St. John's Ravenscourt School, Winnepeg;  New
Brunswick - Chen Li, Fredericton High School, Fredericton;
Newfoundland and Labrador - Christopher Mong, Holy Heart of Mary
Regional High School, St. John's; Nova Scotia -  Keran Xu, The Halifax
Grammar School, Halifax; Ontario Central - Qi Yao, Glenforest
Secondary School, Mississauga; Ontario East - Ying Li,  Lisgar
Collegiate Institute, Ottawa; Ontario Metro - Oleg Ivrii, Don Mills
Collegiate Institute, Don Mills; Ontario North - Megan Lickley,
Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, Sudbury; Ontario West - Geoffrey Siu,
London Central Secondary School, London; Prince Edward Island -
Mostafa Fatehi, Colonel Gray Secondary High School, Charlottetown;
Québec - Karol Przybytkowski, Marianopolis College, Montréal; ,
Saskatchewan - Jia Xi Sun, Walter Murray Collegiate Institute,
Saskatoon.

"All the winners have done extremely well on a very challenging
competition and have demonstrated the essential and creative problem
solving skills so essential in today's workplace," said Dr. George
Bluman, University of British Columbia and Chair of the CMS
Mathematical Competitions Committee.  "Students with excellent problem
solving skills are vital if Canada is to be competitive in the global
marketplace."

Approximately 70 of the top students from the 2004 Canadian Open
Mathematics Challenge are being invited to write the 2005 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 2005 CMO and try to be one of
six students who will be chosen to represent Canada at the 2005
International Mathematical Olympiad in Merida, Mexico 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 2004 Open results, questions and solutions are available at:
http://www.cmc.uwaterloo.ca/english/contests/open.shtml

For more information, contact:
Dr. Graham P. Wright
Executive Director
Canadian Mathematical Society
(613) 562-5702

or

Dr. George Bluman
Department of Mathematics
University of British Columbia
(604) 822-3044

or

Professor Peter Crippin
Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567, ext 3480