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."

Prize Winners: 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

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

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