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For younger learners

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Would You Like a Jelly Baby?

Age 11 to 14
ShortChallenge Level Yellow star
Secondary curriculum
  • Problem
  • Solutions


In Tom's pocket there are 8 watermelon jelly babies, 4 vanilla jelly babies and 4 butter popcorn jelly babies.

What is the smallest number of jelly babies he must take out of his pocket to be certain that he takes at least one of each flavour?




This problem is taken from the UKMT Mathematical Challenges.
You can find more short problems, arranged by curriculum topic, in our short problems collection.

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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