Resources tagged with Generalising similar to Ratty:
Other tags that relate to Ratty
Creating and manipulating expressions and formulae. Combinatorics. Circle properties and circle theorems. Visualising. Generalising. Factors and multiples. Mathematical reasoning & proof. Small software. Triangles. Pythagoras' theorem.There are 123 results
Broad Topics > Using, Applying and Reasoning about Mathematics > Generalising
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.
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. . . .
Semi-square
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
What is the ratio of the area of a square inscribed in a semicircle to the area of the square inscribed in the entire circle?
Enclosing Squares
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you find sets of sloping lines that enclose a square?
Triangle Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Take a look at the multiplication square. The first eleven triangle numbers have been identified. Can you see a pattern? Does the pattern continue?
Equilateral Areas
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
ABC and DEF are equilateral triangles of side 3 and 4 respectively. Construct an equilateral triangle whose area is the sum of the area of ABC and DEF.
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. . . .
Regular Hexagon Loops
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Make some loops out of regular hexagons. What rules can you discover?
Repeaters
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
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.
Make 37
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
Four bags contain a large number of 1s, 3s, 5s and 7s. Pick any ten numbers from the bags above so that their total is 37.
Dotty Triangles
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Imagine an infinitely large sheet of square dotty paper on which you can draw triangles of any size you wish (providing each vertex is on a dot). What areas is it/is it not possible to draw?
Three Times Seven
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
A three digit number abc is always divisible by 7 when 2a+3b+c is divisible by 7. Why?
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.
Pareq Calc
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Triangle ABC is an equilateral triangle with three parallel lines going through the vertices. Calculate the length of the sides of the triangle if the perpendicular distances between the parallel. . . .
Have You Got It?
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you explain the strategy for winning this game with any target?
Games Related to Nim
Age 5 to 16
This article for teachers describes several games, found on the site, all of which have a related structure that can be used to develop the skills of strategic planning.
Shear Magic
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
What are the areas of these triangles? What do you notice? Can you generalise to other "families" of triangles?
Tilted Squares
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
It's easy to work out the areas of most squares that we meet, but what if they were tilted?
Handshakes
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you find an efficient method to work out how many handshakes there would be if hundreds of people met?
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?
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?
Magic Letters
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Charlie has made a Magic V. Can you use his example to make some more? And how about Magic Ls, Ns and Ws?
What Numbers Can We Make Now?
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Imagine we have four bags containing numbers from a sequence. What numbers can we make now?
Got it for Two
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
Got It game for an adult and child. How can you play so that you know you will always win?
A Tilted Square
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The opposite vertices of a square have coordinates (a,b) and (c,d). What are the coordinates of the other vertices?
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?
Neighbourly Addition
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
I added together some of my neighbours' house numbers. Can you explain the patterns I noticed?
Window Frames
Age 5 to 14 Challenge Level:
This task encourages you to investigate the number of edging pieces and panes in different sized windows.
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 Magic Potting Sheds
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
The number of plants in Mr McGregor's magic potting shed increases overnight. He'd like to put the same number of plants in each of his gardens, planting one garden each day. How can he do it?
Great Granddad
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Great Granddad is very proud of his telegram from the Queen congratulating him on his hundredth birthday and he has friends who are even older than he is... When was he born?
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. . . .
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?
Winning Lines
Age 7 to 16
An article for teachers and pupils that encourages you to look at the mathematical properties of similar games.
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.
Frogs
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
How many moves does it take to swap over some red and blue frogs? Do you have a method?
Mystic Rose
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Use the animation to help you work out how many lines are needed to draw mystic roses of different sizes.
Jam
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
To avoid losing think of another very well known game where the patterns of play are similar.
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.
Picturing Square Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Square numbers can be represented as the sum of consecutive odd numbers. What is the sum of 1 + 3 + ..... + 149 + 151 + 153?
Picturing Triangular Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Triangular numbers can be represented by a triangular array of squares. What do you notice about the sum of identical triangle numbers?
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?
Chess
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
What would be the smallest number of moves needed to move a Knight from a chess set from one corner to the opposite corner of a 99 by 99 square board?
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 for. . . .
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?
Got It
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
A game for two people, or play online. Given a target number, say 23, and a range of numbers to choose from, say 1-4, players take it in turns to add to the running total to hit their target.
Sliding Puzzle
Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:
The aim of the game is to slide the green square from the top right hand corner to the bottom left hand corner in the least number of moves.
Consecutive Negative Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Do you notice anything about the solutions when you add and/or subtract consecutive negative numbers?
Cuboid Challenge
Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:
What's the largest volume of box you can make from a square of paper?
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.