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#### Resources tagged with Working systematically similar to Penta Play:

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### There are 339 results

Broad Topics > Using, Applying and Reasoning about Mathematics > Working systematically

### Hexpentas

##### Stage: 1 and 2 Challenge Level:

How many different ways can you find of fitting five hexagons together? How will you know you have found all the ways?

### Red Even

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

You have 4 red and 5 blue counters. How many ways can they be placed on a 3 by 3 grid so that all the rows columns and diagonals have an even number of red counters?

### Counters

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Hover your mouse over the counters to see which ones will be removed. Click to remover them. The winner is the last one to remove a counter. How you can make sure you win?

### Map Folding

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Take a rectangle of paper and fold it in half, and half again, to make four smaller rectangles. How many different ways can you fold it up?

### Building with Longer Rods

##### Stage: 2 and 3 Challenge Level:

A challenging activity focusing on finding all possible ways of stacking rods.

### Single Track

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

What is the best way to shunt these carriages so that each train can continue its journey?

### Waiting for Blast Off

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

10 space travellers are waiting to board their spaceships. There are two rows of seats in the waiting room. Using the rules, where are they all sitting? Can you find all the possible ways?

### Open Boxes

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Can you work out how many cubes were used to make this open box? What size of open box could you make if you had 112 cubes?

### Shunting Puzzle

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Can you shunt the trucks so that the Cattle truck and the Sheep truck change places and the Engine is back on the main line?

### Display Boards

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Design an arrangement of display boards in the school hall which fits the requirements of different people.

### Tetrafit

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

A tetromino is made up of four squares joined edge to edge. Can this tetromino, together with 15 copies of itself, be used to cover an eight by eight chessboard?

### Arrangements

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Is it possible to place 2 counters on the 3 by 3 grid so that there is an even number of counters in every row and every column? How about if you have 3 counters or 4 counters or....?

### You Owe Me Five Farthings, Say the Bells of St Martin's

##### Stage: 3 Challenge Level:

Use the interactivity to listen to the bells ringing a pattern. Now it's your turn! Play one of the bells yourself. How do you know when it is your turn to ring?

### Difference

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Place the numbers 1 to 10 in the circles so that each number is the difference between the two numbers just below it.

### Sticks and Triangles

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Using different numbers of sticks, how many different triangles are you able to make? Can you make any rules about the numbers of sticks that make the most triangles?

### Making Maths: Double-sided Magic Square

##### Stage: 2 and 3 Challenge Level:

Make your own double-sided magic square. But can you complete both sides once you've made the pieces?

### A Square of Numbers

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Can you put the numbers 1 to 8 into the circles so that the four calculations are correct?

### Painting Possibilities

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

This task, written for the National Young Mathematicians' Award 2016, involves open-topped boxes made with interlocking cubes. Explore the number of units of paint that are needed to cover the boxes. . . .

### Seven Flipped

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Investigate the smallest number of moves it takes to turn these mats upside-down if you can only turn exactly three at a time.

### Celtic Knot

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Building up a simple Celtic knot. Try the interactivity or download the cards or have a go on squared paper.

### Knight's Swap

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Swap the stars with the moons, using only knights' moves (as on a chess board). What is the smallest number of moves possible?

### One to Fifteen

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Can you put the numbers from 1 to 15 on the circles so that no consecutive numbers lie anywhere along a continuous straight line?

### Creating Cubes

##### Stage: 2 and 3 Challenge Level:

Arrange 9 red cubes, 9 blue cubes and 9 yellow cubes into a large 3 by 3 cube. No row or column of cubes must contain two cubes of the same colour.

##### Stage: 3 Challenge Level:

How many different symmetrical shapes can you make by shading triangles or squares?

### Building with Rods

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

In how many ways can you stack these rods, following the rules?

### Combining Cuisenaire

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Can you find all the different ways of lining up these Cuisenaire rods?

### Cover the Tray

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

These practical challenges are all about making a 'tray' and covering it with paper.

### Four Triangles Puzzle

##### Stage: 1 and 2 Challenge Level:

Cut four triangles from a square as shown in the picture. How many different shapes can you make by fitting the four triangles back together?

### Two on Five

##### Stage: 1 and 2 Challenge Level:

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?

### When Will You Pay Me? Say the Bells of Old Bailey

##### Stage: 3 Challenge Level:

Use the interactivity to play two of the bells in a pattern. How do you know when it is your turn to ring, and how do you know which bell to ring?

### Two by One

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

An activity making various patterns with 2 x 1 rectangular tiles.

### Nine-pin Triangles

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

How many different triangles can you make on a circular pegboard that has nine pegs?

### Putting Two and Two Together

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

In how many ways can you fit two of these yellow triangles together? Can you predict the number of ways two blue triangles can be fitted together?

### Isosceles Triangles

##### Stage: 3 Challenge Level:

Draw some isosceles triangles with an area of $9$cm$^2$ and a vertex at (20,20). If all the vertices must have whole number coordinates, how many is it possible to draw?

### More Magic Potting Sheds

##### Stage: 3 Challenge Level:

The number of plants in Mr McGregor's magic potting shed increases overnight. He'd like to put the same number of plants in each of his gardens, planting one garden each day. How can he do it?

### Ratio Sudoku 1

##### Stage: 3 and 4 Challenge Level:

A Sudoku with clues as ratios.

##### Stage: 3 Challenge Level:

If you take a three by three square on a 1-10 addition square and multiply the diagonally opposite numbers together, what is the difference between these products. Why?

### Games Related to Nim

##### Stage: 1, 2, 3 and 4

This article for teachers describes several games, found on the site, all of which have a related structure that can be used to develop the skills of strategic planning.

### Eight Queens

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Place eight queens on an chessboard (an 8 by 8 grid) so that none can capture any of the others.

### 1 to 8

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Place the numbers 1 to 8 in the circles so that no consecutive numbers are joined by a line.

### Room Doubling

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Investigate the different ways you could split up these rooms so that you have double the number.

### Make Pairs

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Put 10 counters in a row. Find a way to arrange the counters into five pairs, evenly spaced in a row, in just 5 moves, using the rules.

### Ice Cream

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

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.

### Twin Corresponding Sudokus II

##### Stage: 3 and 4 Challenge Level:

Two sudokus in one. Challenge yourself to make the necessary connections.

### More on Mazes

##### Stage: 2 and 3

There is a long tradition of creating mazes throughout history and across the world. This article gives details of mazes you can visit and those that you can tackle on paper.

### Two Dots

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

Place eight dots on this diagram, so that there are only two dots on each straight line and only two dots on each circle.

### Peaches Today, Peaches Tomorrow....

##### Stage: 3 Challenge Level:

Whenever a monkey has peaches, he always keeps a fraction of them each day, gives the rest away, and then eats one. How long could he make his peaches last for?

### Magic Potting Sheds

##### Stage: 3 Challenge Level:

Mr McGregor has a magic potting shed. Overnight, the number of plants in it doubles. He'd like to put the same number of plants in each of three gardens, planting one garden each day. Can he do it?

### Neighbours

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

In a square in which the houses are evenly spaced, numbers 3 and 10 are opposite each other. What is the smallest and what is the largest possible number of houses in the square?

### Coded Hundred Square

##### Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

This 100 square jigsaw is written in code. It starts with 1 and ends with 100. Can you build it up?