Can you find different ways of showing the same number? Try this matching game and see!
Here are some short problems for you to try. Talk to your friends about how you work them out.
An activity centred around observations of dots and how we visualise number arrangement patterns.
Exploring the structure of a number square: how quickly can you put the number tiles in the right place on the grid?
A simple visual exploration into halving and doubling.
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?
Can you find different ways of showing the same fraction? Try this matching game and see.
Imagine we have four bags containing a large number of 1s, 4s, 7s and 10s. What numbers can we make?
Think of a two digit number, reverse the digits, and add the numbers together. Something special happens...
Imagine we have four bags containing numbers from a sequence. What numbers can we make now?
Caroline and James pick sets of five numbers. Charlie chooses three of them that add together to make a multiple of three. Can they stop him?
Choose four consecutive whole numbers. Multiply the first and last numbers together. Multiply the middle pair together. What do you notice?
Can you find out what is special about the dimensions of rectangles you can make with squares, sticks and units?
Can you deduce the familiar properties of the sine and cosine functions starting from these three different mathematical representations?
What on earth are polar coordinates, and why would you want to use them?
Make a functional window display which will both satisfy the manager and make sense to the shoppers
Not that many solutions but some good justifications offered here.
This challenge produced some thoughtful ideas and reasons that would lead to a proof - very good for primary school children!
We received lots of insightful comments to this problem.
There were three nice solutions to this advanced problem concerning generic examples. Perhaps younger students might like to try to work through one of them, whereas older students might like to compare them.
This article looks at how images, concrete apparatus and representations can help students develop deeper understandings of abstract mathematical ideas.
This article looks at how models support mathematical thinking about numbers and the number system
Collect as many diamonds as you can by drawing three straight lines.
This is an interactive net of a Rubik's cube. Twists of the 3D cube become mixes of the squares on the 2D net. Have a play and see how many scrambles you can undo!