Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
Can you work out what a ziffle is on the planet Zargon?
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?
Work out Tom's number from the answers he gives his friend. He will only answer 'yes' or 'no'.
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?
A 3 digit number is multiplied by a 2 digit number and the calculation is written out as shown with a digit in place of each of the *'s. Complete the whole multiplication sum.
Can you see how these factor-multiple chains work? Find the chain which contains the smallest possible numbers. How about the largest possible numbers?
Which is quicker, counting up to 30 in ones or counting up to 300 in tens? Why?
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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?
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?
Resources to support understanding of multiplication and division through playing with number.
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?
Can you fill in this table square? The numbers 2 -12 were used to generate it with just one number used twice.
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?
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?
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.
This article for teachers looks at how teachers can use problems from the NRICH site to help them teach division.
What is happening at each box in these machines?
This problem is designed to help children to learn, and to use, the two and three times tables.
Use the information to work out how many gifts there are in each pile.
Find the product of the numbers on the routes from A to B. Which route has the smallest product? Which the largest?
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?
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?
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?
Where can you draw a line on a clock face so that the numbers on both sides have the same total?
In November, Liz was interviewed for an article on a parents' website about learning times tables. Read the article here.
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 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?
Can you arrange 5 different digits (from 0 - 9) in the cross in the way described?
Mr McGregor has a magic potting shed. Overnight, the number of plants in it doubles. He'd like to put the same number of plants in each of three gardens, planting one garden each day. Can he do it?
What do you notice about the date 03.06.09? Or 08.01.09? This challenge invites you to investigate some interesting dates yourself.
A game that tests your understanding of remainders.
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 number has 903 digits. What is the sum of all 903 digits?
Find the next number in this pattern: 3, 7, 19, 55 ...
Can you each work out the number on your card? What do you notice? How could you sort the cards?
What is the smallest number of answers you need to reveal in order to work out the missing headers?
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?
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.
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?
Use your logical reasoning to work out how many cows and how many sheep there are in each field.