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Flashing Lights

Age 7 to 11
Challenge Level Yellow star
Primary curriculum
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Flashing Lights printable sheet

Norrie is watching the aircraft warning lights on the tops of some tall buildings in the city. He sees two lights flash at the same time, then one of them flashes every 4th second, and the other flashes every 5th second.
How many times do they flash together during a whole minute?

Norrie then watches a third light. He sees it flash at the same time as the other two, then it flashes every 7th second. How many minutes will it be before this light flashes again at exactly the same time as the other two?

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How many different shaped boxes can you design for 36 sweets in one layer? Can you arrange the sweets so that no sweets of the same colour are next to each other in any direction?

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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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