[cmath] TENTH CANADIAN OPEN MATHEMATICS CHALLENGE CHAMPIONS

[Graham Wright]

For release: IMMEDIATE (March 27, 2006)

TENTH CANADIAN OPEN MATHEMATICS CHALLENGE CHAMPIONS

OTTAWA, Ontario - Five students earn top honours and 16 students named 
provincial winners in the 2005 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 
6300 students from all across Canada wrote the tenth Open on November 
23, 2005.  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 Mr. Ian VanderBurgh, University of 
Waterloo, and Chair of the CMS COMC Committee.  "In addition, the Open 
acts as a qualifying paper for the 2006 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad 
which will be written on March 29, 2006."

The top five contestants in the 2005 Open are:

Farzin Barekat, Sutherland Secondary School, North Vancouver, BC; 
Boris Braverman, Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary, AB; 
David Rhee, McNally Composite High School, Edmonton, AB; Peng Shi, Sir 
John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute, Scarborough, ON;  Allen Zhang, 
St. George's School, Vancouver, BC.

For outstanding performance in the COMC, the 2005 Open Provincial 
Winners are:

Alberta - Boris Braverman, Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary; 
British Columbia - Farzin Barekat, Sutherland Secondary School, North 
Vancouver, and Allen Zhang, St. Georges School, Vancouver; Manitoba - 
Yuchen Mu, St. John's-Ravenscourt School, Winnipeg;  New Brunswick - 
Wei Zhong Ye, Fredericton High School, Fredericton; Newfoundland and 
Labrador - Roger He, Prince of Wales Collegiate Institute, St. John's, 
and Mark Yang, Prince of Wales Collegiate Institute, St. John's; Nova 
Scotia - Ethan Macaulay, The Halifax Grammar School, Halifax; Ontario 
Central - Yongho Park, Richmond Hills High School, Richmond Hill; 
Ontario East - Alan Guo, O'Neill Collegiate Vocational Institute, 
Oshawa; Ontario Metro - Peng Shi, Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate 
Institute, Scarborough; Ontario North - Yuhan Chen, Sir Winston 
Churchill Collegiate Vocational Institute, Thunder Bay; Ontario West - 
Chen Sun, London Central Secondary School, London;   Prince Edward 
Island - John Paul Masson, Charlottetown Rural High School, 
Charlottetown;  Québec - Chenglong Zou, John Abbott College, Ste. Anne 
de Bellevue; Saskatchewan - Bobby Xiao, 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 75 of the top students from the 2005 Canadian Open 
Mathematics Challenge have been invited to write the 2006 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 2006 CMO and try to be one of 
six students who will be chosen to represent Canada at the 2006 
International Mathematical Olympiad in Ljubljana, Slovenia 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 2005 Open results, questions and solutions are available at:
www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/english/contests/open.shtml

For more information, contact:

Dr. Graham P. Wright
Executive Director
Canadian Mathematical Society
(613) 562-5702

Mr. Ian VanderBurgh
Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567, ext 2358