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...
by MathPickle | Sep 16, 2015 |
Half Fraction Snake (MathPickle, 2013) This is the best puzzle to introduce students to fractions. It was the third MathPickle puzzle to get into the New York Times. Why is it so good to introduce fractions? Because only 1/2 is used – that’s the secret. I...
