Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
Which is quicker, counting up to 30 in ones or counting up to 300 in tens? Why?
All the girls would like a puzzle each for Christmas and all the boys would like a book each. Solve the riddle to find out how many puzzles and books Santa left.
Work out Tom's number from the answers he gives his friend. He will only answer 'yes' or 'no'.
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?
Can you work out how many flowers there will be on the Amazing Splitting Plant after it has been growing for six weeks?
Use 4 four times with simple operations so that you get the answer 12. Can you make 15, 16 and 17 too?
Can you replace the letters with numbers? Is there only one solution in each case?
56 406 is the product of two consecutive numbers. What are these two numbers?
Claire thinks she has the most sports cards in her album. "I have 12 pages with 2 cards on each page", says Claire. Ross counts his cards. "No! I have 3 cards on each of my pages and there are. . . .
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.
Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.
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.
Twizzle, a female giraffe, needs transporting to another zoo. Which route will give the fastest journey?
Can you work out what a ziffle is on the planet Zargon?
What is the lowest number which always leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by each of the numbers from 2 to 10?
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?
In the multiplication sum, some of the digits have been replaced by letters and others by asterisks. Can you reconstruct the original multiplication?
Can you see how these factor-multiple chains work? Find the chain which contains the smallest possible numbers. How about the largest possible numbers?
This multiplication uses each of the digits 0 - 9 once and once only. Using the information given, can you replace the stars in the calculation with figures?
Use this grid to shade the numbers in the way described. Which numbers do you have left? Do you know what they are called?
There were 22 legs creeping across the web. How many flies? How many spiders?
The clockmaker's wife cut up his birthday cake to look like a clock face. Can you work out who received each piece?
Using the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 once and only once, and the operations x and ÷ once and only once, what is the smallest whole number you can make?
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?
What is the sum of all the three digit whole numbers?
A game for 2 people. Use your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to blast the asteroids.
Start by putting one million (1 000 000) into the display of your calculator. Can you reduce this to 7 using just the 7 key and add, subtract, multiply, divide and equals as many times as you like?
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?
A game for 2 or more players with a pack of cards. Practise your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to hit the target score.
Here is a picnic that Chris and Michael are going to share equally. Can you tell us what each of them will have?
These eleven shapes each stand for a different number. Can you use the multiplication sums to work out what they are?
This article for teachers describes how modelling number properties involving multiplication using an array of objects not only allows children to represent their thinking with concrete materials,. . . .
Use your logical-thinking skills to deduce how much Dan's crisps and ice-cream cost altogether.
Go through the maze, collecting and losing your money as you go. Which route gives you the highest return? And the lowest?
Suppose we allow ourselves to use three numbers less than 10 and multiply them together. How many different products can you find? How do you know you've got them all?
There are four equal weights on one side of the scale and an apple on the other side. What can you say that is true about the apple and the weights from the picture?
Cherri, Saxon, Mel and Paul are friends. They are all different ages. Can you find out the age of each friend using the information?
What is happening at each box in these machines?
This problem is based on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Investigate the different numbers of people and rats there could have been if you know how many legs there are altogether!
Take the number 6 469 693 230 and divide it by the first ten prime numbers and you'll find the most beautiful, most magic of all numbers. What is it?
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?
This article for teachers looks at how teachers can use problems from the NRICH site to help them teach division.
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?
Can you work out the arrangement of the digits in the square so that the given products are correct? The numbers 1 - 9 may be used once and once only.
These sixteen children are standing in four lines of four, one behind the other. They are each holding a card with a number on it. Can you work out the missing numbers?
After training hard, these two children have improved their results. Can you work out the length or height of their first jumps?
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?
This group activity will encourage you to share calculation strategies and to think about which strategy might be the most efficient.
Can you each work out the number on your card? What do you notice? How could you sort the cards?
Look at what happens when you take a number, square it and subtract your answer. What kind of number do you get? Can you prove it?