Other tags that relate to Starfish Spotting
Trial and improvement. Factors and multiples. Games. Multiplication & division. Investigations. Working systematically. Combinations. Generalising. Comparing and Ordering numbers. Addition & subtraction.There are 320 results
Broad Topics > Mathematical Thinking > Working systematically
Today's Date - 01/06/2009
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
What do you notice about the date 03.06.09? Or 08.01.09? This challenge invites you to investigate some interesting dates yourself.
Worms
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Place this "worm" on the 100 square and find the total of the four squares it covers. Keeping its head in the same place, what other totals can you make?
Robot Monsters
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
Use these head, body and leg pieces to make Robot Monsters which are different heights.
Being Resourceful - Primary Number
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Number problems at primary level that require careful consideration.
Here to There 1 2 3
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
Move from the START to the FINISH by moving across or down to the next square. Can you find a route to make these totals?
Difference
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Place the numbers 1 to 10 in the circles so that each number is the difference between the two numbers just below it.
ABC
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
In the multiplication calculation, some of the digits have been replaced by letters and others by asterisks. Can you reconstruct the original multiplication?
The Moons of Vuvv
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
The planet of Vuvv has seven moons. Can you work out how long it is between each super-eclipse?
Zargon Glasses
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Polo Square
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Arrange eight of the numbers between 1 and 9 in the Polo Square below so that each side adds to the same total.
Professional Circles
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Six friends sat around a circular table. Can you work out from the information who sat where and what their profession were?
Finding Fifteen
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Tim had nine cards each with a different number from 1 to 9 on it. How could he have put them into three piles so that the total in each pile was 15?
Nineteen Hexagons
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
In this maze of hexagons, you start in the centre at 0. The next hexagon must be a multiple of 2 and the next a multiple of 5. What are the possible paths you could take?
Open Squares
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
This task, written for the National Young Mathematicians' Award 2016, focuses on 'open squares'. What would the next five open squares look like?
Dart Target
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
This task, written for the National Young Mathematicians' Award 2016, invites you to explore the different combinations of scores that you might get on these dart boards.
Seating Arrangements
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Sitting around a table are three girls and three boys. Use the clues to work out were each person is sitting.
The Puzzling Sweet Shop
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Find the Difference
Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level:
Place the numbers 1 to 6 in the circles so that each number is the difference between the two numbers just below it.
Crack the Code
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
The Zargoes use almost the same alphabet as English. What does this birthday message say?
Spell by Numbers
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you substitute numbers for the letters in these sums?
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?
Two Egg Timers
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
You have two egg timers. One takes 4 minutes exactly to empty and the other takes 7 minutes. What times in whole minutes can you measure and how?
Rabbits in the Pen
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Using the statements, can you work out how many of each type of rabbit there are in these pens?
Possible Pieces
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you create jigsaw pieces which are based on a square shape, with at least one peg and one hole?
Prison Cells
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
There are 78 prisoners in a square cell block of twelve cells. The clever prison warder arranged them so there were 25 along each wall of the prison block. How did he do it?
Twenty Divided Into Six
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
A Right Charlie
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you use this information to work out Charlie's house number?
Bunny Hop
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
What is the smallest number of jumps needed before the white rabbits and the grey rabbits can continue along their path?
Arranging the Tables
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
There are 44 people coming to a dinner party. There are 15 square tables that seat 4 people. Find a way to seat the 44 people using all 15 tables, with no empty places.
Fractions in a Box
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
The discs for this game are kept in a flat square box with a square hole for each. Use the information to find out how many discs of each colour there are in the box.
Pouring the Punch Drink
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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.
Mystery Matrix
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you fill in this table square? The numbers 2 -12 were used to generate it with just one number used twice.
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.
A-magical Number Maze
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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!
Fake Gold
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
A merchant brings four bars of gold to a jeweller. How can the jeweller use the scales just twice to identify the lighter, fake bar?
Snails' Trails
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Alice and Brian are snails who live on a wall and can only travel along the cracks. Alice wants to go to see Brian. How far is the shortest route along the cracks? Is there more than one way to go?
Bean Bags for Bernard's Bag
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Pasta Timing
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Nina must cook some pasta for 15 minutes but she only has a 7-minute sand-timer and an 11-minute sand-timer. How can she use these timers to measure exactly 15 minutes?
Six Is the Sum
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
What do the digits in the number fifteen add up to? How many other numbers have digits with the same total but no zeros?
It Figures
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Suppose we allow ourselves to use three numbers less than 10 and multiply them together. How many different products can you find? How do you know you've got them all?
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!
1 to 8
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Place the numbers 1 to 8 in the circles so that no consecutive numbers are joined by a line.
Octa Space
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
In the planet system of Octa the planets are arranged in the shape of an octahedron. How many different routes could be taken to get from Planet A to Planet Zargon?
A Square of Numbers
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you put the numbers 1 to 8 into the circles so that the four calculations are correct?
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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!
A Mixed-up Clock
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Sealed Solution
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
One to Fifteen
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you put the numbers from 1 to 15 on the circles so that no consecutive numbers lie anywhere along a continuous straight line?
Code Breaker
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
This problem is based on a code using two different prime numbers less than 10. You'll need to multiply them together and shift the alphabet forwards by the result. Can you decipher the code?
Two Primes Make One Square
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you make square numbers by adding two prime numbers together?
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.