Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
My two digit number is special because adding the sum of its digits to the product of its digits gives me my original number. What could my number be?
You have been given nine weights, one of which is slightly heavier than the rest. Can you work out which weight is heavier in just two weighings of the balance?
Do you notice anything about the solutions when you add and/or subtract consecutive negative numbers?
Can you arrange the numbers 1 to 17 in a row so that each adjacent pair adds up to a square number?
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.
Many numbers can be expressed as the sum of two or more consecutive integers. For example, 15=7+8 and 10=1+2+3+4. Can you say which numbers can be expressed in this way?
If these elves wear a different outfit every day for as many days as possible, how many days can their fun last?
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?
How many solutions can you find to this sum? Each of the different letters stands for a different number.
Can you find six numbers to go in the Daisy from which you can make all the numbers from 1 to a number bigger than 25?
Use the clues to work out which cities Mohamed, Sheng, Tanya and Bharat live in.
Make a pair of cubes that can be moved to show all the days of the month from the 1st to the 31st.
Charlie and Lynne put a counter on 42. They wondered if they could visit all the other numbers on their 1-100 board, moving the counter using just these two operations: x2 and -5. What do you think?
Starting with four different triangles, imagine you have an unlimited number of each type. How many different tetrahedra can you make? Convince us you have found them all.
A 2 by 3 rectangle contains 8 squares and a 3 by 4 rectangle contains 20 squares. What size rectangle(s) contain(s) exactly 100 squares? Can you find them all?
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.
What happens when you add three numbers together? Will your answer be odd or even? How do you know?
Tom and Ben visited Numberland. Use the maps to work out the number of points each of their routes scores.
Ben passed a third of his counters to Jack, Jack passed a quarter of his counters to Emma and Emma passed a fifth of her counters to Ben. After this they all had the same number of counters.
Sweets are given out to party-goers in a particular way. Investigate the total number of sweets received by people sitting in different positions.
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?
Advent Calendar 2011 - a mathematical activity for each day during the run-up to Christmas.
What can you say about these shapes? This problem challenges you to create shapes with different areas and perimeters.
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.
An investigation that gives you the opportunity to make and justify predictions.
Write the numbers up to 64 in an interesting way so that the shape they make at the end is interesting, different, more exciting ... than just a square.
Play the divisibility game to create numbers in which the first two digits make a number divisible by 2, the first three digits make a number divisible by 3...
Only one side of a two-slice toaster is working. What is the quickest way to toast both sides of three slices of bread?
Can you put the numbers 1-5 in the V shape so that both 'arms' have the same total?
Seven friends went to a fun fair with lots of scary rides. They decided to pair up for rides until each friend had ridden once with each of the others. What was the total number rides?
The NRICH team are always looking for new ways to engage teachers and pupils in problem solving. Here we explain the thinking behind maths trails.
Bellringers have a special way to write down the patterns they ring. Learn about these patterns and draw some of your own.
How many different journeys could you make if you were going to visit four stations in this network? How about if there were five stations? Can you predict the number of journeys for seven stations?
Find out what a "fault-free" rectangle is and try to make some of your own.
An irregular tetrahedron is composed of four different triangles. Can such a tetrahedron be constructed where the side lengths are 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 units of length?
How many ways can you find to do up all four buttons on my coat? How about if I had five buttons? Six ...?
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?
Different combinations of the weights available allow you to make different totals. Which totals can you make?
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?
Tim's class collected data about all their pets. Can you put the animal names under each column in the block graph using the information?
What is the date in February 2002 where the 8 digits are palindromic if the date is written in the British way?
What do the digits in the number fifteen add up to? How many other numbers have digits with the same total but no zeros?
Arrange the four number cards on the grid, according to the rules, to make a diagonal, vertical or horizontal line.
Alice and Brian are snails who live on a wall and can only travel along the cracks. Alice wants to go to see Brian. How far is the shortest route along the cracks? Is there more than one way to go?
How can you arrange the 5 cubes so that you need the smallest number of Brush Loads of paint to cover them? Try with other numbers of cubes as well.
There is a clock-face where the numbers have become all mixed up. Can you find out where all the numbers have got to from these ten statements?
The ancient Egyptians were said to make right-angled triangles using a rope with twelve equal sections divided by knots. What other triangles could you make if you had a rope like this?
What do the numbers shaded in blue on this hundred square have in common? What do you notice about the pink numbers? How about the shaded numbers in the other squares?
There are seven pots of plants in a greenhouse. They have lost their labels. Perhaps you can help re-label them.
Roll two red dice and a green dice. Add the two numbers on the red dice and take away the number on the green. What are all the different possibilities that could come up?