Maths Starters

In small groups attempt to answer the following brainteaser questions.

Brainteaser question

To celebrate the New Year, a principal orders 100 chocolate bars to give to her students. When the chocolate bars arrive, she realises the chocolate bars have a special offer. If you hand in 10 wrappers, you receive a free chocolate bar!If everyone in the school saves their wrappers, how many chocolate bars can the school get?

Brainteaser question

What is the largest number that can be a clue in Kakuro?(A Kakuro consists of a grid of boxes, some empty and some filled. Lines of empty boxes run across and down. These lines each have a clue – to the left of horizontal lines and above vertical ones. The aim is to write a digit from 1 to 9 in each empty box following two rules:1.No two boxes in a line contain the same digit 2.Adding up all the digits in the line will equal the clue )

Brainteaser question

Tasko the Sea Lion lives at Adelaide Zoo. Recently, he was very sick, and the zoo’s vets realised he’d been eating some coins. They removed seven coins, adding up to $1.10, from Tasko’s belly. Since they removed the money, Tasko is feeling a lot better.

Can you come up with a set of seven coins that add up to $1.10? How many ways are there to make $1.10 with seven coins?

Brainteaser question

The day before yesterday, George was 12 years old. Next year, he’ll turn 15. How is this possible?

Brainteaser question

Here are four dots, arranged in a square: Without lifting your pen, draw three straight lines, pass through all four dots and finish up exactly where you started.

Brainteaser question

Can you work out the pattern in these numbers?

8, 5, 4, 9, 1, 7, 6, 10, 3, 2, 0

Brainteaser question

• One day in class, the students were writing letters. Each student wrote one letter to each other student in the class. In total, 306 letters were written. How many students were there in the class?

Brainteaser question

• In a card game, two players are each dealt 26 cards from a deck of 52. Thirteen of the cards have a club on them.

Which event is more likely: getting dealt all of the clubs, or getting none of them?

Brainteaser question

If you multiplied the first 1000 prime numbers together, what digit would be in the ones place (the last digit of the number)?

Math puzzle

• Five people order a square pizza. The first person dives in an eats a quarter of the pizza. The other four people have to divide the remaining three-fourths into four equal and identically shaped slices. The cuts must be straight. How must they cut the remaining pizza in order to produce four identical slices?