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Resources tagged with Generalising similar to Stringy Quads:

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Broad Topics > Using, Applying and Reasoning about Mathematics > Generalising

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Tumbling Down

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Watch this animation. What do you see? Can you explain why this happens?

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Odd Squares

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Think of a number, square it and subtract your starting number. Is the number you’re left with odd or even? How do the images help to explain this?

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Finding 3D Stacks

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Can you find a way of counting the spheres in these arrangements?

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Taking Steps

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

In each of the pictures the invitation is for you to: Count what you see. Identify how you think the pattern would continue.

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Circles, Circles

Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:

Here are some arrangements of circles. How many circles would I need to make the next size up for each? Can you create your own arrangement and investigate the number of circles it needs?

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Cuisenaire Rods

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

These squares have been made from Cuisenaire rods. Can you describe the pattern? What would the next square look like?

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Dotty Circle

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Watch this film carefully. Can you find a general rule for explaining when the dot will be this same distance from the horizontal axis?

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Counting Counters

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Take a counter and surround it by a ring of other counters that MUST touch two others. How many are needed?

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Chess

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

What would be the smallest number of moves needed to move a Knight from a chess set from one corner to the opposite corner of a 99 by 99 square board?

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Domino Numbers

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Can you see why 2 by 2 could be 5? Can you predict what 2 by 10 will be?

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Move a Match

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

How can you arrange these 10 matches in four piles so that when you move one match from three of the piles into the fourth, you end up with the same arrangement?

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Is There a Theorem?

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Draw a square. A second square of the same size slides around the first always maintaining contact and keeping the same orientation. How far does the dot travel?

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Picturing Triangular Numbers

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Triangular numbers can be represented by a triangular array of squares. What do you notice about the sum of identical triangle numbers?

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Always, Sometimes or Never? Shape

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Are these statements always true, sometimes true or never true?

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Hidden Rectangles

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Rectangles are considered different if they vary in size or have different locations. How many different rectangles can be drawn on a chessboard?

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Dotty Triangles

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Imagine an infinitely large sheet of square dotty paper on which you can draw triangles of any size you wish (providing each vertex is on a dot). What areas is it/is it not possible to draw?

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Squares, Squares and More Squares

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Can you dissect a square into: 4, 7, 10, 13... other squares? 6, 9, 12, 15... other squares? 8, 11, 14... other squares?

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Build it Up

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Can you find all the ways to get 15 at the top of this triangle of numbers? Many opportunities to work in different ways.

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Tourism

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

If you can copy a network without lifting your pen off the paper and without drawing any line twice, then it is traversable. Decide which of these diagrams are traversable.

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Number Differences

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Place the numbers from 1 to 9 in the squares below so that the difference between joined squares is odd. How many different ways can you do this?

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Cubes Within Cubes Revisited

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Imagine starting with one yellow cube and covering it all over with a single layer of red cubes, and then covering that cube with a layer of blue cubes. How many red and blue cubes would you need?

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Triangle Pin-down

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Use the interactivity to investigate what kinds of triangles can be drawn on peg boards with different numbers of pegs.

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Dice Stairs

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Can you make dice stairs using the rules stated? How do you know you have all the possible stairs?

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Cunning Card Trick

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Delight your friends with this cunning trick! Can you explain how it works?

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Broken Toaster

Age 7 to 11 Short Challenge Level:

Only one side of a two-slice toaster is working. What is the quickest way to toast both sides of three slices of bread?

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Christmas Chocolates

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

How could Penny, Tom and Matthew work out how many chocolates there are in different sized boxes?

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Picturing Square Numbers

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Square numbers can be represented as the sum of consecutive odd numbers. What is the sum of 1 + 3 + ..... + 149 + 151 + 153?

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Button-up Some More

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

How many ways can you find to do up all four buttons on my coat? How about if I had five buttons? Six ...?

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Cut it Out

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Can you dissect an equilateral triangle into 6 smaller ones? What number of smaller equilateral triangles is it NOT possible to dissect a larger equilateral triangle into?

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Route to Infinity

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Can you describe this route to infinity? Where will the arrows take you next?

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Squares in Rectangles

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

A 2 by 3 rectangle contains 8 squares and a 3 by 4 rectangle contains 20 squares. What size rectangle(s) contain(s) exactly 100 squares? Can you find them all?

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Winning Lines

Age 7 to 16

An article for teachers and pupils that encourages you to look at the mathematical properties of similar games.

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Truth or Lie

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Take a look at the video of this trick. Can you perform it yourself? Why is this maths and not magic?

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Nim-7 for Two

Age 5 to 14 Challenge Level:

Nim-7 game for an adult and child. Who will be the one to take the last counter?

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Up and Down Staircases

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

One block is needed to make an up-and-down staircase, with one step up and one step down. How many blocks would be needed to build an up-and-down staircase with 5 steps up and 5 steps down?

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Roll over the Dice

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Watch this video to see how to roll the dice. Now it's your turn! What do you notice about the dice numbers you have recorded?

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Division Rules

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

This challenge encourages you to explore dividing a three-digit number by a single-digit number.

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Sums and Differences 2

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Find the sum and difference between a pair of two-digit numbers. Now find the sum and difference between the sum and difference! What happens?

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Shear Magic

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

What are the areas of these triangles? What do you notice? Can you generalise to other "families" of triangles?

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Frogs

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

How many moves does it take to swap over some red and blue frogs? Do you have a method?

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Sums and Differences 1

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

This challenge focuses on finding the sum and difference of pairs of two-digit numbers.

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Round the Four Dice

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

This activity involves rounding four-digit numbers to the nearest thousand.

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Konigsberg Plus

Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Euler discussed whether or not it was possible to stroll around Koenigsberg crossing each of its seven bridges exactly once. Experiment with different numbers of islands and bridges.

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Sitting Round the Party Tables

Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:

Sweets are given out to party-goers in a particular way. Investigate the total number of sweets received by people sitting in different positions.

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Build it up More

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

This task follows on from Build it Up and takes the ideas into three dimensions!

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Play to 37

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

In this game for two players, the idea is to take it in turns to choose 1, 3, 5 or 7. The winner is the first to make the total 37.

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Centred Squares

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

This challenge, written for the Young Mathematicians' Award, invites you to explore 'centred squares'.

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Spirals, Spirals

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

Here are two kinds of spirals for you to explore. What do you notice?

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Snake Coils

Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:

This challenge asks you to imagine a snake coiling on itself.

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Always, Sometimes or Never?

Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:

Are these statements relating to odd and even numbers always true, sometimes true or never true?


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