Investigations Starters:All The Nines: Arrange the numbers 1-9 to make three 3 digit numbers that add up to 999. Aunt Sophie's Post Office: Work out the number of stamps needed to post a parcel. Bus Stop: How many different ways can four people stand in line? Digital Lights: Questions about the Small LEDs used to make up the digits on a calculator display. Flowchart: Use the flowchart to generate a sequence of numbers. Which number will reach 1 the fastest? Handshakes: If all the students in this room shook hands with each other, how many handshakes would there be altogether? Happy Numbers: To find out whether a number is happy or not, square each of its digits, add the answers and repeat. If you end up with 1 the number is happy! How many other happy numbers can you find? Hotel Digital: A puzzle about the lifts in a hotel which serve floors based on the day of the week. May Day: Add together the dates of all the Thursdays in May this year. Meta Products: Which numbers when multiplied by the number of letters in the word(s) of the number give square numbers? One Fifth: Investigate three fractions which add together to give one fifth. One Ninth: Investigate three fractions which add together to give one ninth. Only One Number: Find other numbers that can be changed to 1 on a calculator using only the 4 key and any operation. Plus: A number puzzle suitable for children with a wide range of abilities. Quads: Calculate the areas of all the possible quadrilaterals that can be constructed by joining together dots on this grid. Tools: Place the numbers on the triangle so that the totals along each of the sides are equal. Windmill: Arrange the numbers on the yellow squares so that the totals along each line of three squares are equal. Wrong Way Round: Find calculations which written back to front give the same answer.
Featured ActivityHi-Low Predict Similar to the 'Play Your Cards' right game. |
Notes:An investigation, as defined by a dictionary, is a searching enquiry for ascertaining facts. In mathematics this enquiry is a journey into the unknown without a map. Students should enjoy choosing the direction they will take in exploring a situation which has been described in an open-ended way. They will also develop pride in describing their findings to their classmates and may even stumble across findings that will suprise their teacher. Investigations Teacher Resources:Pin Board: Rows and columns of dots that can be joined using straight lines to create shapes. Prison Cell Problem: A number patterns investigation involving prisoners and prison guards. Investigations Activities:Area Two: How many different shapes with an area of 2 square units can you make by joining dots on this grid with straight lines? Frustration: A logical challenge requiring a strategy to update each of the numbers in a grid. Happy Numbers: How many happy numbers can you find? Largest Product: Arranging digits to produce the largest product Prison Cell Problem: A number patterns investigation involving prisoners and prison guards. River Crossing: The traditional River Crossing challenge. Can you do it in the smallest number of moves? Six Keys: Use just six keys on your calculator to make a given total. Take Baht: How many different ways can you make a given total with Thai coins? Classic Investigations:Area shapes: Investigate polygons with an area of 4 sq. units. Aunt Lucy: Decide which of the four schemes will provide the most money. Aunt Sophie's Post Office: Investigate the ways of making up various postage amounts using 3p and 8p stamps. Beginning with One: Is it true that most numbers begin with 1? Braille: Investigate the possibility of redesigning the Braille alphabet to make it easier to learn. Crossing the River: Two men and two boys want to cross a river and they only have one canoe which will only hold one man or two boys. Decimal Products: Find two decimal numbers that add up to exactly one. What is the product of these two decimals? Design a badge: How many different badges can you make by following the rules? Dice Investigation: Throw 2 dice and multiply the scores. Investigate! Digit Sums and Multiples: Investigate numbers which are multiples of the sum of their digits. Digital Lights: Investigate the small LEDs used to make up the digits on a calculator display. Egg boxes: In how many different ways can two eggs be arranged in an egg box? Football Scores: If you know the final score of a football match, what might the half time score have been? Four Ever: Generate a number sequence based on the number of letters needed to spell the previous number. Frustration: A logical challenge requiring a strategy to update each of the numbers in a grid. Halving: How many different ways can you cut this shape in half! Handshakes: If everyone in this room shook hands with each other, how many handshakes would there be? Happy Numbers: How many happy numbers can you find? Have you got change?: An investigation about making change for different amounts. House Painting: The houses in Mathsland are all three storeys tall. Each storey is painted using one colour. How many ways can the houses be painted. How Many Sides?: How many different polygons can you make on a 3 by 3 pin board. Hula Hoops: If a number of Hula Hoops are dropped on the floor, what is the maximum number of regions they might form? Jugs: Can you make 4 pints if you only have 3 and 5 pint jugs? Lamp posts: What is the greatest number of lamp-posts that could be needed for a given village? Leapfrog: Can you make the blue and green frogs swap places in the smallest number of moves? lnvestigating stamps: How many different letters can you send with the given stamps. Maxvoltray: Find the maximum volume of a tray made from an A4 sheet of paper. Number Stairs: Find the relationships between the numbers on the grid. Odd Dice: Take three dice. How many ways can they be turned so that they show only odd numbers on top? Palandromic numbers: How many steps does each number take to become palandromic? Pin Board: Rows and columns of dots that can be joined using straight lines to create shapes. Polygon Areas: Investigate polygons with an area of 4 sq. units. Investigate polygons with other areas. Rectangles Perimeters: The perimeter of a rectangle is 28cm. What could its area be? Rod Triangles: Using 12 rods of varying lengths how many different triangles can you make? Snooker: Investigate a special snooker table with only four pockets. Which hole will the snooker ball fall into for various sized snooker tables? Songkran Game: Where should you stand in the circle to win the Songkran game? Steps: Investigate this growing sequence of steps. Tessellations: Which polygons tessellate? Which pentominoes tessellate? Drag the shapes onto the canvas to create tessellating patterns and investigate the laws of tessellations. Tetrominoes: A tetrominoe is a shape made of four squares joined edge to edge. How many different tetrominoes are there? The Four Rules: See if you can make all of the numbers from 0 to 10 using four threes Traffic Jams: How many ways can three cars be lined up in a traffic jam? Transum Calendar: Investigate the connection between the numbers in a T shape drawn on this month's calendar. Transum Club: How many different colour schemes can you devise for the Transum Club Badge. SearchThe activity you are looking for may have been classified in a different way from the way you were expecting. You can search the whole of Transum Maths by using the Google 'Custom Search' box below.
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