Broken Calculator

A Maths Starter of The Day

 

 

 

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Keywords: Starter | Arithmetic | Calculator | Place Value | Problem Solving

  • *Malcolm P, Dorset
  • Thursday, September 28, 2006
  • "A set of real life savers!!
    Keep it up and thank you!"
  • Pete Freer, Rotherham
  • Tuesday, September 18, 2007
  • "Prompted a great deal of enthusiasm and competition to find the quickest way!"
  • Joe Murray, Linwood High
  • Tuesday, September 18, 2007
  • "We did it in 35 moves beat that!"
  • Kenny Dyson, Deans Community HS, Livingston
  • Wednesday, September 19, 2007
  • "We got 34. "
  • Russ Skinner, Grant Park High School, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
  • Saturday, September 22, 2007
  • "I found an answer for 30 moves"
  • George Abbot, Guildford Surrey
  • Thursday, September 27, 2007
  • "27th Sept We did it in 26 goes. Beat that"
  • Jamie Pascoe, Notton House School
  • Thursday, September 27, 2007
  • "I completed this exercise in 28 moves taken screen shot I can email it to you!! :):)"
  • BIS Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Friday, September 28, 2007
  • "My clever class did it in 24 buttons!
    Beat that!"
  • Mr. B., Essex, UK
  • Friday, September 28, 2007
  • "Can you please provide how you did it in 26 steps ive been trying forever and cant do it in less than 32"
  • Year 8 Set 2 Brinsworth Comp, Rotherham
  • Friday, September 28, 2007
  • "As a class we have managed to complete this in 24 moves!
    Can anyone beat that?"
  • Transum,
  • Friday, September 28, 2007
  • "Thanks everyone for their feedback. Perhaps we should set some rules here.
    When you first load this starter the target numbers are 16, 24, 97 and 624. If you refresh the page or click the "Change Numbers" button you will get four random target numbers. Let's agree that we are looking for the least number of button presses which achieves the original four target numbers.
    Rather than just the number of button presses you should also record the buttons pressed E.g. 15+1+5+… etc"
  • Peter Freer, Brinsworth Comp Rotherham
  • Friday, September 28, 2007
  • " Here is the solution for 24 moves from my Y8 class, a team effort.

    11 + 5 = CE 11 + 1 + + + + 1 515 + 11 + 1 =
    (16) (24) (97) (624)"
  • George Abbot School, Guildford Surrey
  • Friday, September 28, 2007
  • "We have also managed to do it in 24 moves. Start with getting the 24 and get the 16 last by using the clear button"
  • Kerry robb, Brinsworth Rotherham
  • Monday, October 01, 2007
  • "Alex Robb's mum class 8b did it in 22 moves feeling quite smug."
  • Mr Barnes, Bradford
  • Saturday, November 17, 2007
  • "This was a really good starter, I did it with my top set year 7 and they loved it, especially when they realised there were shorter ways than what they had done, it made them determined to find it."
  • Tom, LGS
  • Wednesday, March 05, 2008
  • "I'm not great at Maths but I did it in 63."
  • Mr Bracewell, Hanham High, UK
  • Friday, March 14, 2008
  • "Word - my year 10 bottom set (and proud) got a 27 first go. 'ave sum. "
  • Mrs Lowry, SPA
  • Thursday, September 18, 2008
  • "We are from Park Academy we did it in 24"
  • Amber Read, 11 yrs,
  • Thursday, September 25, 2008
  • "We had a go at this in class and no one could figure out how to do it in 24 moves... but i tried it at home and got it!!! 24 moves!! YAY!!!"
  • L Holmes, Ruislip
  • Tuesday, September 30, 2008
  • "Bishop Ramsey Year 11 did this in 21 goes. Well done Chris!!!!"
  • Dr Mills, 7M1, Stockport Academy
  • Thursday, November 20, 2008
  • "We solved it in 35, and we think we could get it down to 33."
  • Tegan Macintosh,
  • Monday, December 08, 2008
  • "This was a fun activity but we couldn't beat 50 moves."
  • Staines, Surrey
  • Tuesday, January 20, 2009
  • "Thanks for the challenge! My year 12 class found a 7 move solution! Beat that!"
  • George Thoroughbad, Ethniklashistan, JK
  • Tuesday, January 20, 2009
  • "Calculators are the devil's tools. I remember a time when people relied on intelligence, not coordination! I hate sports!"
  • Mrs, Cornwall, Claydon High School
  • Wednesday, February 11, 2009
  • "My Year 7s have found 16 in 5 moves, 24 in 13 moves, 97 in 14 moves and 624 in 15 moves. Do you know what you the lowest amount of moves is for each number?"
  • Year 9, George Abbot
  • Tuesday, September 29, 2009
  • "We managed to do it in 24 moves. Nice and easy. We await the next challenge."
  • Sydney, Richmond
  • Sunday, December 20, 2009
  • "I did it in 29 moves BEAT THAT."

How did you use this starter? Can you suggest how teachers could present or develop this resource? Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for Maths teachers anywhere in the world. Click here to enter your comments.

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Didn't really capture the interest of the students
Not for me! I wouldn't use this type of activity.

This starter has scored a mean of 3.9 out of 5 based on 45 votes.
 

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Note to teacher: Doing this activity once with a class helps students develop strategies. It is only when they do this activity a second time that they will have the opportunity to practise those strategies. That is when the learning is consolidated. Click the button above to regenerate another version of this starter from random numbers.

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).

Here's the shorter URL which will take
them to this page.

http://www.transum.org/go/?to=calc15