# Resources tagged with: Creating and manipulating expressions and formulae

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### There are 132 results

Broad Topics > Algebraic expressions, equations and formulae > Creating and manipulating expressions and formulae

### 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...

##### 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?

### Even So

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Find some triples of whole numbers a, b and c such that a^2 + b^2 + c^2 is a multiple of 4. Is it necessarily the case that a, b and c must all be even? If so, can you explain why?

### 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?

### 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.

### Back to Basics

##### Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:

Find b where 3723(base 10) = 123(base b).

### Why 8?

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

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. . . .

### 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?”

### Pythagoras Perimeters

##### Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:

If you know the perimeter of a right angled triangle, what can you say about the area?

### Quick Times

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

32 x 38 = 30 x 40 + 2 x 8; 34 x 36 = 30 x 40 + 4 x 6; 56 x 54 = 50 x 60 + 6 x 4; 73 x 77 = 70 x 80 + 3 x 7 Verify and generalise if possible.

### 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.

### Chocolate Maths

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Pick the number of times a week that you eat chocolate. This number must be more than one but less than ten. Multiply this number by 2. Add 5 (for Sunday). Multiply by 50... Can you explain why it. . . .

### More Mathematical Mysteries

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Write down a three-digit number Change the order of the digits to get a different number Find the difference between the two three digit numbers Follow the rest of the instructions then try. . . .

### Really Mr. Bond

##### Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:

115^2 = (110 x 120) + 25, that is 13225 895^2 = (890 x 900) + 25, that is 801025 Can you explain what is happening and generalise?

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

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?

### 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?

### Always Perfect

##### Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:

Show that if you add 1 to the product of four consecutive numbers the answer is ALWAYS a perfect square.

### 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?

### Think of Two Numbers

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Think of two whole numbers under 10, and follow the steps. I can work out both your numbers very quickly. How?

### Reversals

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Where should you start, if you want to finish back where you started?

### Series Sums

##### Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:

Let S1 = 1 , S2 = 2 + 3, S3 = 4 + 5 + 6 ,........ Calculate S17.

### 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?

### Difference of Two Squares

##### Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:

What is special about the difference between squares of numbers adjacent to multiples of three?

### Beach Huts

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Can you figure out how sequences of beach huts are generated?

### The Number Jumbler

##### Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:

The Number Jumbler can always work out your chosen symbol. Can you work out how?

##### 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?

##### 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. . . .

### Legs Eleven

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

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?

### Always a Multiple?

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Think of a two digit number, reverse the digits, and add the numbers together. Something special happens...

### Diophantine N-tuples

##### Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:

Can you explain why a sequence of operations always gives you perfect squares?

### Fibonacci Surprises

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Play around with the Fibonacci sequence and discover some surprising results!

### Enriching Experience

##### Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:

Find the five distinct digits N, R, I, C and H in the following nomogram

### The Simple Life

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

The answer is $5x+8y$... What was the question?

### Always the Same

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Arrange the numbers 1 to 16 into a 4 by 4 array. Choose a number. Cross out the numbers on the same row and column. Repeat this process. Add up you four numbers. Why do they always add up to 34?

### There and Back

##### Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:

Brian swims at twice the speed that a river is flowing, downstream from one moored boat to another and back again, taking 12 minutes altogether. How long would it have taken him in still water?

### 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?

### Puzzling Place Value

##### Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:

Can you explain what is going on in these puzzling number tricks?

### 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.

### Can They Be Equal?

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Can you find rectangles where the value of the area is the same as the value of the perimeter?

### Algebra from Geometry

##### Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:

Account of an investigation which starts from the area of an annulus and leads to the formula for the difference of two squares.

### 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?

### 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?

### How Many Miles to Go?

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

How many more miles must the car travel before the numbers on the milometer and the trip meter contain the same digits in the same order?

### Algebra Match

##### Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:

A task which depends on members of the group noticing the needs of others and responding.

### 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?

##### 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?

##### Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:

Think of a number and follow my instructions. Tell me your answer, and I'll tell you what you started with! Can you explain how I know?

### 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}.

### 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?