Stringy Quads
This practical maths activity from NRICH encourages pupils to work together to make different shapes from a piece of string. This activity brings shape alive in a practical context and is a good way to reinforce properties of quadrilaterals, especially symmetry. By working in a group, children will have the opportunity to solve…
Which Spinners?
This NRICH maths activity is intended for students who are already familiar with sample space diagrams. The interactive file offers an ideal context in which to consider the messy randomness of experimental results and the certainty of the long run results. Working backwards from the graphs should help students notice more features…
In a Box
This maths problem from NRICH offers opportunities to consider different methods of listing systematically in the context of probability. Students will have to play a game making decisions about its fairness. This problem can be used to introduce or revisit sample space diagrams, and with some students, tree diagrams.
Of All the Areas
This NRICH mathematical problem is about the areas of equilateral triangles. Students will need to measure the area different triangles but in triangles rather than squares. They will need to look for any emerging patterns which might lead to non-linear sequences that need explanation. They will need to use their visualising skills…
Cyclic Quadrilaterals
In this maths problem from NRICH, students will be working with cyclic quadrilaterals. A cyclic quadrilateral is a quadrilateral whose vertices lie on a circle. This maths problem from NRICH is in two parts. The first part consists of four similar challenges which provide building blocks to help you to solve the final challenge.…
Maths Filler
This NRICH maths problem explores the way the water level in a vessel changes when water is added at a constant rate. Students will have to work out volumes of containers, make generalisations about the cross-sectional areas and the volumes, they can then, through analysing the key features of a graph, figure out the shape of the…
Pair Products
This maths investigation from NRICH explores the properties of consecutive numbers under multiplication. For students who are working numerically, this is an excellent context for observing, conjecturing and thinking about proof. It can be a good introduction to the power of algebra. For students who are algebraically fluent,…
5/5- Publication year: 2000 - 2009
- Activity sheet
Fair Shares
This NRICH maths activity starts with a simple situation which can be analysed quickly using mental methods, but which provides a starting point for tackling a more challenging problem. The challenge of finding a connection between the number of children, the amount of money they each receive, and the fraction used to share the…
Tilted Squares
This NRICH maths activity is an investigation on tilted squares. The aim is to be able to predict the area of any tilted square. In the context of calculating areas by 'boxing in' and/or dissection, this problem offers rich opportunities for systematic investigation which should lead to Pythagoras' Theorem.
- 4/5
- Publication year: 2000 - 2009
- Interactive resource
What's Possible
This NRICH maths activity follows on from Plus Minus by asking students to find which numbers can be expressed as the difference of two square numbers. Many numbers can be expressed as the difference of two perfect squares. How many of the numbers from 1 to 20 can you express as the difference of two perfect squares? Following…