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Resources tagged with Addition & subtraction similar to Become Maths Detectives:

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Broad Topics > Calculations and Numerical Methods > Addition & subtraction

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Become Maths Detectives

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

Explore Alex's number plumber. What questions would you like to ask? Don't forget to keep visiting NRICH projects site for the latest developments and questions.

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Six Ten Total

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

This challenge combines addition, multiplication, perseverance and even proof.

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Six Numbered Cubes

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

This task combines spatial awareness with addition and multiplication.

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Open Squares

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3

This task, written for the National Young Mathematicians' Award 2016, focuses on 'open squares'. What would the next five open squares look like?

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Buying a Balloon

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

Lolla bought a balloon at the circus. She gave the clown six coins to pay for it. What could Lolla have paid for the balloon?

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A Mixed-up Clock

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

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?

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Machines

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

What is happening at each box in these machines?

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Throw a 100

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Can you score 100 by throwing rings on this board? Is there more than way to do it?

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Super Shapes

Stage: 2 Short Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

The value of the circle changes in each of the following problems. Can you discover its value in each problem?

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Make 100

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Find at least one way to put in some operation signs (+ - x ÷) to make these digits come to 100.

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Bean Bags for Bernard's Bag

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

How could you put eight beanbags in the hoops so that there are four in the blue hoop, five in the red and six in the yellow? Can you find all the ways of doing this?

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Twenty Divided Into Six

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Katie had a pack of 20 cards numbered from 1 to 20. She arranged the cards into 6 unequal piles where each pile added to the same total. What was the total and how could this be done?

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On Target

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3

You have 5 darts and your target score is 44. How many different ways could you score 44?

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Hubble, Bubble

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Winifred Wytsh bought a box each of jelly babies, milk jelly bears, yellow jelly bees and jelly belly beans. In how many different ways could she make a jolly jelly feast with 32 legs?

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Penta Post

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

Here are the prices for 1st and 2nd class mail within the UK. You have an unlimited number of each of these stamps. Which stamps would you need to post a parcel weighing 825g?

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Scoring with Dice

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3

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?

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How Much Did it Cost?

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Use your logical-thinking skills to deduce how much Dan's crisps and ice-cream cost altogether.

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Napier's Bones

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

The Scot, John Napier, invented these strips about 400 years ago to help calculate multiplication and division. Can you work out how to use Napier's bones to find the answer to these multiplications?

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The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

This problem is based on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Investigate the different numbers of people and rats there could have been if you know how many legs there are altogether!

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The Puzzling Sweet Shop

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

There were chews for 2p, mini eggs for 3p, Chocko bars for 5p and lollypops for 7p in the sweet shop. What could each of the children buy with their money?

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Clock Face

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

Where can you draw a line on a clock face so that the numbers on both sides have the same total?

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Magic Triangle

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Place the digits 1 to 9 into the circles so that each side of the triangle adds to the same total.

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Pouring the Punch Drink

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3

There are 4 jugs which hold 9 litres, 7 litres, 4 litres and 2 litres. Find a way to pour 9 litres of drink from one jug to another until you are left with exactly 3 litres in three of the jugs.

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A-magical Number Maze

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

This magic square has operations written in it, to make it into a maze. Start wherever you like, go through every cell and go out a total of 15!

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Four Goodness Sake

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3

Use 4 four times with simple operations so that you get the answer 12. Can you make 15, 16 and 17 too?

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Adding Plus

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Can you put plus signs in so this is true? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 99 How many ways can you do it?

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Back to School

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

Mr. Sunshine tells the children they will have 2 hours of homework. After several calculations, Harry says he hasn't got time to do this homework. Can you see where his reasoning is wrong?

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Oranges and Lemons

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

On the table there is a pile of oranges and lemons that weighs exactly one kilogram. Using the information, can you work out how many lemons there are?

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Calendar Calculations

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Try adding together the dates of all the days in one week. Now multiply the first date by 7 and add 21. Can you explain what happens?

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Amy's Dominoes

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Amy has a box containing domino pieces but she does not think it is a complete set. She has 24 dominoes in her box and there are 125 spots on them altogether. Which of her domino pieces are missing?

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Rocco's Race

Stage: 2 Short Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Rocco ran in a 200 m race for his class. Use the information to find out how many runners there were in the race and what Rocco's finishing position was.

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The Deca Tree

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

Find out what a Deca Tree is and then work out how many leaves there will be after the woodcutter has cut off a trunk, a branch, a twig and a leaf.

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Dividing a Cake

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

Annie cut this numbered cake into 3 pieces with 3 cuts so that the numbers on each piece added to the same total. Where were the cuts and what fraction of the whole cake was each piece?

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Sealed Solution

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Ten cards are put into five envelopes so that there are two cards in each envelope. The sum of the numbers inside it is written on each envelope. What numbers could be inside the envelopes?

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All Seated

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Look carefully at the numbers. What do you notice? Can you make another square using the numbers 1 to 16, that displays the same properties?

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Sometimes We Lose Things

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3

Well now, what would happen if we lost all the nines in our number system? Have a go at writing the numbers out in this way and have a look at the multiplications table.

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The Clockmaker's Birthday Cake

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

The clockmaker's wife cut up his birthday cake to look like a clock face. Can you work out who received each piece?

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Buckets of Thinking

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

There are three buckets each of which holds a maximum of 5 litres. Use the clues to work out how much liquid there is in each bucket.

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Seven Square Numbers

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3

Add the sum of the squares of four numbers between 10 and 20 to the sum of the squares of three numbers less than 6 to make the square of another, larger, number.

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Two Primes Make One Square

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Can you make square numbers by adding two prime numbers together?

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Abundant Numbers

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

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?

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Zargon Glasses

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Zumf makes spectacles for the residents of the planet Zargon, who have either 3 eyes or 4 eyes. How many lenses will Zumf need to make all the different orders for 9 families?

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Exploring Number Patterns You Make

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Explore Alex's number plumber. What questions would you like to ask? What do you think is happening to the numbers?

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Escape from the Castle

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Skippy and Anna are locked in a room in a large castle. The key to that room, and all the other rooms, is a number. The numbers are locked away in a problem. Can you help them to get out?

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Journeys in Numberland

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

Tom and Ben visited Numberland. Use the maps to work out the number of points each of their routes scores.

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Follow the Numbers

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

What happens when you add the digits of a number then multiply the result by 2 and you keep doing this? You could try for different numbers and different rules.

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Shapes in a Grid

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Can you find which shapes you need to put into the grid to make the totals at the end of each row and the bottom of each column?

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It Was 2010!

Stage: 1 and 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

If the answer's 2010, what could the question be?

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Fingers and Hands

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

How would you count the number of fingers in these pictures?

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How Do You Do It?

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

This group activity will encourage you to share calculation strategies and to think about which strategy might be the most efficient.


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