Other tags that relate to Icosian Game
Visualising. Generalising. Games. Working systematically. Cubes & cuboids. Interactivities. Mathematical reasoning & proof. Polyhedra. 2D representations of 3D shapes. Topology.There are 158 results
Broad Topics > Thinking Mathematically > Mathematical reasoning & proof
Konigsberg Plus
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Euler discussed whether or not it was possible to stroll around Koenigsberg crossing each of its seven bridges exactly once. Experiment with different numbers of islands and bridges.
Tourism
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
If you can copy a network without lifting your pen off the paper and without drawing any line twice, then it is traversable. Decide which of these diagrams are traversable.
Yih or Luk Tsut K'i or Three Men's Morris
Age 11 to 18 Challenge Level:
Some puzzles requiring no knowledge of knot theory, just a careful inspection of the patterns. A glimpse of the classification of knots and a little about prime knots, crossing numbers and. . . .
Sprouts Explained
Age 7 to 18
This article invites you to get familiar with a strategic game called "sprouts". The game is simple enough for younger children to understand, and has also provided experienced mathematicians with. . . .
Classifying Solids Using Angle Deficiency
Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:
Toni Beardon has chosen this article introducing a rich area for practical exploration and discovery in 3D geometry
Convex Polygons
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Show that among the interior angles of a convex polygon there cannot be more than three acute angles.
Königsberg
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you cross each of the seven bridges that join the north and south of the river to the two islands, once and once only, without retracing your steps?
Natural Sum
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The picture illustrates the sum 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = (4 x 5)/2. Prove the general formula for the sum of the first n natural numbers and the formula for the sum of the cubes of the first n natural. . . .
Picture Story
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you see how this picture illustrates the formula for the sum of the first six cube numbers?
More Number Pyramids
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
When number pyramids have a sequence on the bottom layer, some interesting patterns emerge...
How Many Dice?
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
A standard die has the numbers 1, 2 and 3 are opposite 6, 5 and 4 respectively so that opposite faces add to 7? If you make standard dice by writing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 on blank cubes you will find. . . .
Go Forth and Generalise
Age 11 to 14
Spotting patterns can be an important first step - explaining why it is appropriate to generalise is the next step, and often the most interesting and important.
Disappearing Square
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Do you know how to find the area of a triangle? You can count the squares. What happens if we turn the triangle on end? Press the button and see. Try counting the number of units in the triangle now. . . .
Concrete Wheel
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
A huge wheel is rolling past your window. What do you see?
Proximity
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
We are given a regular icosahedron having three red vertices. Show that it has a vertex that has at least two red neighbours.
Clocked
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Is it possible to rearrange the numbers 1,2......12 around a clock face in such a way that every two numbers in adjacent positions differ by any of 3, 4 or 5 hours?
Dicing with Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
In how many ways can you arrange three dice side by side on a surface so that the sum of the numbers on each of the four faces (top, bottom, front and back) is equal?
Tower of Hanoi
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
The Tower of Hanoi is an ancient mathematical challenge. Working on the building blocks may help you to explain the patterns you notice.
9 Weights
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
You have been given nine weights, one of which is slightly heavier than the rest. Can you work out which weight is heavier in just two weighings of the balance?
Seven Squares - Group-worthy Task
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Choose a couple of the sequences. Try to picture how to make the next, and the next, and the next... Can you describe your reasoning?
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. . . .
Flight of the Flibbins
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Blue Flibbins are so jealous of their red partners that they will not leave them on their own with any other bue Flibbin. What is the quickest way of getting the five pairs of Flibbins safely to. . . .
Geometry and Gravity 2
Age 11 to 18
This is the second of two articles and discusses problems relating to the curvature of space, shortest distances on surfaces, triangulations of surfaces and representation by graphs.
Knight Defeated
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The knight's move on a chess board is 2 steps in one direction and one step in the other direction. Prove that a knight cannot visit every square on the board once and only (a tour) on a 2 by n board. . . .
The Great Weights Puzzle
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
You have twelve weights, one of which is different from the rest. Using just 3 weighings, can you identify which weight is the odd one out, and whether it is heavier or lighter than the rest?
One O Five
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
You can work out the number someone else is thinking of as follows. Ask a friend to think of any natural number less than 100. Then ask them to tell you the remainders when this number is divided by. . . .
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?
Sticky Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you arrange the numbers 1 to 17 in a row so that each adjacent pair adds up to a square number?
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}.
Gift of Gems
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Four jewellers share their stock. Can you work out the relative values of their gems?
Dalmatians
Age 14 to 18 Challenge Level:
Investigate the sequences obtained by starting with any positive 2 digit number (10a+b) and repeatedly using the rule 10a+b maps to 10b-a to get the next number in the sequence.
Problem Solving, Using and Applying and Functional Mathematics
Age 5 to 18 Challenge Level:
Problem solving is at the heart of the NRICH site. All the problems give learners opportunities to learn, develop or use mathematical concepts and skills. Read here for more information.
Top-heavy Pyramids
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Use the numbers in the box below to make the base of a top-heavy pyramid whose top number is 200.
Pattern of Islands
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
In how many distinct ways can six islands be joined by bridges so that each island can be reached from every other island...
Postage
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The country Sixtania prints postage stamps with only three values 6 lucres, 10 lucres and 15 lucres (where the currency is in lucres).Which values cannot be made up with combinations of these postage. . . .
Take Three from Five
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Caroline and James pick sets of five numbers. Charlie chooses three of them that add together to make a multiple of three. Can they stop him?
Proofs with Pictures
Age 14 to 18
Some diagrammatic 'proofs' of algebraic identities and inequalities.
Children at Large
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
There are four children in a family, two girls, Kate and Sally, and two boys, Tom and Ben. How old are the children?
Paradoxes
Age 7 to 14
A paradox is a statement that seems to be both untrue and true at the same time. This article looks at a few examples and challenges you to investigate them for yourself.
Unit Fractions
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Consider the equation 1/a + 1/b + 1/c = 1 where a, b and c are natural numbers and 0 < a < b < c. Prove that there is only one set of values which satisfy this equation.
Matter of Scale
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Prove Pythagoras' Theorem using enlargements and scale factors.
Some Circuits in Graph or Network Theory
Age 14 to 18
Eulerian and Hamiltonian circuits are defined with some simple examples and a couple of puzzles to illustrate Hamiltonian circuits.
Symmetric Tangles
Age 14 to 16
The tangles created by the twists and turns of the Conway rope trick are surprisingly symmetrical. Here's why!
Elevenses
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
How many pairs of numbers can you find that add up to a multiple of 11? Do you notice anything interesting about your results?
What Numbers Can We Make?
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Imagine we have four bags containing a large number of 1s, 4s, 7s and 10s. What numbers can we make?
A Long Time at the Till
Age 14 to 18 Challenge Level:
Try to solve this very difficult problem and then study our two suggested solutions. How would you use your knowledge to try to solve variants on the original problem?
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.