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Why do this problem?

This acts as a further extension to  Doplication. It's an activity that is intended to give opportunities for those pupils to explore deeply using their intuition and flair in the areas of both spatial awareness and number replationships and patterns. 

Possible approach

As this is designed for the highest attaining, it might be presented as on the website or in a one-to-one situation, encouraging discussion between adult and pupil.  The pupils may need access to a spreadsheet once many number results are being acquired.

Key questions

Tell me about what you have found.
Can you describe the ways that you arrived at these numbers?
How did you construct this on the spreadsheet you used?


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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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