CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

Arrange the ornaments in the box so that no more than
three are in any line horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

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Printable sheet of squares

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Keywords: Starter | Puzzles | Shape | Xmas

  • Rachael, Kirsty and Ewan, Leswalt Primary
  • Monday, December 15, 2008
  • "We really enjoyed doing this."
  • Katie Lumsdaine F2 High School Of Dundee, High School Of Dundee
  • Friday, December 11, 2009
  • "It was challenging but fun and we could use this method to decorate our Christmas tree! :)."
  • Transum,
  • Tuesday, December 15, 2009
  • "After solving the problem for the 4 by 4 grid (not forgetting to check the diagonals) investigate how many different solutions there are. Extend to a 5 by 5 grid and then consider how many ornaments could be arranged on an n by n grid if each column, row and diagonal must contain one empty space."

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This starter has scored a mean of 3.8 out of 5 based on 45 votes.

 

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Computer Teacher, do your students have access to computers?
Do you have "Laptops in Lessons"?

Whether your students each have a TabletPC or share a desktop PC, this activity lends itself to eLearning (Engaged Learning).

Laptop

Here's the URL which will take
them to a student version of this activity.

www.transum.org/go/?to=Xmas

OR


Investigate other sized ornament boxes using a spreadsheet.

Use "1" to represent an ornament in the box.

Set up row and column totals to check whether your solution is correct

Answers

Here is one solution (using presents rather than ornaments)

Answer

Here's a solution to the 5 by 5 puzzle using plastic cubes

Answer