Young Mathematicians Recognized for Their Creative Mathematical Solutions at the 2023 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad and Canadian Junior Mathematical Olympiad

OTTAWA, Ontario: The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is pleased to announce the results of the 55th Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO), Canada’s premier advanced mathematics competition. The competition was written by nearly 91 students on March 9, 2023.

The CMO is an invitation-based competition and this year’s students were invited to participate in the CMO based on the results of the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC), which took place in October 2022; and the Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Qualifying Repêchage (CMOQR), which took place in February 2022.

Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Committee Chair, Professor Pawel Pralat, extended his most sincere congratulations to the winners for their creativity and their mathematical skills:

The Canadian Mathematical Olympiad and Junior Olympiad (CMO/CJMO) are competitive exams that test students’ abilities and skills. Both are great platforms to show off the skills and knowledge of young minds. The students who succeeded have accomplished something quite remarkable. The winners showed an impressive mathematical ability and intuition.

Warren Bei (grade 9) of West Vancouver’s Rockridge Secondary School (BC) is the 2023 CMO Champion. In recognition of his remarkable achievement, he will receive a cash prize and his name will be added to the CMO Championship Cup. The cup is a full-sized trophy that permanently commemorates the champion and is normally loaned to their school to display for one year.

Warren also received the gold medal at the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge in 2021. When asked about the Canadian Mathematical Olympiad, Warren responded:

I enjoyed the CMO competition and am glad to receive the gold medal again. I love math and puzzles, and in my own club I met many like-minded students. Sharing and discussing math and puzzles has brought me a lot of joy. Every competition is exciting and I always look forward to interesting problems, like this year’s.  

 

The Canadian Mathematical Society extends its warmest congratulations to Warren on his incredible performance at this year’s CMO.

The CMS also wishes to congratulate the following prize-winners for their achievement:

Silver
Andrew Wen (Phillips Academy, Andover, MA)

Bronze
Marvin Mao (Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ)

Honourable Mentions

• Emily Ma (Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, Toronto, ON)
• Joshua Wang (Brookfield Central High School, Brookfield, WI)
• Kaixin Wang (Magee Secondary School, Vancouver, BC)
• Ming Yang (Brophy College Preparatory, Phoenix, AZ)

All students will be awarded a cash prize, of which the amount will vary depending on their individual results. The prizes are generously funded by CMS donors, sponsors, and partners.

The CMO 2023 was a great success, and the Canadian Mathematical Society would like to thank all who participated and congratulate them on being selected to take part in this important mathematical event.

Matthew Brennan Prize for Best Solution

The Matthew Brennan Prize for Best Solution honours International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) leader and former Olympian, Matthew Brennan, whose life was lost unexpectedly and before his time. The prize was created by the CMS in partnership with Matthew’s parents and awards 500 dollars to the participant with the best solution in the CMO.

The 2023 Matthew Brennan Prize will be awarded Ming Yang for his solution to Problem 3. When asked about Ming’s solution, IMO Chair James Rickards (CU Boulder) explained:

The question asked you to prove a geometric inequality, and he recasted the claim as a three variable inequality where the variables were shown to sum to 1 by a slick argument involving areas. The solution was finished with a direct application of Jensen’s inequality. The entire solution was just over half a page, and very elegant!

The CMS applauds Ming for his creative solution to the problem.

2023 Canadian Junior Mathematical Olympiad (CJMO)

This year, the Canadian Mathematical Society held the 4th annual Canadian Junior Mathematical Olympiad (CJMO), which is designed for younger students who do not write the CMO. 17 students wrote the CJMO on March 9, 2023. The junior competition is a rewarding experience which prepares participants for future participation in the CMO.

The winner of the 2023 CJMO is Perry Dai. Perry is grade 8 student at Toronto’s University of Toronto Schools. The CMS congratulates Perry for this impressive achievement.

The CMS also wishes to congratulate the following CJMO prize-winners for their achievement:

Silver
Raymond Ouyang (William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, North York, ON)

Honourable Mentions
Amos Zhang (University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, ON)
David Zhang (York Mills Collegiate Institute, Toronto ON)

All prize-winners will receive a cash prize, of which the amount will vary depending on their individual results. The prizes are generously funded by CMS donors, sponsors, and partners.

Click here to view a complete list of results as well as the problems and solutions presented this year.

About the Canadian Mathematical Olympiad

The Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO) is Canada’s premier national advanced mathematics competition. Candidates require an invitation from the Canadian Mathematical Society to participate. The competition consists of five highly challenging questions requiring fully justified written solutions. The results of the CMO factor strongly in CMS’ selection process for the Canadian teams participation at international Olympiads.

About the Canadian Junior Mathematical Olympiad

The Canadian Junior Mathematical Olympiad (CJMO) is an advanced mathematics competition created for students up to grade 10. It is invitational and takes place at the same time as the CMO. The CJMO consists of five challenging questions designed for students up to grade 10. Each question requires a fully-justified written solution.

About the Matthew Brennan Prize for Best Solution

The Matthew Brennan Prize for Best Solution honours International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) leader and former Olympian, Matthew Brennan, whose life was lost unexpectedly and before his time. The prize was created by the CMS in partnership with Matthew’s parents and awards 500 dollars to the participant with the best solution in the CMO.

Matt was born in Toronto and attended Upper Canada College from Grades one through twelve. In 2012, he started at the MIT, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and in Mathematics in 2016, and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2018. His Master’s thesis, entitled “Reducibility and Computational Lower Bounds for Problems with Planted Sparse Structure”, was awarded the Ernst A. Guillemin Award for Best Thesis in Electrical Engineering. At the time of his death, Matt was in the final year of his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and had been awarded a Miller Fellowship at UC Berkeley starting in the fall of 2021. Matt’s main research interests were the theoretical aspects of machine learning and probability theory.

Matt represented Canada twice at the International Mathematical Olympiad, earning a bronze medal in 2011 and a gold medal in 2012. He returned to the IMO as deputy leader observer in 2014 and 2017, and was the leader in 2019. Matt was passionate about Olympiad math, and had served on the Canadian Mathematical Olympiad committee since 2014. He also contributed extensively to problem creation and selection. In addition to having had two problems included on to the IMO shortlist, in any average year three of the five CMO problems were proposed by Matt. His dream in life was that after a long academic career, he would do contest problems all day as a professor emeritus.

When Matt was not doing research or Olympiad problems, he was likely playing basketball. In addition to spending hours and hours practicing and playing pick-up, he played on three different intramural teams. Even at the IMO training camps, he was constantly itching to play.

About the Canadian Mathematical Society

The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is the main national organization whose goal is to promote and advance the discovery, learning and application of mathematics. The Society’s activities cover the whole spectrum of mathematics including meetings, research publications, and the promotion of excellence in mathematics competitions that recognize outstanding student achievements.

The Society would like to graciously acknowledge the support of its sponsors as well as other corporate, government, and academic partners.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Pawel Pralat (Ryerson) Chair, Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Committee Canadian Mathematical Society chair-cmoc@cms.math.ca

or

Dr. James Rickards (CU Boulder) Chair, International Mathematical Olympiad Committee Canadian Mathematical Society chair-imoc@cms.math.ca