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My favourite Halloween puzzle is "Why do mathematicians think that Halloween is the same as Christmas?". I think most people would need a clue so I'll let you know that the answer is something to do with number bases.
I think that the study of number bases could have a bigger part to play in the mathematics curriculum. My feeling is that it would strengthen the understanding of place value, times tables and number patterns which are all essential concepts of basic numeracy. At one stage in my teaching career we successfully ran a number bases topic as the transition between Primary and Secondary schools. It led to some great problem solving, investigations and display work. Two things that stick in my mind are the excitement of meeting the binary system (see Coins in Envelopes and Binary Lights) and the discussion about why having five fingers on each hand played a big part in us adopting base 10 as our standard. There's an interesting video about the four fingered world of the Simpsons called Pi and Four Fingers.
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For many more mathematical puzzles visit the Transum Puzzles page.
