Tom Murray, the coordinator of the the math puzzle, has been kind enough to give CM permission to run the weekly Little Math Puzzle Contest (inspired by The Great Canadian Trivia Challenge.)

The holidays disrupted the schedules of both CM and the math puzzle, so there's a lot of catching up to do . . . but you can find archives of old questions and winners lists on the math puzzle web page: http://www.odyssee.net/~academy/mathpuzzle/mathpuzzlecontest.html

Royal West Academy (a high school) in Montreal, Quebec is sponsoring a little math puzzle contest.

This contest is open to all participants but is designed for students in grades five through ten. English will be the language used for all problems and if their solutions relate to a language, the language will be English.

January begins a new year of puzzles.
The thought for the year: ``Change your paradigm."

Contest Format:

The math puzzle is also available through SchoolNet; in CM, a new puzzle will be presented each Friday and the answers and winners from two weeks earlier will be posted. Answers are to be received by 8:00 a.m. eastern time the following Friday.

The answers will then be judged, and a correct answer, along with the winners' names, will be posted with the puzzle two weeks later.

Both individual students and entire classes are welcome to participate.

Do not to send your answers to CM.
Instead, please send all answers to Andrea Pollock and Alex Nazarov at the following address:

math_puzzle@rwa.psbgm.qc.ca

With your solution please include your names, school, grade, and e-mail address, and your city.

Question #15 was the following:

What are the next 2 letters in the sequence?

F, M, A, M, J, _J__, _A__

Answer #15:

The Winners -- Solvers of Puzzle #15

1. Neil Murray, Rudi Ellis, Jordan Cote, and the rest of Mr. Davis's grade 5 class Sheridan School, Oakville, Ontario.
2. Edgar Lee Lakewood Academy, Glenwood, nf
3. Jane Scaplen's grade 6 French Immersion class Sacred Heart Elementary - Marystown, Newfoundland
4. Sharyn Joffe, Mike Daly, Grade 6W Yorkhill Elementary School - Thornhill, Ontario
5. Lauren Yakemchuk, Lindsay Kozakevich - Mr. K's math 8K class Glen Avon Protestant School - St. Paul, Alberta.
6. Maren Layton, Julie Woodruff - Mr. Gary Hill's grade 7 class Chamberlain High School, Grassy Lake, Alberta
7. Ms. Dawson's class 73 PilgrimWood school - Oakville
8. Mrs. Dalton's Gr. 6 class Gibbons School - Gibbons, Alberta, Canada
9. Nisha Patel, Chris Pitre, Kiran Helferty, Andrew Bain, Evan Powell, Brijesh Patel, Ryan Cook, Brianne Kennedy, Kara Ciccarelli, Natalie Dacho, Tiffany Cater, Vincent Spano - Ms. Laudonio's grade 5 Gregory A. Hogan - Sarnia, Ontario
10. Eric Chow - Mrs. Ager's class St. Therese's school - Sarnia Ontario
11. Frank Spano and Shawn Andrews and Robbie Ciccarelli
12. Mrs. Pitt's class - Grade 6 Gregory Hogan - Sarnia, Ontario
13. John Gamble, 14 years old - Mrs. Delorme Gregory A Hogan School - Sarnia Ontario Canada
14. Chris Machado - Grade 8 Gregory A. Hogan School, Sarnia, Ont.
15. Class 81 - Ryan Neil, Greg Robertson, Gabrielle Yee, Gabriell Klosak, Chris Mileena, Dan Stolfi class 77 - Andrew Moller for all the people From College Avenue Public School Guelph Ontario Canada
16. Mr. Renaud's Gr.5 Class Response Mark Renaud ?
17. Mike Stanhope, Grade 5 - Mrs. N. Seamans Lakefield Elementary School - Quispamsis, N.B.
18. Grade 9 Math Class Oyen Public School - ? edc71205.edc.gov.ab.ca
19. Celeste Bryk - Grade 8 General Vanier School - Winnipeg, Manitoba
20. Nick Jacob, twelve years old, Mr. Burger's Gr. 7 class. St. Therese's school - Sarnia Ontario
21. Brenda MacKellar - Math teacher Cunard Junior High School - Halifax, Nova Scotia
22. Mrs. G's Sensational Sixes SunValley School - Winnipeg, Manitoba
23. Mrs Caplin's class Grade 6A Ler School Dalhousie N.B. Canada
24. Thomas Allan, 13 years old, in grade 8 Queen of Angels School - Duncan BC, Vancouver Island but I am doing this from home

    And the kind of vague:

25. Art Witham? MTEU-OECTA - Downsview
26. Donna? Brent Moyer, brent.moyer@sympatico.ca

Man seeks order and a pattern in all things.

Puzzle #16

What meaning can you find in the following?

YY U R YY U B I C U R YY 4 ME