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Freedom and Constraints

Mathematicians often explore structures, notice patterns, find rules and make generalisations. Once they feel they understand a structure, they then push at the boundaries, change the problem, and explore the new structures that emerge.

The Freedom and Constraints pathway on wild.maths.org offers students some situations which may initially seem constrained, but on closer inspection they may find there is more room to manoeuvre than they imagined.

The collection of related NRICH tasks below are ideal for teachers who want to promote creativity in the classroom. They are designed for classroom use, with accompanying Teachers' Notes and Resources.

Dozens
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Dozens

Age
7 to 14
Challenge level
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Can you select the missing digit(s) to find the largest multiple?
Two and Two
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Favourite

Two and Two

Age
7 to 16
Challenge level
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How many solutions can you find to this sum? Each of the different letters stands for a different number.

American Billions
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Favourite

American Billions

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Play the divisibility game to create numbers in which the first two digits make a number divisible by 2, the first three digits make a number divisible by 3...
Largest product
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Largest product

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Which set of numbers that add to 100 have the largest product?
Cinema Problem
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Cinema Problem

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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A cinema has 100 seats. How can ticket sales make £100 for these different combinations of ticket prices?

Odds and Evens
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Odds and Evens

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Are these games fair? How can you tell?
How much can we spend?
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Favourite

How much can we spend?

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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A country has decided to have just two different coins, 3z and 5z coins. Which totals can be made? Is there a largest total that cannot be made? How do you know?
Perimeter Expressions
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Perimeter Expressions

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Create some shapes by combining two or more rectangles. What can you say about the areas and perimeters of the shapes you can make?
What numbers can we make?
problem
Favourite

What numbers can we make?

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Imagine we have four bags containing a large number of 1s, 4s, 7s and 10s. What numbers can we make?

Gabriel's Problem
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Gabriel's Problem

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Gabriel multiplied together some numbers and then erased them. Can you figure out where each number was?
1 Step 2 Step
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1 Step 2 Step

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Liam's house has a staircase with 12 steps. He can go down the steps one at a time or two at time. In how many different ways can Liam go down the 12 steps?
Take Three From Five
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Favourite

Take Three From Five

Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
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Caroline and James pick sets of five numbers. Charlie tries to find three that add together to make a multiple of three. Can they stop him?

Peaches today, Peaches tomorrow...
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Peaches today, Peaches tomorrow...

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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A monkey with peaches, keeps a fraction of them each day, gives the rest away, and then eats one. How long can his peaches last?
Weights
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Favourite

Weights

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Different combinations of the weights available allow you to make different totals. Which totals can you make?
What numbers can we make now?
problem
Favourite

What numbers can we make now?

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Imagine we have four bags containing numbers from a sequence. What numbers can we make now?