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This problem is designed to help children to learn, and to use, the two and three times tables.
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?
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?
Look at different ways of dividing things. What do they mean? How might you show them in a picture, with things, with numbers and symbols?
This article for teachers looks at how teachers can use problems from the NRICH site to help them teach division.
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?
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.
Here is a picnic that Chris and Michael are going to share equally. Can you tell us what each of them will have?
After training hard, these two children have improved their results. Can you work out the length or height of their first jumps?
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?
In November, Liz was interviewed for an article on a parents' website about learning times tables. Read the article here.
Resources to support understanding of multiplication and division through playing with number.
What is the lowest number which always leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by each of the numbers from 2 to 10?
56 406 is the product of two consecutive numbers. What are these two numbers?
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?
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.
Use your logical reasoning to work out how many cows and how many sheep there are in each field.
Use 4 four times with simple operations so that you get the answer 12. Can you make 15, 16 and 17 too?
What is the sum of all the three digit whole numbers?
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?
Grandma found her pie balanced on the scale with two weights and a quarter of a pie. So how heavy was each pie?
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 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?
Bernard Bagnall recommends some primary school problems which use numbers from the environment around us, from clocks to house numbers.
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?
EWWNP means Exploring Wild and Wonderful Number Patterns Created by Yourself! Investigate what happens if we create number patterns using some simple rules.
Use your logical-thinking skills to deduce how much Dan's crisps and ice-cream cost altogether.
A game for 2 people. Use your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to blast the asteroids.
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 arrange 5 different digits (from 0 - 9) in the cross in the way described?
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?
Use this grid to shade the numbers in the way described. Which numbers do you have left? Do you know what they are called?
Can you see how these factor-multiple chains work? Find the chain which contains the smallest possible numbers. How about the largest possible 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. . . .
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?
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!
Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.
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?
Explore Alex's number plumber. What questions would you like to ask? Don't forget to keep visiting NRICH projects site for the latest developments and questions.
This group activity will encourage you to share calculation strategies and to think about which strategy might be the most efficient.
How would you count the number of fingers in these pictures?
Can you each work out the number on your card? What do you notice? How could you sort the cards?
What happens when you add the digits of a number then multiply the result by 2 and you keep doing this? You could try for different numbers and different rules.
Tom and Ben visited Numberland. Use the maps to work out the number of points each of their routes scores.
Can you work out what a ziffle is on the planet Zargon?
Explore Alex's number plumber. What questions would you like to ask? What do you think is happening to the numbers?
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?
Which is quicker, counting up to 30 in ones or counting up to 300 in tens? Why?