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Maths posts

Flight tracker brainteaser Brainteaser

by David Shaw, 9 February 2022 | 0 comments

Brain icon

Difficulty: Tricky Last week I flew from Canberra to Brisbane. The plane took off at 2.00 pm, flew 1,800 kilometres at 900 kilometres per hour, and landed at 3.00pm. On the way home from Brisbane, the plane took off at 8.00 pm. Assuming it flew at the same speed, when did it land in Canberra?

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Dart maths brainteaser Brainteaser

by David Shaw, 19 January 2022 | 0 comments

photo of a daart board with a dart in the bullseye position.

Difficulty: Tricky At the 2022 World Darts Championship, William Borland beat Bradley Brooks with a perfect final leg, scoring precisely 501 points.

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Climb through a hole in a sheet of paper Activity

by David Shaw, 9 December 2021 | 6 comments

a person with a loop aof paper around their body

Most people are a lot larger than a piece of paper. But in this activity, you’ll be able to squeeze through a hole in a sheet of paper. With practice, you might even be able to fit through a hole in a business card!

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Guarding the castle brainteaser Brainteaser

by David Shaw, 3 December 2021 | 0 comments

Square with three circles containing the number 4 on each side.

Difficulty: Tricky There are 32 soldiers guarding a square castle. The castle has 8 towers – one in each corner of the square, and one in the middle of each side. The soldiers want to make sure all the walls are guarded.

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A crowded bus brainteaser Brainteaser

by David Shaw, 24 November 2021 | 0 comments

Brain icon

Difficulty: Fun The number 39 bus was packed as it pulled into the interchange. Then 37 people got off, and another 14 got on. As the bus left the interchange, there were 37 people on board. How many people were on the bus as it pulled into the interchange?

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Joining five dots brainteaser Brainteaser

by David Shaw, 10 November 2021 | 2 comments

Brain icon

Difficulty: Extreme! Ziqi’s teacher loved puzzles, and posed a difficult challenge: “Draw five dots on a piece of paper. Now, connect each dot to every other dot. Each pair of dots needs to be connected by a line, which doesn’t need to be straight.”

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Coloured cups brainteaser Brainteaser

by David Shaw, 20 October 2021 | 2 comments

Brain icon

Difficulty: Tricky Scarlett, Azure and Jett were drinking tea together. There was one scarlet red teacup, one azure blue mug and a jet-black tea glass. None of them had a cup that was the same colour as their own name. After a while, Scarlett offered to get the person with the black glass another drink….

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Zig-zag roller Activity

by David Shaw, 14 October 2021 | 0 comments

Two cardboard shapes held together with tape, one green, one white.

This weird, wonderful shape is called a sphericon and it has a strange way of rolling. It wiggles back and forth as it trundles downhill!

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Reshuffling cars brainteaser Brainteaser

by David Shaw, 13 October 2021 | 0 comments

Illustration of Y shaped street with 6 cars labelled A,A,B,B,C&C. The two A cars are in the lower street but want to be in the street on the left. The two B cars are in the left and want to be right and the two C cars are right and want to be on the lower street.

Difficulty: Extreme! Terri runs a car showroom. It has 3 roads to park cars on, which all meet in the middle of the showroom. Terri can fit 3 cars on each road. If she tries to park a fourth, it blocks the intersection in the middle. At the moment, there are 2 Audis on one…

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Uncommon units – a quick quiz Quiz

by David Shaw, 6 October 2021 | 0 comments

Scientists measure all kinds of things, from plants to planets. And sometimes, they invent strange scales to measure things against – as you’ll discover in this quiz!

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Double helix cover

Double Helix

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