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Skippy and Anna are locked in a room in a large castle. The key to that room, and all the other rooms, is a number. The numbers are locked away in a problem. Can you help them to get out?
Place the digits 1 to 9 into the circles so that each side of the triangle adds to the same total.
Bernard Bagnall recommends some primary school problems which use numbers from the environment around us, from clocks to house numbers.
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?
There are over sixty different ways of making 24 by adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing all four numbers 4, 6, 6 and 8 (using each number only once). How many can you find?
Peter, Melanie, Amil and Jack received a total of 38 chocolate eggs. Use the information to work out how many eggs each person had.
Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.
On a calculator, make 15 by using only the 2 key and any of the four operations keys. How many ways can you find to do it?
This number has 903 digits. What is the sum of all 903 digits?
The clockmaker's wife cut up his birthday cake to look like a clock face. Can you work out who received each piece?
Find at least one way to put in some operation signs (+ - x ÷) to make these digits come to 100.
Here are the prices for 1st and 2nd class mail within the UK. You have an unlimited number of each of these stamps. Which stamps would you need to post a parcel weighing 825g?
Can you score 100 by throwing rings on this board? Is there more than way to do it?
Use the information to work out how many gifts there are in each pile.
What is happening at each box in these machines?
Where can you draw a line on a clock face so that the numbers on both sides have the same total?
Look on the back of any modern book and you will find an ISBN code. Take this code and calculate this sum in the way shown. Can you see what the answers always have in common?
The Scot, John Napier, invented these strips about 400 years ago to help calculate multiplication and division. Can you work out how to use Napier's bones to find the answer to these multiplications?
The value of the circle changes in each of the following problems. Can you discover its value in each problem?
What is the sum of all the three digit whole numbers?
Use your logical reasoning to work out how many cows and how many sheep there are in each field.
If the numbers 5, 7 and 4 go into this function machine, what numbers will come out?
In a Magic Square all the rows, columns and diagonals add to the 'Magic Constant'. How would you change the magic constant of this square?
Can you find which shapes you need to put into the grid to make the totals at the end of each row and the bottom of each column?
Try adding together the dates of all the days in one week. Now multiply the first date by 7 and add 21. Can you explain what happens?
This group activity will encourage you to share calculation strategies and to think about which strategy might be the most efficient.
Fill in the numbers to make the sum of each row, column and diagonal equal to 34. For an extra challenge try the huge American Flag magic square.
We can arrange dots in a similar way to the 5 on a dice and they usually sit quite well into a rectangular shape. How many altogether in this 3 by 5? What happens for other sizes?
Amy has a box containing domino pieces but she does not think it is a complete set. She has 24 dominoes in her box and there are 125 spots on them altogether. Which of her domino pieces are missing?
Use 4 four times with simple operations so that you get the answer 12. Can you make 15, 16 and 17 too?
On the table there is a pile of oranges and lemons that weighs exactly one kilogram. Using the information, can you work out how many lemons there are?
Tom and Ben visited Numberland. Use the maps to work out the number of points each of their routes scores.
Rocco ran in a 200 m race for his class. Use the information to find out how many runners there were in the race and what Rocco's finishing position was.
How would you count the number of fingers in these pictures?
Put a number at the top of the machine and collect a number at the bottom. What do you get? Which numbers get back to themselves?
There are three buckets each of which holds a maximum of 5 litres. Use the clues to work out how much liquid there is in each bucket.
Find out what a Deca Tree is and then work out how many leaves there will be after the woodcutter has cut off a trunk, a branch, a twig and a leaf.
Find the next number in this pattern: 3, 7, 19, 55 ...
Annie cut this numbered cake into 3 pieces with 3 cuts so that the numbers on each piece added to the same total. Where were the cuts and what fraction of the whole cake was each piece?
Fill in the missing numbers so that adding each pair of corner numbers gives you the number between them (in the box).
Can you make square numbers by adding two prime numbers together?
Vera is shopping at a market with these coins in her purse. Which things could she give exactly the right amount for?
Arrange three 1s, three 2s and three 3s in this square so that every row, column and diagonal adds to the same total.
Add the sum of the squares of four numbers between 10 and 20 to the sum of the squares of three numbers less than 6 to make the square of another, larger, number.
Using 3 rods of integer lengths, none longer than 10 units and not using any rod more than once, you can measure all the lengths in whole units from 1 to 10 units. How many ways can you do this?
Lolla bought a balloon at the circus. She gave the clown six coins to pay for it. What could Lolla have paid for the balloon?
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?
Can you put plus signs in so this is true? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 99 How many ways can you do it?
Tell your friends that you have a strange calculator that turns numbers backwards. What secret number do you have to enter to make 141 414 turn around?
Cassandra, David and Lachlan are brothers and sisters. They range in age between 1 year and 14 years. Can you figure out their exact ages from the clues?