Can you find rectangles where the value of the area is the same as the value of the perimeter?
Many numbers can be expressed as the sum of two or more consecutive integers. For example, 15=7+8 and 10=1+2+3+4. Can you say which numbers can be expressed in this way?
My two digit number is special because adding the sum of its digits to the product of its digits gives me my original number. What could my number be?
A decorator can buy pink paint from two manufacturers. What is the
least number he would need of each type in order to produce
different shades of pink.
Can you maximise the area available to a grazing goat?
If the hypotenuse (base) length is 100cm and if an extra line
splits the base into 36cm and 64cm parts, what were the side
lengths for the original right-angled triangle?
The area of a square inscribed in a circle with a unit radius is, satisfyingly, 2. What is the area of a regular hexagon inscribed in a circle with a unit radius?
Here's a chance to work with large numbers...
Have a go at creating these images based on circles. What do you notice about the areas of the different sections?
Is it always possible to combine two paints made up in the ratios
1:x and 1:y and turn them into paint made up in the ratio a:b ? Can
you find an efficent way of doing this?
If you move the tiles around, can you make squares with different coloured edges?
An aluminium can contains 330 ml of cola. If the can's diameter is 6 cm what is the can's height?
What is the greatest volume you can get for a rectangular (cuboid)
parcel if the maximum combined length and girth are 2 metres?
A country has decided to have just two different coins, 3z and 5z
coins. Which totals can be made? Is there a largest total that
cannot be made? How do you know?
Do you know a quick way to check if a number is a multiple of two? How about three, four or six?
Think of two whole numbers under 10, and follow the steps. I can work out both your numbers very quickly. How?
Start with two numbers and generate a sequence where the next number is the mean of the last two numbers...
Imagine you have a large supply of 3kg and 8kg weights. How many of each weight would you need for the average (mean) of the weights to be 6kg? What other averages could you have?
Which has the greatest area, a circle or a square inscribed in an
isosceles, right angle triangle?
The diagonals of a trapezium divide it into four parts. Can you
create a trapezium where three of those parts are equal in area?
Can you find the area of a parallelogram defined by two vectors?
A napkin is folded so that a corner coincides with the midpoint of
an opposite edge . Investigate the three triangles formed .
If: A + C = A; F x D = F; B - G = G; A + H = E; B / H = G; E - G =
F and A-H represent the numbers from 0 to 7 Find the values of A,
B, C, D, E, F and H.
Investigate how you can work out what day of the week your birthday will be on next year, and the year after...
What is the same and what is different about these circle
questions? What connections can you make?
How many winning lines can you make in a three-dimensional version of noughts and crosses?
Square numbers can be represented as the sum of consecutive odd
numbers. What is the sum of 1 + 3 + ..... + 149 + 151 + 153?
Explore when it is possible to construct a circle which just
touches all four sides of a quadrilateral.
A 2 by 3 rectangle contains 8 squares and a 3 by 4 rectangle
contains 20 squares. What size rectangle(s) contain(s) exactly 100
squares? Can you find them all?
Different combinations of the weights available allow you to make different totals. Which totals can you make?
Can you find an efficient method to work out how many handshakes
there would be if hundreds of people met?
How many different symmetrical shapes can you make by shading triangles or squares?
If you are given the mean, median and mode of five positive whole numbers, can you find the numbers?
Is there a relationship between the coordinates of the endpoints of a line and the number of grid squares it crosses?
This shape comprises four semi-circles. What is the relationship
between the area of the shaded region and the area of the circle on
AB as diameter?
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?
Manufacturers need to minimise the amount of material used to make
their product. What is the best cross-section for a gutter?
What size square corners should be cut from a square piece of paper to make a box with the largest possible volume?
Here is a chance to create some attractive images by rotating
shapes through multiples of 90 degrees, or 30 degrees, or 72
Can you describe this route to infinity? Where will the arrows take you next?
A spider is sitting in the middle of one of the smallest walls in a
room and a fly is resting beside the window. What is the shortest
distance the spider would have to crawl to catch the fly?
A game for 2 or more people, based on the traditional card game
Rummy. Players aim to make two `tricks', where each trick has to
consist of a picture of a shape, a name that describes that shape,
and. . . .
A hexagon, with sides alternately a and b units in length, is inscribed in a circle. How big is the radius of the circle?
Five children went into the sweet shop after school. There were
choco bars, chews, mini eggs and lollypops, all costing under 50p.
Suggest a way in which Nathan could spend all his money.
Explore the effect of reflecting in two parallel mirror lines.
Explore the effect of combining enlargements.
A square of area 40 square cms is inscribed in a semicircle. Find
the area of the square that could be inscribed in a circle of the
There are four children in a family, two girls, Kate and Sally, and
two boys, Tom and Ben. How old are the children?
How many solutions can you find to this sum? Each of the different letters stands for a different number.
Can all unit fractions be written as the sum of two unit fractions?