Mrs Lee’s Mysterious and Magical Maths Investigations!

Each half term, the Maths team will share an investigation for you to solve using your mathematical knowledge and skills. Take your time and use your Stonebow Powers to concentrate and persevere as you work on this half-term’s problem-solving puzzle!

We are looking forward to hearing how you will describe, explain, convince, justify and/or prove your idea and thinking! Please share your suggestion with us at maths@stonebowps.net

This half-term’s problems practise working systematically, which means finding an efficient, methodical and ordered way to work in. Mathematicians work systematically so they can see how they have worked things out, look for patterns and to ensure that they have the maximum number of solutions.

Problem 1/KS1: Two Dice 

If you have some at home, having two dice to use would be useful to get you started on this problem! If not, there are some interactive ones that you could use here. (https://www.teacherled.com/iresources/tools/dice/) 

‘Find two dice to roll yourself. Add the numbers that are on the top.
What other totals could you get if you roll the dice again?’

Visit https://nrich.maths.org/150 for more details and ideas to get started. Maybe you could then explore using three dice!

Problem 2/KS2: Fifteen Cards

A bit of a brain teaser for you! For this problem, you might like to make yourself fifteen cards numbered from 1 to 15.

‘Seven of the cards are put down on the table in a row.

The numbers on the first two cards add to 15.
The numbers on the second and third cards add to 20.
The numbers on the third and fourth cards add to 23.
The numbers on the fourth and fifth cards add to 16.
The numbers on the fifth and sixth cards add to 18.
The numbers on the sixth and seventh cards add to 21.

What are my cards?

Can you find any other solutions?

How do you know you've found all the different solutions?’

Visit https://nrich.maths.org/7506 for more details on this problem.