Seven Sticks
Explore the triangles that can be made with seven sticks of the same length.
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Problem
Explore the triangles that can be made with seven sticks of the same length.
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Getting Started
Use some lolly sticks or headless matches to try out your ideas.
What do you know about triangles?
Student Solutions
Jordan, Harry, Stan and Julia from Dennington Primary School have been experimenting with this problem. All of them found this arrangement of the seven sticks:
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Harry, Stan and Julia found this:
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Harry and Julia both managed to arrange the sticks to form these two sets of triangles:
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Stan was the only one to find this arrangement:
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You have all been very imaginative - well done. I wonder whether you can find any others?
Teachers' Resources
Why do this problem?
This problem allows children to be creative in applying their knowledge of properties of triangles. It will encourage learners to talk to each other and therefore will help them become more familiar with appropriate vocabulary.
Key questions
What do you know about triangles?
How will you remember that arrangement?
Possible support
Many learners will benefit from having sticks of some kind to manipulate, for example headless matches or lolly sticks.