Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
Powers of numbers behave in surprising ways. Take a look at some of these and try to explain why they are true.
What does this number mean ? Which order of 1, 2, 3 and 4 makes the highest value ? Which makes the lowest ?
Have you seen this way of doing multiplication ?
The scale on a piano does something clever : the ratio (interval) between any adjacent points on the scale is equal. If you play any note, twelve points higher will be exactly an octave on.
The number of plants in Mr McGregor's magic potting shed increases overnight. He'd like to put the same number of plants in each of his gardens, planting one garden each day. How can he do it?
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?
The sums of the squares of three related numbers is also a perfect square - can you explain why?
Ask a friend to choose a number between 1 and 63. By identifying which of the six cards contains the number they are thinking of it is easy to tell them what the number is.
Can you find the solution to this algebraic inequality?
What is the last digit of the number 1 / 5^903 ?
According to an old Indian myth, Sissa ben Dahir was a courtier for a king. The king decided to reward Sissa for his dedication and Sissa asked for one grain of rice to be put on the first square. . . .
Find the sum of the series.
Can you convince me of each of the following: If a square number is multiplied by a square number the product is ALWAYS a square number...
Which is the bigger, 9^10 or 10^9 ? Which is the bigger, 99^100 or 100^99 ?
Find the polynomial p(x) with integer coefficients such that one solution of the equation p(x)=0 is $1+\sqrt 2+\sqrt 3$.
Find all the solutions to the this equation.
Find the smallest numbers a, b, and c such that: a^2 = 2b^3 = 3c^5 What can you say about other solutions to this problem?
Find the value of sqrt(2+sqrt3)-sqrt(2-sqrt3)and then of cuberoot(2+sqrt5)+cuberoot(2-sqrt5).
Simple additions can lead to intriguing results...
A function pyramid is a structure where each entry in the pyramid is determined by the two entries below it. Can you figure out how the pyramid is generated?
Photocopiers can reduce from A3 to A4 without distorting the image. Explore the relationships between different paper sizes that make this possible.
Find the smallest value for which a particular sequence is greater than a googol.
The problem is how did Archimedes calculate the lengths of the sides of the polygons which needed him to be able to calculate square roots?
In this twist on the well-known Countdown numbers game, use your knowledge of Powers and Roots to make a target.
However did we manage before calculators? Is there an efficient way to do a square root if you have to do the work yourself?
Make and prove a conjecture about the value of the product of the Fibonacci numbers $F_{n+1}F_{n-1}$.
What have Fibonacci numbers got to do with Pythagorean triples?
What have Fibonacci numbers to do with solutions of the quadratic equation x^2 - x - 1 = 0 ?
As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Every wife had seven sacks, every sack had seven cats, every cat had seven kittens. Kittens, cats, sacks and wives, how many were going to St. . . .
How many ways are there to count 1 - 2 - 3 in the array of triangular numbers? What happens with larger arrays? Can you predict for any size array?
Mr Smith and Mr Jones are two maths teachers. By asking questions, the answers to which may be right or wrong, Mr Jones is able to find the number of the house Mr Smith lives in... Or not!
What are the last two digits of 2^(2^2003)?
What is the largest number you can make using the three digits 2, 3 and 4 in any way you like, using any operations you like? You can only use each digit once.
Cut off three right angled isosceles triangles to produce a pentagon. With two lines, cut the pentagon into three parts which can be rearranged into another square.
Find the five distinct digits N, R, I, C and H in the following nomogram
Investigate the number of points with integer coordinates on circles with centres at the origin for which the square of the radius is a power of 5.
What can you say about the values of n that make $7^n + 3^n$ a multiple of 10? Are there other pairs of integers between 1 and 10 which have similar properties?
Find integer solutions to: $\sqrt{a+b\sqrt{x}} + \sqrt{c+d.\sqrt{x}}=1$
What is the least square number which commences with six two's?
Investigate $1^n + 19^n + 20^n + 51^n + 57^n + 80^n + 82^n $ and $2^n + 12^n + 31^n + 40^n + 69^n + 71^n + 85^n$ for different values of n.
Is it true that $99^n$ has 2n digits and $999^n$ has 3n digits? Investigate!
Can you find what the last two digits of the number $4^{1999}$ are?
The squares of any 8 consecutive numbers can be arranged into two sets of four numbers with the same sum. True of false?
Solving the equation x^3 = 3 is easy but what about solving equations with a 'staircase' of powers?
Find the remainder when 3^{2001} is divided by 7.
What fractions can you find between the square roots of 56 and 58?
Given that a, b and c are natural numbers show that if sqrt a+sqrt b is rational then it is a natural number. Extend this to 3 variables.
Prove that if a is a natural number and the square root of a is rational, then it is a square number (an integer n^2 for some integer n.)
A sequence of numbers x1, x2, x3, ... starts with x1 = 2, and, if you know any term xn, you can find the next term xn+1 using the formula: xn+1 = (xn + 3/xn)/2 . Calculate the first six terms of this. . . .
