You may also like
Ladder and Cube
A 1 metre cube has one face on the ground and one face against a wall. A 4 metre ladder leans against the wall and just touches the cube. How high is the top of the ladder above the ground?
Bendy Quad
Four rods are hinged at their ends to form a convex quadrilateral. Investigate the different shapes that the quadrilateral can take. Be patient this problem may be slow to load.
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Have you tried some simple cases to see if there is a pattern?
If you have a number "$x$" the next number is "$x +1$". How could you write four consecutive numbers?
If you can express $x^4 + \ldots + 16$ as a perfect square, the two factors will be of the form $(x^2 +\ldots + 4)$.
Copyright © 1997 - 2019.
University of Cambridge. All rights
reserved.
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.