Explaining, convincing and proving

problem
Polycircles

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Show that for any triangle it is always possible to construct 3 touching circles with centres at the vertices. Is it possible to construct touching circles centred at the vertices of any polygon?
problem
OK! Now prove it

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Make a conjecture about the sum of the squares of the odd positive integers. Can you prove it?
problem
Russian cubes

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

I want some cubes painted with three blue faces and three red faces. How many different cubes can be painted like that?
problem
Doodles

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Draw a 'doodle' - a closed intersecting curve drawn without taking pencil from paper. What can you prove about the intersections?
problem
Be reasonable

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Prove that sqrt2, sqrt3 and sqrt5 cannot be terms of ANY arithmetic progression.
problem
Fixing it

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

A and B are two fixed points on a circle and RS is a variable diamater. What is the locus of the intersection P of AR and BS?
problem
Building with solid shapes

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

We have a box of cubes, triangular prisms, cones, cuboids, cylinders and tetrahedrons. Which of the buildings would fall down if we tried to make them?
problem
Chain of changes

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

In this activity, shapes can be arranged by changing either the colour or the shape each time. Can you find a way to do it?
problem
A city of towers

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

In this town, houses are built with one room for each person. There are some families of seven people living in the town. In how many different ways can they build their houses?
problem
Colouring triangles

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

Explore ways of colouring this set of triangles. Can you make symmetrical patterns?