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For younger learners

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Freedom and Constraints

Freedom and Constraints

Mathematicians often explore structures, notice patterns, find rules and make generalisations. Once they feel they understand a structure, they then push at the boundaries, change the problem, and explore the new structures that emerge.

In this feature, we have chosen some resources from the Freedom and Constraints pathway on wild.maths.org.

Here's how you can send your solutions to these problems.

13 Steps 
Age 11 to 16

I wonder if there's a different way to climb 13 steps for each day of the year... Solving this problem might lead you to a famous number sequence.

Measuring with Rods 
Age 11 to 16

How many different lengths is it possible to measure with a set of three rods? Explore this problem, and make some discoveries about number bases.

Cinema Sweets 
Age 11 to 16

Charlie has 3 coins in his pocket that add up to 32p - what could they be? Come and explore this and other exciting questions about the maths of partitioning.

Heavy Pockets 
Age 11 to 16

In a world with just pennies, your purse or pockets would be very heavy. Two-coin systems make life much easier... Which coins would you choose?

Related

  • Dotty Grids
  • Special Numbers
  • Number Patterns and Infinity
  • Seeing Is Believing

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Patterns in Number Sequences

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Reasoning Geometrically

These resources are designed to get you thinking about geometrical reasoning.

Reasoning with Numbers

These resources are designed to get you thinking about reasoning with numbers.

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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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