Other tags that relate to Polygonals
Describing patterns and sequences. Working systematically. Multiplication & division. Investigations. Practical Activity. Combinations. Addition & subtraction. Generalising. Visualising. Factors and multiples.There are 342 results
Broad Topics > Thinking Mathematically > Working systematically
Magazines
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Let's suppose that you are going to have a magazine which has 16 pages of A5 size. Can you find some different ways to make these pages? Investigate the pattern for each if you number the pages.
Calcunos
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
If we had 16 light bars which digital numbers could we make? How will you know you've found them all?
Newspapers
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
When newspaper pages get separated at home we have to try to sort them out and get things in the correct order. How many ways can we arrange these pages so that the numbering may be different?
3 Rings
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
If you have three circular objects, you could arrange them so that they are separate, touching, overlapping or inside each other. Can you investigate all the different possibilities?
Halloween Investigation
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Ana and Ross looked in a trunk in the attic. They found old cloaks and gowns, hats and masks. How many possible costumes could they make?
Street Party
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
The challenge here is to find as many routes as you can for a fence to go so that this town is divided up into two halves, each with 8 blocks.
Ice Cream
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
You cannot choose a selection of ice cream flavours that includes totally what someone has already chosen. Have a go and find all the different ways in which seven children can have ice cream.
Sweets in a Box
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Making Cuboids
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Let's say you can only use two different lengths - 2 units and 4 units. Using just these 2 lengths as the edges how many different cuboids can you make?
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?
Whose Face?
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
These are the faces of Will, Lil, Bill, Phil and Jill. Use the clues to work out which name goes with each face.
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?
Buying a Balloon
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
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?
Ordered Ways of Working Upper Primary
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
These activities lend themselves to systematic working in the sense that it helps if you have an ordered approach.
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 ...?
Sticks and Triangles
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Using different numbers of sticks, how many different triangles are you able to make? Can you make any rules about the numbers of sticks that make the most triangles?
Home City
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Use the clues to work out which cities Mohamed, Sheng, Tanya and Bharat live in.
Ordered Ways of Working Upper Primary
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
These activities lend themselves to systematic working in the sense that it helps to have an ordered approach.
A Child Is Full of ...
Age 7 to 11 Short Challenge Level:
My cousin was 24 years old on Friday April 5th in 1974. On what day of the week was she born?
Ribbon Squares
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
What is the largest 'ribbon square' you can make? And the smallest? How many different squares can you make altogether?
Finding All Possibilities Upper Primary
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
These activities focus on finding all possible solutions so if you work in a systematic way, you won't leave any out.
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?
Building with Rods
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
In how many ways can you stack these rods, following the rules?
Crack the Code
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
The Zargoes use almost the same alphabet as English. What does this birthday message say?
Encouraging Primary Children to Work Systematically
Age 3 to 11
This article for primary teachers suggests ways in which to help children become better at working systematically.
Crossing the Town Square
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
This tricky challenge asks you to find ways of going across rectangles, going through exactly ten squares.
Stairs
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
This challenge is to design different step arrangements, which must go along a distance of 6 on the steps and must end up at 6 high.
Finding All Possibilities Upper Primary
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
These activities focus on finding all possible solutions so working in a systematic way will ensure none are left out.
Eight Queens
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Place eight queens on an chessboard (an 8 by 8 grid) so that none can capture any of the others.
This Pied Piper of Hamelin
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Investigate the different numbers of people and rats there could have been if you know how many legs there are altogether!
Creating Cubes
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Arrange 9 red cubes, 9 blue cubes and 9 yellow cubes into a large 3 by 3 cube. No row or column of cubes must contain two cubes of the same colour.
Two on Five
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Take 5 cubes of one colour and 2 of another colour. How many different ways can you join them if the 5 must touch the table and the 2 must not touch the table?
Wag Worms
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
When intergalactic Wag Worms are born they look just like a cube. Each year they grow another cube in any direction. Find all the shapes that five-year-old Wag Worms can be.
Seven Pots of Plants
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
There are seven pots of plants in a greenhouse. They have lost their labels. Perhaps you can help re-label them.
Room Doubling
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Investigate the different ways you could split up these rooms so that you have double the number.
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?
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?
How Many Times?
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
On a digital 24 hour clock, at certain times, all the digits are consecutive. How many times like this are there between midnight and 7 a.m.?
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.
Two Dots
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Place eight dots on this diagram, so that there are only two dots on each straight line and only two dots on each circle.
Team Scream
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Seven friends went to a fun fair with lots of scary rides. They decided to pair up for rides until each friend had ridden once with each of the others. What was the total number rides?
Make Pairs
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Put 10 counters in a row. Find a way to arrange the counters into five pairs, evenly spaced in a row, in just 5 moves, using the rules.
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?
Calendar Cubes
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Make a pair of cubes that can be moved to show all the days of the month from the 1st to the 31st.
More and More Buckets
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
In this challenge, buckets come in five different sizes. If you choose some buckets, can you investigate the different ways in which they can be filled?
Elf Suits
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
If these elves wear a different outfit every day for as many days as possible, how many days can their fun last?
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.
All Seated
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Watch Your Feet
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
I like to walk along the cracks of the paving stones, but not the outside edge of the path itself. How many different routes can you find for me to take?
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.