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For younger learners

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Inverse Problems

Inverse problems

In this feature, the problems give you an answer or output, and you need to work out the question or input. Mathematicians call this an inverse problem, and inverse problems have applications in fields as diverse as seismology, medical imaging and diagnostics, and financial maths.

A Little Light Thinking 
Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

Here is a machine with four coloured lights. Can you make two lights switch on at once? Three lights? All four lights?

Which Spinners? 
Age 14 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow star

Can you work out which spinners were used to generate the frequency charts?

Data Matching 
Age 14 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow star

Use your skill and judgement to match the sets of random data.

Related

  • Making Sense of Data
  • Plotting Graphs

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Factorise This!

Explore quadratics and the power of factorisation

Quadratic Queries

Can you make sense of these questions about quadratics?

Area Intrigue

These problems invite you to think about area in unusual ways.

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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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