This challenge asks you to investigate the total number of cards that would be sent if four children send one to all three others. How many would be sent if there were five children? Six?
Watch this animation. What do you notice? What happens when you try more or fewer cubes in a bundle?
If the numbers 5, 7 and 4 go into this function machine, what numbers will come out?
Can you design a new shape for the twenty-eight squares and arrange the numbers in a logical way? What patterns do you notice?
This number has 903 digits. What is the sum of all 903 digits?
Find the next number in this pattern: 3, 7, 19, 55 ...
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?
If you had any number of ordinary dice, what are the possible ways of making their totals 6? What would the product of the dice be each time?
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!
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?
Use your logical-thinking skills to deduce how much Dan's crisps and ice-cream cost altogether.
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?
Number problems at primary level that require careful consideration.
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!
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.
Find the product of the numbers on the routes from A to B. Which route has the smallest product? Which the largest?
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?
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?
Can you arrange 5 different digits (from 0 - 9) in the cross in the way described?
Ahmed is making rods using different numbers of cubes. Which rod is twice the length of his first rod?
Where can you draw a line on a clock face so that the numbers on both sides have the same total?
Use the information to work out how many gifts there are in each pile.
Can you score 100 by throwing rings on this board? Is there more than way to do it?
On my calculator I divided one whole number by another whole number and got the answer 3.125. If the numbers are both under 50, what are they?
In this investigation, you are challenged to make mobile phone numbers which are easy to remember. What happens if you make a sequence adding 2 each time?
Go through the maze, collecting and losing your money as you go. Which route gives you the highest return? And the lowest?
EWWNP means Exploring Wild and Wonderful Number Patterns Created by Yourself! Investigate what happens if we create number patterns using some simple rules.
How many starfish could there be on the beach, and how many children, if I can see 28 arms?
Using the statements, can you work out how many of each type of rabbit there are in these pens?
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?
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.
We can arrange dots in a similar way to the 5 on a dice and they usually sit quite well into a rectangular shape. How many altogether in this 3 by 5? What happens for other sizes?
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.
In a Magic Square all the rows, columns and diagonals add to the 'Magic Constant'. How would you change the magic constant of this square?
Put a number at the top of the machine and collect a number at the bottom. What do you get? Which numbers get back to themselves?
This challenge combines addition, multiplication, perseverance and even proof.
Cherri, Saxon, Mel and Paul are friends. They are all different ages. Can you find out the age of each friend using the information?
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?
A group of children are using measuring cylinders but they lose the labels. Can you help relabel them?
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?
What do you notice about the date 03.06.09? Or 08.01.09? This challenge invites you to investigate some interesting dates yourself.
There are over sixty different ways of making 24 by adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing all four numbers 4, 6, 6 and 8 (using each number only once). How many can you find?
The clockmaker's wife cut up his birthday cake to look like a clock face. Can you work out who received each piece?
In the multiplication calculation, some of the digits have been replaced by letters and others by asterisks. Can you reconstruct the original multiplication?
Find another number that is one short of a square number and when you double it and add 1, the result is also a square number.
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?
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.