Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
In this activity, the computer chooses a times table and shifts it. Can you work out the table and the shift each time?
Can you find any perfect numbers? Read this article to find out more...
Which pairs of cogs let the coloured tooth touch every tooth on the other cog? Which pairs do not let this happen? Why?
Four of these clues are needed to find the chosen number on this grid and four are true but do nothing to help in finding the number. Can you sort out the clues and find the number?
Find the words hidden inside each of the circles by counting around a certain number of spaces to find each letter in turn.
Becky created a number plumber which multiplies by 5 and subtracts 4. What do you notice about the numbers that it produces? Can you explain your findings?
This article for teachers describes how number arrays can be a useful reprentation for many number concepts.
A game for two people, or play online. Given a target number, say 23, and a range of numbers to choose from, say 1-4, players take it in turns to add to the running total to hit their target.
For this challenge, you'll need to play Got It! Can you explain the strategy for winning this game with any target?
Look at three 'next door neighbours' amongst the counting numbers. Add them together. What do you notice?
Norrie sees two lights flash at the same time, then one of them flashes every 4th second, and the other flashes every 5th second. How many times do they flash together during a whole minute?
Which is quicker, counting up to 30 in ones or counting up to 300 in tens? Why?
In this problem we are looking at sets of parallel sticks that cross each other. What is the least number of crossings you can make? And the greatest?
These red, yellow and blue spinners were each spun 45 times in total. Can you work out which numbers are on each spinner?
Pat counts her sweets in different groups and both times she has some left over. How many sweets could she have had?
What happens if you join every second point on this circle? How about every third point? Try with different steps and see if you can predict what will happen.
Work out Tom's number from the answers he gives his friend. He will only answer 'yes' or 'no'.
Frances and Rishi were given a bag of lollies. They shared them out evenly and had one left over. How many lollies could there have been in the bag?
What is the lowest number which always leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by each of the numbers from 2 to 10?
Ben’s class were making cutting up number tracks. First they cut them into twos and added up the numbers on each piece. What patterns could they see?
Can you see how these factor-multiple chains work? Find the chain which contains the smallest possible numbers. How about the largest possible numbers?
Ben and his mum are planting garlic. Use the interactivity to help you find out how many cloves of garlic they might have had.
An investigation that gives you the opportunity to make and justify predictions.
How can you use just one weighing to find out which box contains the lighter ten coins out of the ten boxes?
Can you find the chosen number from the grid using the clues?
A game that tests your understanding of remainders.
I am thinking of three sets of numbers less than 101. Can you find all the numbers in each set from these clues?
I am thinking of three sets of numbers less than 101. They are the red set, the green set and the blue set. Can you find all the numbers in the sets from these clues?
Investigate the sum of the numbers on the top and bottom faces of a line of three dice. What do you notice?
"Ip dip sky blue! Who's 'it'? It's you!" Where would you position yourself so that you are 'it' if there are two players? Three players ...?
Factor track is not a race but a game of skill. The idea is to go round the track in as few moves as possible, keeping to the rules.
Follow the clues to find the mystery number.
Can you work out what a ziffle is on the planet Zargon?
56 406 is the product of two consecutive numbers. What are these two numbers?
Help share out the biscuits the children have made.
Is it possible to draw a 5-pointed star without taking your pencil off the paper? Is it possible to draw a 6-pointed star in the same way without taking your pen off?
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?
This big box multiplies anything that goes inside it by the same number. If you know the numbers that come out, what multiplication might be going on in the box?
On the planet Vuv there are two sorts of creatures. The Zios have 3 legs and the Zepts have 7 legs. The great planetary explorer Nico counted 52 legs. How many Zios and how many Zepts were there?
A game for 2 or more people. Starting with 100, subratct a number from 1 to 9 from the total. You score for making an odd number, a number ending in 0 or a multiple of 6.
Nearly all of us have made table patterns on hundred squares, that is 10 by 10 grids. This problem looks at the patterns on differently sized square grids.
Can you order the digits from 1-6 to make a number which is divisible by 6 so when the last digit is removed it becomes a 5-figure number divisible by 5, and so on?
A game for 2 people using a pack of cards Turn over 2 cards and try to make an odd number or a multiple of 3.
Mr Gilderdale is playing a game with his class. What rule might he have chosen? How would you test your idea?
Use cubes to continue making the numbers from 7 to 20. Are they sticks, rectangles or squares?
Investigate which numbers make these lights come on. What is the smallest number you can find that lights up all the lights?
In this maze of hexagons, you start in the centre at 0. The next hexagon must be a multiple of 2 and the next a multiple of 5. What are the possible paths you could take?
Can you place the numbers from 1 to 10 in the grid?
Are these domino games fair? Can you explain why or why not?
Nine squares with side lengths 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, and 18 cm can be fitted together to form a rectangle. What are the dimensions of the rectangle?