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Number and algebra

  • The Number System and Place Value
  • Calculations and Numerical Methods
  • Fractions, Decimals, Percentages, Ratio and Proportion
  • Properties of Numbers
  • Patterns, Sequences and Structure
  • Algebraic expressions, equations and formulae
  • Coordinates, Functions and Graphs

Geometry and measure

  • Angles, Polygons, and Geometrical Proof
  • 3D Geometry, Shape and Space
  • Measuring and calculating with units
  • Transformations and constructions
  • Pythagoras and Trigonometry
  • Vectors and Matrices

Probability and statistics

  • Handling, Processing and Representing Data
  • Probability

Working mathematically

  • Thinking mathematically
  • Developing positive attitudes
  • Cross-curricular contexts

Advanced mathematics

  • Decision Mathematics and Combinatorics
  • Advanced Probability and Statistics
  • Mechanics
  • Calculus

For younger learners

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

KS4 Roadshow

Two Stones

Age 5 to 18

This game is known as Pong hau k'i in China and Ou-moul-ko-no in Korea. Find a friend to play or try the interactive version online.

Factors and Multiples Game

Age 7 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

A game in which players take it in turns to choose a number. Can you block your opponent?

Dominoes

Age 7 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Everthing you have always wanted to do with dominoes! Some of these games are good for practising your mental calculation skills, and some are good for your reasoning skills.

Prime Magic

Age 7 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Place the numbers 1, 2, 3,..., 9 one on each square of a 3 by 3 grid so that all the rows and columns add up to a prime number. How many different solutions can you find?

Pentanim

Age 7 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

A game for 2 players with similarities to NIM. Place one counter on each spot on the games board. Players take it is turns to remove 1 or 2 adjacent counters. The winner picks up the last counter.

Low Go

Age 7 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

A game for 2 players. Take turns to place a counter so that it occupies one of the lowest possible positions in the grid. The first player to complete a line of 4 wins.

Colour in the Square

Age 7 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Can you put the 25 coloured tiles into the 5 x 5 square so that no column, no row and no diagonal line have tiles of the same colour in them?

Eight Dominoes

Age 7 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star

Using the 8 dominoes make a square where each of the columns and rows adds up to 8

Domino Magic Rectangle

Age 7 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star

An ordinary set of dominoes can be laid out as a 7 by 4 magic rectangle in which all the spots in all the columns add to 24, while those in the rows add to 42. Try it! Now try the magic square...

Air Nets

Age 7 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow star

Can you visualise whether these nets fold up into 3D shapes? Watch the videos each time to see if you were correct.

Are We Nearly There?

Age 11 to 16

Can you describe the route followed by the arrows?

Getting Round the City

Age 11 to 16

In a city with a grid system of roads, how do you get from A to B?

Take Ten Sticks

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

Take ten sticks in heaps any way you like. Make a new heap using one from each of the heaps. By repeating that process could the arrangement 7 - 1 - 1 - 1 ever turn up, except by starting with it?

Square It

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

Players take it in turns to choose a dot on the grid. The winner is the first to have four dots that can be joined to form a square.

What's it Worth?

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

There are lots of different methods to find out what the shapes are worth - how many can you find?

Take Three from Five

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Caroline and James pick sets of five numbers. Charlie tries to find three that add together to make a multiple of three. Can they stop him?

Product Sudoku

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

The clues for this Sudoku are the product of the numbers in adjacent squares.

Who's Who?

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Can you solve the clues to find out who's who on the friendship graph?

Connect Three

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

In this game the winner is the first to complete a row of three. Are some squares easier to land on than others?

Marbles in a Box

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

How many winning lines can you make in a three-dimensional version of noughts and crosses?

Nine Colours

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star

Can you use small coloured cubes to make a 3 by 3 by 3 cube so that each face of the bigger cube contains one of each colour?

Two and Two

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star

How many solutions can you find to this sum? Each of the different letters stands for a different number.

Times Right

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star

Using the digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, mulitply a two two digit numbers are multiplied to give a four digit number, so that the expression is correct. How many different solutions can you find?

One, Three, Five, Seven

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star

A game for 2 players. Set out 16 counters in rows of 1,3,5 and 7. Players take turns to remove any number of counters from a row. The player left with the last counter looses.

Last Biscuit

Age 11 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Can you find a strategy that ensures you get to take the last biscuit in this game?

Crossing the Bridge

Age 11 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Four friends must cross a bridge. How can they all cross it in just 17 minutes?

Instant Insanity

Age 11 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star

Given the nets of 4 cubes with the faces coloured in 4 colours, build a tower so that on each vertical wall no colour is repeated, that is all 4 colours appear.

Warmsnug Double Glazing

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

How have "Warmsnug" arrived at the prices shown on their windows? Which window has been given an incorrect price?

Pair Products

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

Choose four consecutive whole numbers. Multiply the first and last numbers together. Multiply the middle pair together. What do you notice?

Curvy Areas

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

Have a go at creating these images based on circles. What do you notice about the areas of the different sections?

How Old Am I?

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

In 15 years' time my age will be the square of my age 15 years ago. Can you work out my age, and when I had other special birthdays?

Equal Equilateral Triangles

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

Can you make a regular hexagon from yellow triangles the same size as a regular hexagon made from green triangles ?

Why 24?

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Take any prime number greater than 3 , square it and subtract one. Working on the building blocks will help you to explain what is special about your results.

Square Number Surprises

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

There are unexpected discoveries to be made about square numbers...

Pick's Theorem

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Polygons drawn on square dotty paper have dots on their perimeter (p) and often internal (i) ones as well. Find a relationship between p, i and the area of the polygons.

What's Possible?

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Many numbers can be expressed as the difference of two perfect squares. What do you notice about the numbers you CANNOT make?

Doesn't Add Up

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

In this problem we are faced with an apparently easy area problem, but it has gone horribly wrong! What happened?

2-digit Square

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star

A 2-Digit number is squared. When this 2-digit number is reversed and squared, the difference between the squares is also a square. What is the 2-digit number?

Compare Areas

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star

Which has the greatest area, a circle or a square, inscribed in an isosceles right angle triangle?

Iffy Logic

Age 14 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow star

Can you rearrange the cards to make a series of correct mathematical statements?

Some Circuits in Graph or Network Theory

Age 14 to 18

Eulerian and Hamiltonian circuits are defined with some simple examples and a couple of puzzles to illustrate Hamiltonian circuits.

Kite in a Square

Age 14 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Can you make sense of the three methods to work out what fraction of the total area is shaded?

You may also like

Instant Insanity

Given the nets of 4 cubes with the faces coloured in 4 colours, build a tower so that on each vertical wall no colour is repeated, that is all 4 colours appear.

Doesn't Add Up

In this problem we are faced with an apparently easy area problem, but it has gone horribly wrong! What happened?

2-digit Square

A 2-Digit number is squared. When this 2-digit number is reversed and squared, the difference between the squares is also a square. What is the 2-digit number?

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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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