37TH CANADIAN MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD WINNERS

[Graham Wright]

For release: IMMEDIATE (May 12, 2005)


37TH CANADIAN MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD WINNERS

OTTAWA, Ontario -- Ten students receive top honours in the 37th 
Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO). The CMO, Canada's premier 
mathematics competition, is organized and administered by the Canadian 
Mathematical Society (CMS).  A total of 75 students from 49 Canadian 
schools were invited to write the 2005 CMO based upon their 
performance in the 2004 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC) 
(November 24, 2004), the CMS Correspondence Training Programme and 
other mathematics competitions. Students had to solve five difficult 
questions during the three hour 2005 CMO examination held on March 30, 
2005.

"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."

2005 Prize Winners:   The top winners in the 37th Canadian 
Mathematical Olympiad are:

FIRST PRIZE and the Sun Life Financial Cup goes to Peng Shi, Sir John 
A. MacDonald Collegiate Institute, Agincourt, Ontario. SECOND PRIZE 
goes to Yang (Richard) Peng, Vaughan Road Academy, Toronto, Ontario. 
THIRD PRIZE goes to Yufei Zhao, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, Don 
Mills, Ontario. HONOURABLE MENTIONS were awarded to: Boris Braverman, 
Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary, Alberta; Elyot Grant, 
Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute, Kitchener, Ontario; Zheng Guo, 
Western Canada High School, Calgary, Alberta; Oleg Ivrii, Don Mills 
Collegiate Institute, Don Mills, Ontario; Lin Fei, Don Mills 
Collegiate Institute, Don Mills, Ontario; Dong Uk (David) Rhee, 
McNally School, Edmonton, Alberta; and Shaun White, Vincent Massey 
Secondary School, Windsor, Ontario.

Almost 5800 students wrote the 2004 Canadian Open Mathematics 
Challenge and the winners of the 2004 Open and the 2005 CMO will be 
honoured at the CMS Awards Banquet which will take place at the 
University of Waterloo on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 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 2005 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 
Department of Education, Nova Scotia, 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. George Bluman
Chair, CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee
Department of Mathematics
University of British Columbia
bluman at math.ubc.ca
(604) 822-3044