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Start Cube Drilling

Stage: 1 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3

Thank you to those of you who sent in solutions to this problem: James from Kings Road Primary School, Harry from Great Addington and Robert from Ashmead Combined School. A group from The King's School, Macclesfield explained very clearly how they visualised the solution:

The first drilling drilled through 12 cubes in total from front to back.
The second drilling drilled through 12 cubes as well from top to bottom, but 8 of them were already drilled through. So 4 cubes were newly drilled.
So, 12 + 4 = 16 cubes were drilled through altogether.
The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice. More information on many of our other activities can be found here.
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NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.