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For younger learners

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Posing Questions and Making Conjectures


Posing Questions and Making Conjectures is part of our Thinking Mathematically collection.

Interactive Spinners

Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level Yellow star

This interactivity invites you to make conjectures and explore probabilities of outcomes related to two independent events.

Tilted Squares

Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level Yellow star

It's easy to work out the areas of most squares that we meet, but what if they were tilted?

What Numbers Can We Make?

Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level Yellow star

Imagine we have four bags containing a large number of 1s, 4s, 7s and 10s. What numbers can we make?

Can They Be Equal?

Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level Yellow star

Can you find rectangles where the value of the area is the same as the value of the perimeter?

Odds and Evens

Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level Yellow star

Are these games fair? How can you tell?

Magic Letters

Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level Yellow star

Charlie has made a Magic V. Can you use his example to make some more? And how about Magic Ls, Ns and Ws?

Summing Consecutive Numbers

Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level Yellow star

15 = 7 + 8 and 10 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4. Can you say which numbers can be expressed as the sum of two or more consecutive integers?

Spaces for Exploration

Age 11 to 14

Alf Coles writes about how he tries to create 'spaces for exploration' for the students in his classrooms.

How Much Can We Spend?

Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level Yellow star

A country has decided to have just two different coins, 3z and 5z coins. Which totals can be made? Is there a largest total that cannot be made? How do you know?

Where Can We Visit?

Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Charlie and Abi put a counter on 42. They wondered if they could visit all the other numbers on their 1-100 board, moving the counter using just these two operations: x2 and -5. What do you think?

Consecutive Negative Numbers

Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star

Do you notice anything about the solutions when you add and/or subtract consecutive negative numbers?

Posing Questions and Making Conjectures - Short Problems

Age 11 to 16

A collection of short Stage 3 and 4 problems on Posing Questions and Making Conjectures.

Charlie's Delightful Machine

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

Here is a machine with four coloured lights. Can you develop a strategy to work out the rules controlling each light?

Arithmagons

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star

Can you find the values at the vertices when you know the values on the edges?

Searching for Mean(ing)

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

If you have a large supply of 3kg and 8kg weights, how many of each would you need for the average (mean) of the weights to be 6kg?

Cuboid Challenge

Age 11 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

What's the largest volume of box you can make from a square of paper?

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?

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?

Multiplication Arithmagons

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Can you find the values at the vertices when you know the values on the edges of these multiplication arithmagons?

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.

Impossible Triangles?

Age 16 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star

Which of these triangular jigsaws are impossible to finish?

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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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