Only One Number: Reduce 68 to one using only the 4 key and any operations.

Starter of The Day Transum Mathematics Topics

Topics: Starter | Arithmetic | Calculator | Investigations | Number

Sue Sunn, St Albans
76 +4 = 80
80/ 4 = 20
20 / 4 = 5
5 - 4 = 1
Francisco Schreiber, Rokeby School East London
Divided by 2 is a good starting point for foundation groups.
Miss Sidebotham, -
This starter was a good one, the children loved it.
Zara, Belmont Academy
Really good. Got my brain thinking...
How about... 96
96/4=24
24-4=20
20-4=16
16/4=4
4/4=1
Jordan, Admirals Junior School
Sixty eight plus four plus four plus four plus four plus four plus four plus four plus four divided by four take away four take away four take away four take away four equals ONE!
Teacher, UK
Actually any number can be done this way,
Take the number a
do a x 4 = 4a
-4
-4
-4... (a-1) times
so were left with 4
then divide by 4
I think it's a reasonable starter so I rated it 2 but it needs a limit to the number of operations allowed.

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This starter has scored a mean of 3.2 out of 5 based on 275 votes.

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Answers

It is possible to reduce any number to one using any calculator key.

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	Teacher, do your students have access to computers? Do they have iPads or Laptops in Lessons? Whether your students each have a TabletPC, a Surface or a Mac, this activity lends itself to eLearning (Engaged Learning).

Here a concise URL for a version of this page without the comments.

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Here is the URL which will take them to a related student activity.

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And now for something completely different.

The 15th March is referred to as the 'ides of March' in a Shakespeare play. The date was notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history.

You can find more about the word ides in the comments of the Roman Numerals Starter.

A Mathematics Lesson Starter Of The Day

Answers

Have you read Craig's book yet?

Casio Classwiz Calculator

GCSE Revision and Practice

And now for something completely different.