Puzzles to get the
brain working!
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
How much earth is
there in a
freshly
dug hole
that is 2m
deep, 3m
wide and 5m long?
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
The answer to
the question is
a number.
How many
letters are
there in the correct
one word answer to
this question?
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
Which
fruit is
one third
of a
cherry and
two fifths
of an
apple?
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
Using four straight
cuts what is the
maximum number of
pieces
that a
circular
pie can be cut into?
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
A brass band of 40
musicians takes 4
minutes
to play a
march.
How long
would it take a band
of 60 musicians?
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
A triangular field has
a tree in
each corner
and there
are five
trees along
each side. How many
trees altogether?
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
The bus is travelling
along the road. Is it
moving to the left or
the right as seen by
the man?
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
Two swans in front
of a swan, two swans
behind a swan and a
swan in the middle.
What is the
minimum number of
swans?
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
20kg
10kg
24kg
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
?kg
Can you separate the nine
dogs into separate pens
using only two extra
square pens?
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK
Solutions
• There is no earth in a hole!
• The answer is four which has four letters.
• e and r from cherry and a and p from apple gives a
pear.
• The maximum number of pieces is 14. (Use one cut to
slice through the pie horizontally)
• 4 minutes of course!
• 12 trees. (many say 15 without thinking)
• It depends on which country you are in. In the UK the
bus would be travelling to the right because the door is
on the other side.
• You only need 3 swans (many say 5)
• 27kg. There is a quick way to do this, in the three
pictures there are two dogs, two cats and two rabbits. To
get the weight of one dog, one cat and one rabbit add
them all together and divide by two.
•
Centre for Teaching Mathematics
University of Plymouth, UK