Reading list

Recommended Reading

Textbooks and references for CAIO preparation, from the mathematics Round 1 asks by hand through the classical ML Round 2 asks you to fit. Free editions are listed first where they exist.

Official & contest

3 books

CAIO official site
IAIO Canada
Dates and registrationOpen →
Prepare — past papers
IAIO Canada
Free2025 set and practice testsOpen →
IAIO
IAIO
Where Team Canada competesOpen →

Math & reasoning

3 books

Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
Russell & Norvig
Search, logic, CSPOpen →
Think Bayes
Allen Downey
FreeBayesian updates by handOpen →
Mathematics for Machine Learning
Deisenroth, Faisal, Ong
FreeLinear algebra and probabilityOpen →

Classical ML

3 books

scikit-learn user guide
scikit-learn developers
FreeRound 2 default stackOpen →
The Elements of Statistical Learning
Hastie, Tibshirani, Friedman
FreeTrees, kernels, boostingOpen →
An Introduction to Statistical Learning
James, Witten, Hastie, Tibshirani
FreeShorter ESL companionOpen →

Applied sitting

2 books

Google Colab
Google
FreeThe Round 2 environmentOpen →
pandas documentation
pandas
FreeThe opening blockOpen →

Official CAIO links

First-party pages for rules and registration: not part of this guide.

Reading list