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physNRICH
PhysNRICH is the area of the StemNRICH site devoted to the mathematics underlying the study of physics
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problem
Magic constants
7 to 11
In a Magic Square all the rows, columns and diagonals add to the 'Magic Constant'. How would you change the magic constant of this square?
problem
Halloween investigation
7 to 11
Ana and Ross looked in a trunk in the attic. They found old cloaks
and gowns, hats and masks. How many possible costumes could they
make?
problem
W mates
16 to 18
Show there are exactly 12 magic labellings of the Magic W using the
numbers 1 to 9. Prove that for every labelling with a magic total T
there is a corresponding labelling with a magic total 30-T.
problem
Favourite
Lens angle
14 to 16
Find the missing angle between the two secants to the circle when
the two angles at the centre subtended by the arcs created by the
intersections of the secants and the circle are 50 and 120 degrees.
problem
Bat wings
11 to 14
Two students collected some data on the wingspan of bats, but each lost a measurement. Can you find the missing information?
problem
Snooker
16 to 18
A player has probability 0.4 of winning a single game. What is his probability of winning a 'best of 15 games' tournament?
problem
Favourite
Think of two numbers
11 to 14
Think of two whole numbers under 10, and follow the steps. I can work out both your numbers very quickly. How?
problem
Four colours
5 to 11
Kate has eight multilink cubes. She has two red ones, two yellow, two green and two blue. She wants to fit them together to make a cube so that each colour shows on each face just once.
problem
Is it magic or is it maths?
11 to 14
Here are three 'tricks' to amaze your friends. But the really
clever trick is explaining to them why these 'tricks' are maths not
magic. Like all good magicians, you should practice by trying them.
Can you explain how they work?