by MathPickle | Sep 18, 2015 |
Rainbow Squares is a challenge inspired by Henri Picciotto. Each rainbow arc needs to be anchored at two integers that sum to a square. Here we have tried to find a solution for 1-10, but have failed because the last two numbers, 2 and 3, do not sum to a square. Is...
by MathPickle | Sep 18, 2015 |
Using Least 1s (Conway & Guy, 1962) Using multiplication and addition try to create the target number using the least number of ones. For example… to get to the number 12, you could do (1+1+1+1)*(1+1+1) or (1+1+1+1+1)*(1+1)+1+1 but the first solution is...
by MathPickle | Sep 16, 2015 |
Wormhole! (MathPickle, 2011 – Based on work by Harold Coxeter and John Horton Conway) Send your students on a dangerous trip which coincidently happens to be a fantastic introduction/practice for division. If they make a mistake they’ll crash in a heap of...
by MathPickle | Sep 16, 2015 |
Klingon Attack The Earth is being attacked by Klingons. It is your job to shoot the enemy spaceships out of the sky using our single ion cannon. Download a pdf of puzzle-sheets here. Much thanks to Ex Astris Scientia for their permission to reprint their...
by MathPickle | Sep 16, 2015 |
In fractured fractions, your students cover a pixelated image with rectangles. You must choose the rectangles carefully so that the fraction covered matches the given fractions. Here we have a yellow submarine with given fractions 1/2 and 1/3. Does this...
