Problem
First name
Mitchell Sparrowhawk
School
St Mary and all Saints Primary, Beaconsfield
Country
Age
9
Sinead has 10 pockets and 44 one pound coins.
She wants to put all these pounds into her pockets so that each pocket contains a different number of coins.
Prove that this is impossible.
What is the minimum number of coins Sinead would need in order to be able to do this?
After trying this problem just 5 times we believe we have found out why it is impossible. We know this because if you do 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, which is the smallest you can do, you end up having 55. Therefore this problem is impossible.