Look at what happens when you take a number, square it and subtract your answer. What kind of number do you get? Can you prove it?
In this simulation of a balance, you can drag numbers and parts of number sentences on to the trays. Have a play!
What is the largest number you can make using the three digits 2, 3 and 4 in any way you like, using any operations you like? You can only use each digit once.
Can you find different ways of creating paths using these paving slabs?
Alf describes how the Gattegno chart helped a class of 7-9 year olds gain an awareness of place value and of the inverse relationship between multiplication and division.
This Sudoku requires you to do some working backwards before working forwards.
6! = 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1. The highest power of 2 that divides exactly into 6! is 4 since (6!) / (2^4 ) = 45. What is the highest power of two that divides exactly into 100!?
These pictures and answers leave the viewer with the problem "What is the Question". Can you give the question and how the answer follows?
Each clue in this Sudoku is the product of the two numbers in adjacent cells.
This Sudoku puzzle can be solved with the help of small clue-numbers on the border lines between pairs of neighbouring squares of the grid.
Play this game and see if you can figure out the computer's chosen number.
Number problems at primary level that require careful consideration.
Visitors to Earth from the distant planet of Zub-Zorna were amazed when they found out that when the digits in this multiplication were reversed, the answer was the same! Find a way to explain. . . .
Use your logical reasoning to work out how many cows and how many sheep there are in each field.
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?
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?
Make a set of numbers that use all the digits from 1 to 9, once and once only. Add them up. The result is divisible by 9. Add each of the digits in the new number. What is their sum? Now try some. . . .
A game for 2 people using a pack of cards Turn over 2 cards and try to make an odd number or a multiple of 3.
If you take a three by three square on a 1-10 addition square and multiply the diagonally opposite numbers together, what is the difference between these products. Why?
When I type a sequence of letters my calculator gives the product of all the numbers in the corresponding memories. What numbers should I store so that when I type 'ONE' it returns 1, and when I type. . . .
Given the products of adjacent cells, can you complete this Sudoku?
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?
Find the number which has 8 divisors, such that the product of the divisors is 331776.
Choose any 3 digits and make a 6 digit number by repeating the 3 digits in the same order (e.g. 594594). Explain why whatever digits you choose the number will always be divisible by 7, 11 and 13.
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?
The clues for this Sudoku are the product of the numbers in adjacent squares.
Choose two digits and arrange them to make two double-digit numbers. Now add your double-digit numbers. Now add your single digit numbers. Divide your double-digit answer by your single-digit answer. . . .
The number 8888...88M9999...99 is divisible by 7 and it starts with the digit 8 repeated 50 times and ends with the digit 9 repeated 50 times. What is the value of the digit M?
Choose any four consecutive even numbers. Multiply the two middle numbers together. Multiply the first and last numbers. Now subtract your second answer from the first. Try it with your own. . . .
Find the highest power of 11 that will divide into 1000! exactly.
In this article, Alf outlines six activities using the Gattegno chart, which help to develop understanding of place value, multiplication and division.
This article for primary teachers encourages exploration of two fundamental ideas, exchange and 'unitising', which will help children become more fluent when calculating.
What is the remainder when 2^{164}is divided by 7?
Gabriel multiplied together some numbers and then erased them. Can you figure out where each number was?
This challenge combines addition, multiplication, perseverance and even proof.
This task combines spatial awareness with addition and multiplication.
What is the smallest number of answers you need to reveal in order to work out the missing headers?
Take any four digit number. Move the first digit to the end and move the rest along. Now add your two numbers. Did you get a multiple of 11?
The number 12 = 2^2 × 3 has 6 factors. What is the smallest natural number with exactly 36 factors?
Using the digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, mulitply a two two digit numbers are multiplied to give a four digit number, so that the expression is correct. How many different solutions can you find?
Find the smallest whole number which, when mutiplied by 7, gives a product consisting entirely of ones.
Mathematicians are always looking for efficient methods for solving problems. How efficient can you be?
Using the digits 1 to 9, the number 4396 can be written as the product of two numbers. Can you find the factors?
I'm thinking of a number. My number is both a multiple of 5 and a multiple of 6. What could my number be?
Investigate the different ways that fifteen schools could have given money in a charity fundraiser.
Your vessel, the Starship Diophantus, has become damaged in deep space. Can you use your knowledge of times tables and some lightning reflexes to survive?
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?
What is the lowest number which always leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by each of the numbers from 2 to 10?