Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
This is about a fiendishly difficult jigsaw and how to solve it using a computer program.
It is possible to identify a particular card out of a pack of 15 with the use of some mathematical reasoning. What is this reasoning and can it be applied to other numbers of cards?
Problem solving is at the heart of the NRICH site. All the problems give learners opportunities to learn, develop or use mathematical concepts and skills. Read here for more information.
Can you recreate these designs? What are the basic units? What movement is required between each unit? Some elegant use of procedures will help - variables not essential.
Time for a little mathemagic! Choose any five cards from a pack and show four of them to your partner. How can they work out the fifth?
Imagine a stack of numbered cards with one on top. Discard the top, put the next card to the bottom and repeat continuously. Can you predict the last card?
Explore this how this program produces the sequences it does. What are you controlling when you change the values of the variables?
Label the joints and legs of these graph theory caterpillars so that the vertex sums are all equal.
An introduction to bond angle geometry.
Remember that you want someone following behind you to see where you went. Can yo work out how these patterns were created and recreate them?
Pentagram Pylons - can you elegantly recreate them? Or, the European flag in LOGO - what poses the greater problem?
Just four procedures were used to produce a design. How was it done? Can you be systematic and elegant so that someone can follow your logic?
This Sudoku puzzle can be solved with the help of small clue-numbers on the border lines between pairs of neighbouring squares of the grid.
This pair of linked Sudokus matches letters with numbers and hides a seasonal greeting. Can you find it?
A Sudoku that uses transformations as supporting clues.
A pair of Sudoku puzzles that together lead to a complete solution.
Four small numbers give the clue to the contents of the four surrounding cells.
Each of the main diagonals of this sudoku must contain the numbers 1 to 9 and each rectangle width the numbers 1 to 4.
Two sudokus in one. Challenge yourself to make the necessary connections.
Use the clues about the shaded areas to help solve this sudoku
We're excited about this new program for drawing beautiful mathematical designs. Can you work out how we made our first few pictures and, even better, share your most elegant solutions with us?
Can you use your powers of logic and deduction to work out the missing information in these sporty situations?
Each clue number in this sudoku is the product of the two numbers in adjacent cells.
In this Sudoku, there are three coloured "islands" in the 9x9 grid. Within each "island" EVERY group of nine cells that form a 3x3 square must contain the numbers 1 through 9.
A Sudoku with clues as ratios.
The puzzle can be solved with the help of small clue-numbers which are either placed on the border lines between selected pairs of neighbouring squares of the grid or placed after slash marks on. . . .
This Sudoku combines all four arithmetic operations.
60 pieces and a challenge. What can you make and how many of the pieces can you use creating skeleton polyhedra?
This Sudoku problem consists of a pair of linked standard Suduko puzzles each with some starting digits
Given the nets of 4 cubes with the faces coloured in 4 colours, build a tower so that on each vertical wall no colour is repeated, that is all 4 colours appear.
This Sudoku requires you to do some working backwards before working forwards.
Solve this Sudoku puzzle whose clues are in the form of sums of the numbers which should appear in diagonal opposite cells.
A Sudoku with clues given as sums of entries.
A particular technique for solving Sudoku puzzles, known as "naked pair", is explained in this easy-to-read article.
A pair of Sudokus with lots in common. In fact they are the same problem but rearranged. Can you find how they relate to solve them both?
This sudoku requires you to have "double vision" - two Sudoku's for the price of one
A Sudoku based on clues that give the differences between adjacent cells.
Arrange the digits 1, 1, 2, 2, 3 and 3 so that between the two 1's there is one digit, between the two 2's there are two digits, and between the two 3's there are three digits.
This second Sudoku article discusses "Corresponding Sudokus" which are pairs of Sudokus with terms that can be matched using a substitution rule.
Can you swap the black knights with the white knights in the minimum number of moves?
Special clue numbers related to the difference between numbers in two adjacent cells and values of the stars in the "constellation" make this a doubly interesting problem.
Find the positive integer solutions of the equation (1+1/a)(1+1/b)(1+1/c) = 2
Label this plum tree graph to make it totally magic!
Find all the ways of placing the numbers 1 to 9 on a W shape, with 3 numbers on each leg, so that each set of 3 numbers has the same total.
You are given the Lowest Common Multiples of sets of digits. Find the digits and then solve the Sudoku.
in how many ways can you place the numbers 1, 2, 3 … 9 in the nine regions of the Olympic Emblem (5 overlapping circles) so that the amount in each ring is the same?
Take three whole numbers. The differences between them give you three new numbers. Find the differences between the new numbers and keep repeating this. What happens?
Try to solve this very difficult problem and then study our two suggested solutions. How would you use your knowledge to try to solve variants on the original problem?