Spheres, cylinders and cones

  • There and back again
    problem

    There and back again

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Bilbo goes on an adventure, before arriving back home. Using the information given about his journey, can you work out where Bilbo lives?
  • Pack Man
    problem

    Pack man

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    A look at different crystal lattice structures, and how they relate to structural properties
  • Air Routes
    problem

    Air routes

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    Find the distance of the shortest air route at an altitude of 6000 metres between London and Cape Town given the latitudes and longitudes. A simple application of scalar products of vectors.
  • Flight Path
    problem

    Flight path

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    Use simple trigonometry to calculate the distance along the flight path from London to Sydney.
  • Ball Packing
    problem

    Ball packing

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
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    If a ball is rolled into the corner of a room how far is its centre from the corner?
  • In a Spin
    problem

    In a spin

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
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    What is the volume of the solid formed by rotating this right angled triangle about the hypotenuse?
  • Pythagoras on a Sphere
    problem

    Pythagoras on a sphere

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    Prove Pythagoras' Theorem for right-angled spherical triangles.
  • Spherical triangles on very big spheres
    problem

    Spherical triangles on very big spheres

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    Shows that Pythagoras for Spherical Triangles reduces to Pythagoras's Theorem in the plane when the triangles are small relative to the radius of the sphere.
  • Sponge Sections
    problem
    Favourite

    Sponge sections

    Age
    7 to 11
    Challenge level
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    You have been given three shapes made out of sponge: a sphere, a cylinder and a cone. Your challenge is to find out how to cut them to make different shapes for printing.