Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
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.
Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.
What is the sum of all the three digit whole numbers?
Use 4 four times with simple operations so that you get the answer 12. Can you make 15, 16 and 17 too?
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?
The clockmaker's wife cut up his birthday cake to look like a clock face. Can you work out who received each piece?
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?
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.
Peter, Melanie, Amil and Jack received a total of 38 chocolate eggs. Use the information to work out how many eggs each person had.
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 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.
The value of the circle changes in each of the following problems. Can you discover its value in each problem?
Use the information to work out how many gifts there are in each pile.
This number has 903 digits. What is the sum of all 903 digits?
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?
Find the next number in this pattern: 3, 7, 19, 55 ...
This group activity will encourage you to share calculation strategies and to think about which strategy might be the most efficient.
Use your logical reasoning to work out how many cows and how many sheep there are in each field.
If the numbers 5, 7 and 4 go into this function machine, what numbers will come out?
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?
What is happening at each box in these machines?
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?
Where can you draw a line on a clock face so that the numbers on both sides have the same total?
Find at least one way to put in some operation signs (+ - x ÷) to make these digits come to 100.
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?
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?
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.
Cherri, Saxon, Mel and Paul are friends. They are all different ages. Can you find out the age of each friend using the information?
These eleven shapes each stand for a different number. Can you use the multiplication sums to work out what they are?
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?
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?
A group of children are using measuring cylinders but they lose the labels. Can you help relabel them?
Annie cut this numbered cake into 3 pieces with 3 cuts so that the numbers on each piece added to the same total. Where were the cuts and what fraction of the whole cake was each piece?
Can you fill in this table square? The numbers 2 -12 were used to generate it with just one number used twice.
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!
What do you notice about the date 03.06.09? Or 08.01.09? This challenge invites you to investigate some interesting dates yourself.
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?
Using the statements, can you work out how many of each type of rabbit there are in these pens?
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?
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?
Go through the maze, collecting and losing your money as you go. Which route gives you the highest return? And the lowest?
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.
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?
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?
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 arrange 5 different digits (from 0 - 9) in the cross in the way described?
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?