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Craft yourself a mathematical ring to learn about straight lines on donuts. Don’t laugh, they do exist!

Difficulty: Tricky Gertrude has a collection of shapes that she likes to arrange in patterns. She starts with a regular hexagon with 10 cm sides, and three regular triangles that also have 10 cm sides. She arranges the triangles around the hexagon, and then lines them up. In the end, one side of each triangle […]

Difficulty: Fun I’m thinking of three numbers. They are consecutive counting numbers. When you add the first two numbers together, you get the third number. What numbers am I thinking of?

Difficulty: Tricky Ari was 10 on her last birthday, and will be 12 on her next birthday. How can this be true? Lachlan was 8 on his last birthday, and will be 12 on his next birthday. How can this be true?

Right now, there are about 7.8 billion people on Earth, and that number keeps on growing. But could this growth be coming to an end? Experts have made a new prediction that Earth’s population will not reach 10 billion people. And the reasons why are surprisingly positive.

The best way to do maths is to have fun! Here’s a selection of our favourite games and puzzles.

Difficulty: Taxing Terri’s destructive testing lab is very popular. The most important piece of equipment is an electric-powered ram that smashes into samples to see how tough they are. It’s powered by capacitors, and by changing the number of capacitors that are plugged in, Terri can control how powerful the ram is.

Difficulty: Fun The extension is finished! Five new classrooms have been added to the main building. But there’s a problem. The corridor to the new classrooms is very busy. When the bell goes, lots of students stream out of the extension, while others rush in. It gets really crowded!

Difficulty: Tricky Dolly bought a special cheese. It comes in a square block that’s 5 centimetres wide, 5 centimetres deep and 5 centimetres tall. It’s also coated in wax on all sides. Without removing the wax, Dolly cuts the cheese into 1 centimetre cubes. Can you work out how many cubes have wax on them?

Difficulty: Fun Ash and Stacy Brull have five daughters. Each of their daughters has one brother. How many people are there in the Brull family?