Other tags that relate to Take Ten Sticks
Square numbers. Triangle numbers. Factors and multiples. Comparing data. Generalising. Creating and manipulating expressions and formulae. Handling data. Spreadsheets. Interactivities. Visualising.There are 130 results
Broad Topics > Algebraic expressions, equations and formulae > Creating and manipulating expressions and formulae
Odd Differences
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The diagram illustrates the formula: 1 + 3 + 5 + ... + (2n - 1) = n² Use the diagram to show that any odd number is the difference of two squares.
Triangles Within Squares
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you find a rule which relates triangular numbers to square numbers?
Generating Triples
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Sets of integers like 3, 4, 5 are called Pythagorean Triples, because they could be the lengths of the sides of a right-angled triangle. Can you find any more?
Summing Consecutive Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
15 = 7 + 8 and 10 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4. Can you say which numbers can be expressed as the sum of two or more consecutive integers?
Partitioning Revisited
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
We can show that (x + 1)² = x² + 2x + 1 by considering the area of an (x + 1) by (x + 1) square. Show in a similar way that (x + 2)² = x² + 4x + 4
Robert's Spreadsheet
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Robert noticed some interesting patterns when he highlighted square numbers in a spreadsheet. Can you prove that the patterns will continue?
Magic Squares for Special Occasions
Age 11 to 16
This article explains how to make your own magic square to mark a special occasion with the special date of your choice on the top line.
Interactive Number Patterns
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
How good are you at finding the formula for a number pattern ?
Sums of Pairs
Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:
Jo has three numbers which she adds together in pairs. When she does this she has three different totals: 11, 17 and 22 What are the three numbers Jo had to start with?”
Pick's Theorem
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Polygons drawn on square dotty paper have dots on their perimeter (p) and often internal (i) ones as well. Find a relationship between p, i and the area of the polygons.
Multiplication Square
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Pick a square within a multiplication square and add the numbers on each diagonal. What do you notice?
Dating Made Easier
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
If a sum invested gains 10% each year how long before it has doubled its value?
Fibonacci Surprises
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Play around with the Fibonacci sequence and discover some surprising results!
How Much Can We Spend?
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
A country has decided to have just two different coins, 3z and 5z coins. Which totals can be made? Is there a largest total that cannot be made? How do you know?
Quadratic Patterns
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Surprising numerical patterns can be explained using algebra and diagrams...
Square Pizza
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you show that you can share a square pizza equally between two people by cutting it four times using vertical, horizontal and diagonal cuts through any point inside the square?
Regular Hexagon Loops
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Make some loops out of regular hexagons. What rules can you discover?
Mind Reading
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Think of a number, add one, double it, take away 3, add the number you first thought of, add 7, divide by 3 and take away the number you first thought of. You should now be left with 2. How do I. . . .
Triangles Within Triangles
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you find a rule which connects consecutive triangular numbers?
Partly Painted Cube
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Jo made a cube from some smaller cubes, painted some of the faces of the large cube, and then took it apart again. 45 small cubes had no paint on them at all. How many small cubes did Jo use?
Chocolate 2010
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to eat chocolate. Multiply this number by 2...
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?
Hot Pursuit
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
I added together the first 'n' positive integers and found that my answer was a 3 digit number in which all the digits were the same...
Beach Huts
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you figure out how sequences of beach huts are generated?
Adding in Rows
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
List any 3 numbers. It is always possible to find a subset of adjacent numbers that add up to a multiple of 3. Can you explain why and prove it?
Pair Products
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Choose four consecutive whole numbers. Multiply the first and last numbers together. Multiply the middle pair together. What do you notice?
Triangles Within Pentagons
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Show that all pentagonal numbers are one third of a triangular number.
Harmonic Triangle
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you see how to build a harmonic triangle? Can you work out the next two rows?
Series Sums
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Let S1 = 1 , S2 = 2 + 3, S3 = 4 + 5 + 6 ,........ Calculate S17.
More Number Pyramids
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
When number pyramids have a sequence on the bottom layer, some interesting patterns emerge...
Number Pyramids
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Try entering different sets of numbers in the number pyramids. How does the total at the top change?
Steel Cables
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Some students have been working out the number of strands needed for different sizes of cable. Can you make sense of their solutions?
What's Possible?
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Many numbers can be expressed as the difference of two perfect squares. What do you notice about the numbers you CANNOT make?
Mindreader
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
A little bit of algebra explains this 'magic'. Ask a friend to pick 3 consecutive numbers and to tell you a multiple of 3. Then ask them to add the four numbers and multiply by 67, and to tell you. . . .
Janine's Conjecture
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Janine noticed, while studying some cube numbers, that if you take three consecutive whole numbers and multiply them together and then add the middle number of the three, you get the middle number. . . .
Pinned Squares
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
What is the total number of squares that can be made on a 5 by 5 geoboard?
Training Schedule
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The heptathlon is an athletics competition consisting of 7 events. Can you make sense of the scoring system in order to advise a heptathlete on the best way to reach her target?
Sum Equals Product
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
The sum of the numbers 4 and 1 [1/3] is the same as the product of 4 and 1 [1/3]; that is to say 4 + 1 [1/3] = 4 � 1 [1/3]. What other numbers have the sum equal to the product and can this be so. . . .
Special Sums and Products
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Find some examples of pairs of numbers such that their sum is a factor of their product. eg. 4 + 12 = 16 and 4 × 12 = 48 and 16 is a factor of 48.
Unusual Long Division - Square Roots Before Calculators
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
However did we manage before calculators? Is there an efficient way to do a square root if you have to do the work yourself?
Lower Bound
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
What would you get if you continued this sequence of fraction sums? 1/2 + 2/1 = 2/3 + 3/2 = 3/4 + 4/3 =
Perfectly Square
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The sums of the squares of three related numbers is also a perfect square - can you explain why?
Special Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
My two digit number is special because adding the sum of its digits to the product of its digits gives me my original number. What could my number be?
DOTS Division
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Take any pair of two digit numbers x=ab and y=cd where, without loss of generality, ab > cd . Form two 4 digit numbers r=abcd and s=cdab and calculate: {r^2 - s^2} /{x^2 - y^2}.
Never Prime
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
If a two digit number has its digits reversed and the smaller of the two numbers is subtracted from the larger, prove the difference can never be prime.
Consecutive Squares
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The squares of any 8 consecutive numbers can be arranged into two sets of four numbers with the same sum. True of false?
Crossed Ends
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Crosses can be drawn on number grids of various sizes. What do you notice when you add opposite ends?
Your Number Is...
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
Think of a number and follow the machine's instructions... I know what your number is! Can you explain how I know?
Painted Cube
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Imagine a large cube made from small red cubes being dropped into a pot of yellow paint. How many of the small cubes will have yellow paint on their faces?
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.