Year 9 Conjecturing and generalising

  • Xavi's T-shirt
    problem
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    Xavi's T-Shirt

    Age
    7 to 16
    Challenge level
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    How much can you read into a T-shirt?

  • Days and Dates
    problem
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    Days and Dates

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Investigate how you can work out what day of the week your birthday will be on next year, and the year after...

  • Blue and White
    problem
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    Blue and White

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Identical squares of side one unit contain some circles shaded blue. In which of the four examples is the shaded area greatest?

  • Largest product
    problem
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    Largest Product

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Which set of numbers that add to 100 have the largest product?

  • Picturing Triangular Numbers
    problem
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    Picturing Triangular Numbers

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    What do you notice about the sum of two identical triangular numbers?

  • Tilted Squares
    problem
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    Tilted Squares

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    It's easy to work out the areas of most squares that we meet, but what if they were tilted?

  • Parallel lines
    problem
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    Parallel Lines

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    How does the position of the line affect the equation of the line? What can you say about the equations of parallel lines?

  • problem
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    In the Bag

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Can you guess the colours of the 10 marbles in the bag? Can you develop an effective strategy for reaching 1000 points in the least number of rounds?

  • Reflecting Lines
    problem
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    Reflecting Lines

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Investigate what happens to the equations of different lines when you reflect them in one of the axes. Try to predict what will happen. Explain your findings.

  • Translating Lines
    problem
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    Translating Lines

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Investigate what happens to the equation of different lines when you translate them. Try to predict what will happen. Explain your findings.

  • Diminishing Returns
    problem
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    Diminishing Returns

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    How much of the square is coloured blue? How will the pattern continue?

  • Do you feel lucky?
    problem
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    Do You Feel Lucky?

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Some people offer advice on how to win at games of chance, or how to influence probability in your favour. Can you decide whether advice is good or not?

  • What does random look like?
    problem
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    What Does Random Look Like?

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Engage in a little mathematical detective work to see if you can spot the fakes.

  • At least one...
    problem
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    At Least One...

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Imagine flipping a coin a number of times. Can you work out the probability you will get a head on at least one of the flips?

  • Growing Surprises
    problem
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    Growing Surprises

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Can you find the connections between linear and quadratic patterns?

  • Counting Factors
    problem
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    Counting Factors

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Is there an efficient way to work out how many factors a large number has?

  • Legs Eleven
    problem
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    Legs Eleven

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Take any four digit number. Move the first digit to the end and move the rest along. Now add your two numbers. Did you get a multiple of 11?

  • 1 Step 2 Step
    problem
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    1 Step 2 Step

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Liam's house has a staircase with 12 steps. He can go down the steps one at a time or two at time. In how many different ways can Liam go down the 12 steps?

  • Subtended angles
    problem
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    Subtended Angles

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    What is the relationship between the angle at the centre and the angles at the circumference, for angles which stand on the same arc? Can you prove it?

  • Two's company
    problem
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    Two's Company

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Seven balls are shaken. You win if the two blue balls end up touching. What is the probability of winning?

  • Cosy corner
    problem
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    Cosy Corner

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Six balls are shaken. You win if at least one red ball ends in a corner. What is the probability of winning?

  • The Tower of Hanoi - three wooden poles, with several coloured rings of decreasing sizes on the middle pole.
    problem
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    Tower of Hanoi

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    The Tower of Hanoi is an ancient mathematical challenge. Working on the building blocks may help you to explain the patterns you notice.

  • Opposite vertices
    problem
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    Opposite Vertices

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Can you recreate squares and rhombuses if you are only given a side or a diagonal?

  • What numbers can we make now?
    problem
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    What Numbers Can We Make Now?

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Imagine we have four bags containing numbers from a sequence. What numbers can we make now?

  • Garden Shed
    problem
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    Garden Shed

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Can you minimise the amount of wood needed to build the roof of my garden shed?

  • Terminating or not
    problem
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    Terminating or Not

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    Is there a quick way to work out whether a fraction terminates or recurs when you write it as a decimal?

  • How Many Miles To Go?
    problem
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    How Many Miles to Go?

    Age
    11 to 14
    Challenge level
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    How many more miles must the car travel before the numbers on the milometer and the trip meter contain the same digits in the same order?

  • problem
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    Cyclic Quadrilaterals

    Age
    11 to 16
    Challenge level
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    Draw some quadrilaterals on a 9-point circle and work out the angles. Is there a theorem?

  • Wipeout
    problem
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    Wipeout

    Age
    11 to 16
    Challenge level
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    Can you do a little mathematical detective work to figure out which number has been wiped out?

  • Generating Triples
    problem
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    Generating Triples

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
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    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?