Explaining, convincing and proving

Your partner chooses two beads and places them side by side behind a screen. What is the minimum number of guesses you would need to be sure of guessing the two beads and their positions?

Baker, Cooper, Jones and Smith are four people whose occupations are teacher, welder, mechanic and programmer, but not necessarily in that order. What is each person’s occupation?

In how many distinct ways can six islands be joined by bridges so that each island can be reached from every other island...

Replace each letter with a digit to make this addition correct.

Eight children enter the autumn cross-country race at school. How many possible ways could they come in at first, second and third places?

Here are three 'tricks' to amaze your friends. But the really clever trick is explaining to them why these 'tricks' are maths not magic. Like all good magicians, you should practice by trying them. Can you explain how they work?

Is it possible to rearrange the numbers 1,2......12 around a clock face in such a way that every two numbers in adjacent positions differ by any of 3, 4 or 5 hours?

It is obvious that we can fit four circles of diameter 1 unit in a square of side 2 without overlapping. What is the smallest square into which we can fit 3 circles of diameter 1 unit?

Generalise the sum of a GP by using derivatives to make the coefficients into powers of the natural numbers.