Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
If you have three circular objects, you could arrange them so that they are separate, touching, overlapping or inside each other. Can you investigate all the different possibilities?
When newspaper pages get separated at home we have to try to sort them out and get things in the correct order. How many ways can we arrange these pages so that the numbering may be different?
The challenge here is to find as many routes as you can for a fence to go so that this town is divided up into two halves, each with 8 blocks.
If we had 16 light bars which digital numbers could we make? How will you know you've found them all?
You cannot choose a selection of ice cream flavours that includes totally what someone has already chosen. Have a go and find all the different ways in which seven children can have ice cream.
Use the interactivity to help get a feel for this problem and to find out all the possible ways the balls could land.
Ana and Ross looked in a trunk in the attic. They found old cloaks and gowns, hats and masks. How many possible costumes could they make?
Place the 16 different combinations of cup/saucer in this 4 by 4 arrangement so that no row or column contains more than one cup or saucer of the same colour.
Let's suppose that you are going to have a magazine which has 16 pages of A5 size. Can you find some different ways to make these pages? Investigate the pattern for each if you number the pages.
A dog is looking for a good place to bury his bone. Can you work out where he started and ended in each case? What possible routes could he have taken?
Using the cards 2, 4, 6, 8, +, - and =, what number statements can you make?
Investigate the different ways you could split up these rooms so that you have double the number.
Take 5 cubes of one colour and 2 of another colour. How many different ways can you join them if the 5 must touch the table and the 2 must not touch the table?
Place the numbers 1 to 8 in the circles so that no consecutive numbers are joined by a line.
Look carefully at the numbers. What do you notice? Can you make another square using the numbers 1 to 16, that displays the same properties?
A thoughtful shepherd used bales of straw to protect the area around his lambs. Explore how you can arrange the bales.
Place eight queens on an chessboard (an 8 by 8 grid) so that none can capture any of the others.
Nina must cook some pasta for 15 minutes but she only has a 7-minute sand-timer and an 11-minute sand-timer. How can she use these timers to measure exactly 15 minutes?
Find all the numbers that can be made by adding the dots on two dice.
In how many ways could Mrs Beeswax put ten coins into her three puddings so that each pudding ended up with at least two coins?
Can you draw a square in which the perimeter is numerically equal to the area?
This magic square has operations written in it, to make it into a maze. Start wherever you like, go through every cell and go out a total of 15!
A merchant brings four bars of gold to a jeweller. How can the jeweller use the scales just twice to identify the lighter, fake bar?
Investigate all the different squares you can make on this 5 by 5 grid by making your starting side go from the bottom left hand point. Can you find out the areas of all these squares?
How could you put eight beanbags in the hoops so that there are four in the blue hoop, five in the red and six in the yellow? Can you find all the ways of doing this?
This 100 square jigsaw is written in code. It starts with 1 and ends with 100. Can you build it up?
This problem focuses on Dienes' Logiblocs. What is the same and what is different about these pairs of shapes? Can you describe the shapes in the picture?
In the planet system of Octa the planets are arranged in the shape of an octahedron. How many different routes could be taken to get from Planet A to Planet Zargon?
How many triangles can you make using sticks that are 3cm, 4cm and 5cm long?
How many different triangles can you make on a circular pegboard that has nine pegs?
What can you say about these shapes? This problem challenges you to create shapes with different areas and perimeters.
What is the greatest number of counters you can place on the grid below without four of them lying at the corners of a square?
Use these head, body and leg pieces to make Robot Monsters which are different heights.
Moira is late for school. What is the shortest route she can take from the school gates to the entrance?
Try out the lottery that is played in a far-away land. What is the chance of winning?
How many different triangles can you draw on the dotty grid which each have one dot in the middle?
Kate has eight multilink cubes. She has two red ones, two yellow, two green and two blue. She wants to fit them together to make a cube so that each colour shows on each face just once.
Imagine that the puzzle pieces of a jigsaw are roughly a rectangular shape and all the same size. How many different puzzle pieces could there be?
Can you put the 25 coloured tiles into the 5 x 5 square so that no column, no row and no diagonal line have tiles of the same colour in them?
Arrange eight of the numbers between 1 and 9 in the Polo Square below so that each side adds to the same total.
Building up a simple Celtic knot. Try the interactivity or download the cards or have a go on squared paper.
This problem is based on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Investigate the different numbers of people and rats there could have been if you know how many legs there are altogether!
How many different ways can you find of fitting five hexagons together? How will you know you have found all the ways?
Cut differently-sized square corners from a square piece of paper to make boxes without lids. Do they all have the same volume?
How many DIFFERENT quadrilaterals can be made by joining the dots on the 8-point circle?
This challenge is to design different step arrangements, which must go along a distance of 6 on the steps and must end up at 6 high.
Move from the START to the FINISH by moving across or down to the next square. Can you find a route to make these totals?
Zumf makes spectacles for the residents of the planet Zargon, who have either 3 eyes or 4 eyes. How many lenses will Zumf need to make all the different orders for 9 families?
Your challenge is to find the longest way through the network following this rule. You can start and finish anywhere, and with any shape, as long as you follow the correct order.
In this challenge, buckets come in five different sizes. If you choose some buckets, can you investigate the different ways in which they can be filled?