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Pebbles
Place four pebbles on the sand in the form of a square. Keep adding as few pebbles as necessary to double the area. How many extra pebbles are added each time?
Bracelets
Investigate the different shaped bracelets you could make from 18 different spherical beads. How do they compare if you use 24 beads?
Sweets in a Box
How many different shaped boxes can you design for 36 sweets in one layer? Can you arrange the sweets so that no sweets of the same colour are next to each other in any direction?
Age 7 to 11
Challenge Level
There are lots of answers to this problem, depending on what questions you choose to ask. Have a go yourself, and if you discover anything interesting, e-mail us to tell us what you've done!
Please don't worry that your solution is not "complete" - we'd like to hear about anything you have tried. Teachers - you might like to send in a summary of your children's work.
Please don't worry that your solution is not "complete" - we'd like to hear about anything you have tried. Teachers - you might like to send in a summary of your children's work.
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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.