Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
Use the information about Sally and her brother to find out how many children there are in the Brown family.
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?
Cherri, Saxon, Mel and Paul are friends. They are all different ages. Can you find out the age of each friend using the information?
This problem is based on a code using two different prime numbers less than 10. You'll need to multiply them together and shift the alphabet forwards by the result. Can you decipher the code?
Zumf makes spectacles for the residents of the planet Zargon, who have either 3 eyes or 4 eyes. How many lenses will Zumf need to make all the different orders for 9 families?
Can you put the numbers 1 to 8 into the circles so that the four calculations are correct?
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!
Using the statements, can you work out how many of each type of rabbit there are in these pens?
Can you each work out the number on your card? What do you notice? How could you sort the cards?
Can you arrange 5 different digits (from 0 - 9) in the cross in the way described?
Choose a symbol to put into the number sentence.
There are 44 people coming to a dinner party. There are 15 square tables that seat 4 people. Find a way to seat the 44 people using all 15 tables, with no empty places.
Can you see why 2 by 2 could be 5? Can you predict what 2 by 10 will be?
This magic square has operations written in it, to make it into a maze. Start wherever you like, go through every cell and go out a total of 15!
Ahmed is making rods using different numbers of cubes. Which rod is twice the length of his first rod?
Find the product of the numbers on the routes from A to B. Which route has the smallest product? Which the largest?
Can you fill in this table square? The numbers 2 -12 were used to generate it with just one number used twice.
This challenge is a game for two players. Choose two numbers from the grid and multiply or divide, then mark your answer on the number line. Can you get four in a row before your partner?
Can you work out how many flowers there will be on the Amazing Splitting Plant after it has been growing for six weeks?
Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.
At the beginning of May Tom put his tomato plant outside. On the same day he sowed a bean in another pot. When will the two be the same height?
An old game but lots of arithmetic!
What do you notice about the date 03.06.09? Or 08.01.09? This challenge invites you to investigate some interesting dates yourself.
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?
Twizzle, a female giraffe, needs transporting to another zoo. Which route will give the fastest journey?
A game for 2 people. Use your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to blast the asteroids.
Katie had a pack of 20 cards numbered from 1 to 20. She arranged the cards into 6 unequal piles where each pile added to the same total. What was the total and how could this be done?
Can you complete this jigsaw of the multiplication square?
Use your logical-thinking skills to deduce how much Dan's crisps and ice-cream cost altogether.
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. . . .
There were 22 legs creeping across the web. How many flies? How many spiders?
A group of children are using measuring cylinders but they lose the labels. Can you help relabel them?
These eleven shapes each stand for a different number. Can you use the multiplication sums to work out what they are?
There were chews for 2p, mini eggs for 3p, Chocko bars for 5p and lollypops for 7p in the sweet shop. What could each of the children buy with their money?
Annie and Ben are playing a game with a calculator. What was Annie's secret number?
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?
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?
Imagine a pyramid which is built in square layers of small cubes. If we number the cubes from the top, starting with 1, can you picture which cubes are directly below this first cube?
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?
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?
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 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?
Here is a chance to play a version of the classic Countdown Game.
If the answer's 2010, what could the question be?
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 happening at each box in these machines?
The clockmaker's wife cut up his birthday cake to look like a clock face. Can you work out who received each piece?
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.
Find the next number in this pattern: 3, 7, 19, 55 ...
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.