Ballast – multiplication puzzles

Ballast – multiplication puzzles

Ballast Puzzles The objective of this puzzle is to find those warships that will tip over because of improper ballast. Start by getting them to understand ballast... It is something heavy that you put in the bottom of a boat so it doesn't tip. I sometimes do a...
Lazy Lemur Puzzles

Lazy Lemur Puzzles

Lazy Lemur Multiplication Let's start with an example. 01746 is good for lazy lemur multiplication because you can multiply it by a digit greater than one so that all five digits get shuffled, but remain the same.  Students are lazy lemurs.  As soon as they discover...
Lichen Puzzles – multiplication and subtraction

Lichen Puzzles – multiplication and subtraction

Lichen Puzzles (MathPickle, 2013) These are difficult puzzles – not the puzzle you want to start exploring multiplication, but there are rich ideas here that are worthy of exploration.  I now call these puzzles Lichen Puzzles… Download printable Lichen...
Toothpick, Vampire and Domino Sequences

Toothpick, Vampire and Domino Sequences

Toothpick, Vampire and Domino Sequences (Clifford Pickover, 1994) Recreational mathematics is on the fringes of mathematics, but its real worth is in mathematical pedagogy. Vampire Numbers are a perfect example. They are ridiculous. Most mathematicians would not take...
Multiplicative Persistence

Multiplicative Persistence

Multiplicative Persistence (Gottlieb, 1969) The persistence of an integer is the number of times you can perform the following before ending up at a single digit: 1) Take the digits of the integer and multiply them together to give a new integer. 2) Repeat #1 using...