Canada Lynx Mathematical Competition
2023: For details about the 2023 Competition, click here.
Attack Math this Autumn!
The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is excited to announce the launch of a new mathematical competition open to students in grades K-12, and suggested for students in grades 7-12: the Canada Lynx Mathematical Competition (CLMC)! The CLMC is an inclusive national math contest that provides feedback upon the completion of the exam to help develop students skills in math. This competition was created to foster an interest in mathematics among students regardless of their skill level, to increase student confidence in their math abilities, and to present mathematics as a fun and playful subject to students. The CLMC will be available via PDF delivery.
The CLMC is 90 minutes long, consisting of 15 multiple-choice questions based on the grades 7-11 core curriculum.
The competition takes place at the end of September or beginning of October each year. This allows teachers to use the CLMC as an excellent tool to assess their students at the beginning of the school year! It also serves as great practice for students with advanced mathematical skills who wish to participate in the higher-challenge (and written solutions!) Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC) that takes place later in October.
By participating in the contest, students can earn a chance to win cool prizes and awards. Moreover, contestants in Canada that obtain a perfect score in the CLMC are invited to write the COMC free of charge. The COMC, in turn, is the primary gateway to the elite invitation-only tournaments, such as the Canadian Math Olympiad (CMO) and Canada’s team for the International Math Olympiad (IMO).
About the Canada Lynx (cat)
The Canada lynx may look like a slightly larger version of your housecat, but make no mistake, these boreal predators are ferocious! With big eyes and super hearing, Canada lynx are excellent night hunters. But they are not fast runners, so they have to be sneaky when it comes to catching prey. Usually, they find a hiding spot and wait for prey to come near — then they pounce. Some lynx will sit still for hours just to snatch a bite!
The Canada lynx has a short body, small tail and long legs. In winter, it sports a fur coat that is thick, long and grey. In summer, its coat is short, thin and light brown. Canada lynx look like they have wide faces, thanks to long patches of fur that grow out from their cheeks. They are most easily recognized by the black tips of their bobbed (short) tails and the long tufts on their triangle-shaped ears.
The Canada lynx closely resembles its southern forest-dwelling relative, the bobcat, but the truth is in the tail. Lynx tails are completely black-tipped, while bobcat tails have a white ring below the black tip. Canada lynx also have large, thick-furred paws that act like snowshoes, which help them hunt during winter.
Canada lynx live in forested areas throughout Canada, Alaska and parts of the contiguous United States. They make their dens underneath fallen trees, tree stumps, rock ledges or thick bushes. Canada lynx are territorial animals, and males live alone most of the time.
