Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
Norrie sees two lights flash at the same time, then one of them flashes every 4th second, and the other flashes every 5th second. How many times do they flash together during a whole minute?
Four of these clues are needed to find the chosen number on this grid and four are true but do nothing to help in finding the number. Can you sort out the clues and find the number?
Becky created a number plumber which multiplies by 5 and subtracts 4. What do you notice about the numbers that it produces? Can you explain your findings?
56 406 is the product of two consecutive numbers. What are these two numbers?
Can you see how these factor-multiple chains work? Find the chain which contains the smallest possible numbers. How about the largest possible numbers?
In this problem we are looking at sets of parallel sticks that cross each other. What is the least number of crossings you can make? And the greatest?
This article for teachers describes how number arrays can be a useful reprentation for many number concepts.
Can you work out what a ziffle is on the planet Zargon?
What is the lowest number which always leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by each of the numbers from 2 to 10?
Which is quicker, counting up to 30 in ones or counting up to 300 in tens? Why?
These red, yellow and blue spinners were each spun 45 times in total. Can you work out which numbers are on each spinner?
Work out Tom's number from the answers he gives his friend. He will only answer 'yes' or 'no'.
This big box multiplies anything that goes inside it by the same number. If you know the numbers that come out, what multiplication might be going on in the box?
The planet of Vuvv has seven moons. Can you work out how long it is between each super-eclipse?
Andrew decorated 20 biscuits to take to a party. He lined them up and put icing on every second biscuit and different decorations on other biscuits. How many biscuits weren't decorated?
I am thinking of three sets of numbers less than 101. They are the red set, the green set and the blue set. Can you find all the numbers in the sets from these clues?
Number problems at primary level that may require determination.
Katie and Will have some balloons. Will's balloon burst at exactly the same size as Katie's at the beginning of a puff. How many puffs had Will done before his balloon burst?
On the planet Vuv there are two sorts of creatures. The Zios have 3 legs and the Zepts have 7 legs. The great planetary explorer Nico counted 52 legs. How many Zios and how many Zepts were there?
Follow the clues to find the mystery number.
There are ten children in Becky's group. Can you find a set of numbers for each of them? Are there any other sets?
Is it possible to draw a 5-pointed star without taking your pencil off the paper? Is it possible to draw a 6-pointed star in the same way without taking your pen off?
Find the words hidden inside each of the circles by counting around a certain number of spaces to find each letter in turn.
I am thinking of three sets of numbers less than 101. Can you find all the numbers in each set from these clues?
A game for 2 or more people. Starting with 100, subratct a number from 1 to 9 from the total. You score for making an odd number, a number ending in 0 or a multiple of 6.
Look at three 'next door neighbours' amongst the counting numbers. Add them together. What do you notice?
Got It game for an adult and child. How can you play so that you know you will always win?
Ben’s class were cutting up number tracks. First they cut them into twos and added up the numbers on each piece. What patterns could they see?
A game for 2 people using a pack of cards Turn over 2 cards and try to make an odd number or a multiple of 3.
Can you complete this jigsaw of the multiplication square?
Are these statements always true, sometimes true or never true?
How can you use just one weighing to find out which box contains the lighter ten coins out of the ten boxes?
Can you order the digits from 1-3 to make a number which is divisible by 3 so when the last digit is removed it becomes a 2-figure number divisible by 2, and so on?
Can you fill in this table square? The numbers 2 -12 were used to generate it with just one number used twice.
Investigate the smallest number of moves it takes to turn these mats upside-down if you can only turn exactly three at a time.
There is a clock-face where the numbers have become all mixed up. Can you find out where all the numbers have got to from these ten statements?
48 is called an abundant number because it is less than the sum of its factors (without itself). Can you find some more abundant numbers?
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?
Starting with the number 180, take away 9 again and again, joining up the dots as you go. Watch out - don't join all the dots!
Number problems at primary level to work on with others.
I throw three dice and get 5, 3 and 2. Add the scores on the three dice. What do you get? Now multiply the scores. What do you notice?
Arrange the four number cards on the grid, according to the rules, to make a diagonal, vertical or horizontal line.
What happens if you join every second point on this circle? How about every third point? Try with different steps and see if you can predict what will happen.
What do the numbers shaded in blue on this hundred square have in common? What do you notice about the pink numbers? How about the shaded numbers in the other squares?
An investigation that gives you the opportunity to make and justify predictions.
If you have only four weights, where could you place them in order to balance this equaliser?
I'm thinking of a number. When my number is divided by 5 the remainder is 4. When my number is divided by 3 the remainder is 2. Can you find my number?
A student in a maths class was trying to get some information from her teacher. She was given some clues and then the teacher ended by saying, "Well, how old are they?"
An environment which simulates working with Cuisenaire rods.