Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
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?
Can you fill in this table square? The numbers 2 -12 were used to generate it with just one number used twice.
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. Use your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to blast the asteroids.
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!
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 4 four times with simple operations so that you get the answer 12. Can you make 15, 16 and 17 too?
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?
Use the information to work out how many gifts there are in each pile.
Where can you draw a line on a clock face so that the numbers on both sides have the same total?
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?
Find the product of the numbers on the routes from A to B. Which route has the smallest product? Which the largest?
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?
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.
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?
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.
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?
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 score 100 by throwing rings on this board? Is there more than way to do it?
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.
The value of the circle changes in each of the following problems. Can you discover its value in each problem?
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?
What is happening at each box in these machines?
This number has 903 digits. What is the sum of all 903 digits?
Use your logical reasoning to work out how many cows and how many sheep there are in each field.
Using the statements, can you work out how many of each type of rabbit there are in these pens?
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?
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?
This group activity will encourage you to share calculation strategies and to think about which strategy might be the most efficient.
Find the next number in this pattern: 3, 7, 19, 55 ...
If the numbers 5, 7 and 4 go into this function machine, what numbers will come out?
Go through the maze, collecting and losing your money as you go. Which route gives you the highest return? And the lowest?
Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.
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!
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?
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.
What is the lowest number which always leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by each of the numbers from 2 to 10?
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.
Can you arrange 5 different digits (from 0 - 9) in the cross in the way described?
Find at least one way to put in some operation signs (+ - x ÷) to make these digits come to 100.
Find another number that is one short of a square number and when you double it and add 1, the result is also a square number.
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?
Cherri, Saxon, Mel and Paul are friends. They are all different ages. Can you find out the age of each friend using the information?
If you had any number of ordinary dice, what are the possible ways of making their totals 6? What would the product of the dice be each time?
A group of children are using measuring cylinders but they lose the labels. Can you help relabel them?
What is the sum of all the three digit whole numbers?
The clockmaker's wife cut up his birthday cake to look like a clock face. Can you work out who received each piece?