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?
Grandma found her pie balanced on the scale with two weights and a quarter of a pie. So how heavy was each pie?
What is the lowest number which always leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by each of the numbers from 2 to 10?
A game that tests your understanding of remainders.
56 406 is the product of two consecutive numbers. What are these two numbers?
Work out Tom's number from the answers he gives his friend. He will only answer 'yes' or 'no'.
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?
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 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.
48 is called an abundant number because it is less than the sum of its factors (without itself). Can you find some more abundant numbers?
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 fill in this table square? The numbers 2 -12 were used to generate it with just one number used twice.
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?
Use 4 four times with simple operations so that you get the answer 12. Can you make 15, 16 and 17 too?
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.
Here is a picnic that Chris and Michael are going to share equally. Can you tell us what each of them will have?
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.
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?
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 people using a pack of cards Turn over 2 cards and try to make an odd number or a multiple of 3.
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.
Can you replace the letters with numbers? Is there only one solution in each case?
This problem is designed to help children to learn, and to use, the two and three times tables.
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 the multiplication sum, some of the digits have been replaced by letters and others by asterisks. Can you reconstruct the original multiplication?
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?
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?
Resources to support understanding of multiplication and division through playing with number.
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?
In November, Liz was interviewed for an article on a parents' website about learning times tables. Read the article here.
After training hard, these two children have improved their results. Can you work out the length or height of their first jumps?
Can you see how these factor-multiple chains work? Find the chain which contains the smallest possible numbers. How about the largest possible 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?
What is the sum of all the three digit whole 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?
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 what a ziffle is on the planet Zargon?
This article for teachers looks at how teachers can use problems from the NRICH site to help them teach division.
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?
Twizzle, a female giraffe, needs transporting to another zoo. Which route will give the fastest journey?
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,. . . .
Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.
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 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.
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.
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?
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?