Broken Calculator (4,5)

Starter of The Day Transum Mathematics Topics

David Payne, St Anne's Catholic School, Southampton
Thanks for some great resources which stimulate lots of ideas.
Could you produce a calculator activity that includes the use of brackets, powers, squaring etc to encourage students to make use of functions on a scientific calculator?
Mr Bedford's Year 8 Maths Class, Marshfields School, Peterborough
We have done a number of these and we find them hard but fun.
Lukas Kiss, Kettlethorpe High School, Wakefield
We used 5--4 to get 9, and then loads of others based on the same idea.
Mr Parsons, Chalfont Community College
A popular maths starter for my year 8 classes.
Mr Tilston, Twitter
Great improvements made by S1 class today, their second time looking at @Transum's fab broken calculator activity. #MathsRockedToday
— Mr Tilston Maths (@MrTilston) August 25, 2016
Andrew Turner, Twitter
A phenomenal Maths starter activity @Transum called 'The broken Calculator' #edtech #maths https://t.co/seM7bCnpzz https://t.co/nehJfS3Loc pic.twitter.com/taodXknZj1
— Andrew Turner (@TeacherTurner1) February 24, 2017
Karen Donnelly, Twitter
Y3 students are loving the broken calculator challenge this morning! #STEAM #don'tgiveup #GirlsWhoCode @Transum pic.twitter.com/oCw0B06F6h
— Karen Donnelly (@KarenDonnelly16) June 29, 2017

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.
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Previous Day | This starter is for 5 May | Next Day

Answers

Your access to the majority of the Transum resources continues to be free but you can help support the continued growth of the website by doing your Amazon shopping using the links on this page. Below is an Amazon link. As an Amazon Associate I earn a small amount from qualifying purchases which helps pay for the upkeep of this website.

Educational Technology on Amazon

Teacher, do your students have access to computers such as tablets, iPads or Laptops? This page was really designed for projection on a whiteboard but if you really want the students to have access to it here is a concise URL for a version of this page without the comments:

Transum.org/go/?Start=May5

However it would be better to assign one of the student interactive activities below.

Laptops In Lessons

Here is the URL which will take them to a different number challenge.

Transum.org/go/?Num=848

Awesome!

Transum.org/go/?to=Broken

A Mathematics Lesson Starter Of The Day

Answers