Coins On The Table

A Maths Starter of The Day

Anna put some coins on the table.
One half of them were tails up.
Anna turned over two of the coins, and then one third of them were tails up.
How many coins did Anna put on the table?

 

 

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Keywords: Starter | Fractions | Problem Solving | Puzzles

  • Mrs A Milton, Ysgol Ardudwy
  • Wednesday, January 14, 2009
  • "I have used your starters for 3 years now and would not have a lesson without one! Fantastic way to engage the pupils at the start of a lesson."
  • The Best Maths Group Ever 7cd/M2, King Alfred's College, Oxfordshire
  • Monday, March 16, 2009
  • "Some of us caught on quickly. But majority found it tricky. Drawing coins helped to explain the answer."
  • Rachel, Claverham
  • Tuesday, September 15, 2009
  • "You should have been more specific with the wording and said that the tails were turned over."
  • Francis, Halifax
  • Monday, February 08, 2010
  • "The wording of the question is fine. If 1/2 of the coins start as tails up, and, when 2 are turned this becomes 1/3, it should be obvious that it was tails that were turned because 1/3 is less than 1/2."
  • Gabriel, Edgware
  • Tuesday, March 16, 2010
  • "The wording is a problem...
    If you started with 6 coins and turned one head and one tail over, you would get to 1/2 and 1/3.
    Surely?"
  •  

  • Primary 7, Bargeddie Primary School
  • Wednesday, March 17, 2010
  • "The majority of our class found this very confusing at first. However, Lewis in our class worked out the answer very quickly: he worked out that if he thought of a number on the 2 times table, and tried to take 2 away to see if it was on the three times table then he would have his answer...
    The rest of the class were most impressed!"
  • Nick, Weston
  • Wednesday, March 16, 2011
  • "This was epic."

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This starter has scored a mean of 3.2 out of 5 based on 80 votes.

 

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Answers

let the number of coin be x

(x ÷ 2) - 2 = x ÷ 3

3(x ÷ 2) - 6 = x

3x ÷ 2 = x + 6

3x = 2x + 12

x = 12

There were 12 coins on the table