This year, all contests will be written on April 18, 2012

If you wish to purchase questionnaires of past contests, please click here

Dear Sir / Madam,

The Mathematics Contest Center prepares some of the top mathematics competitions in North America. Since 1990, more than 900 000 students (mostly Canadian) have participated in these contests. This year, we are extending an invitation to American schools to participate in our seven different contests: Thales (grade 3), Byron–Germain (grade 4), Fibonacci (grade 5), Pythagoras (grade 6), Euler (grade 7), Lagrange (grade 8), and Newton (grade 9). We hope that your students will participate this year.

UNESCO has declared that learning mathematics through problem solving activities is the most efficient way for students to develop lasting mathematical skills and one of the best ways to prepare them for the challenges of the future. With this in mind, we design contests that will challenge and promote the problem solving skills of all your students. To learn more about our educational mission, please go to www.mathematicacentrum.com and read our homepage letter. Schools who wish to receive previous contest questionnaires with detailed solutions to help them prepare their students can order them by completing the appropriate section of the registration form (please read N.B.1 on reverse side).

At the heart of our contests is the preparatory test (a shorter practice test for each contest which is posted on our web site). The preparatory test has 3 important functions :

Firstly : it defines the material of the students' curriculum that he or she must know to adequately prepare for the contest. It also defines the types of problems that will appear in the actual contest.

Secondly : the material covered, the terms used, and the wording of the problems in the contest itself is the same as that used in the preparatory test. The students therefore can understand the meaning of each question in the actual contest and any ambiguity that might arise otherwise can be eliminated.

Thirdly : by resolving and understanding every aspect of the preparatory test, the student knows that he is preparing for the contest itself. The preparatory test is therefore a source of great motivation.

The 2012 preparatory documents will be online in February. You will be able to download the detailed solutions of the preparatory test cost-free and at the same time, you will be able to show your students how to fill-out a response form correctly.