This 3-1-4 Number Challenge is the perfect way to challenge your brain on Pi Day! How many different numbers can you come up with mathematical expressions for using only the digits 3, 1, and 4? Instructions Use the digits 3, 1, and 4 exactly one time each along with any mathematical symbol or operation of …
Pencil & Paper Puzzles
Sankaku puzzles are a geometric based logic puzzle that focuses on finding the area of a triangle. The goal of each puzzle is to connect three dots to form a triangle with the specified area. Sankaku puzzles are the creation of Naoki Inaba, a prolific Japanese puzzle creator. I first discovered these puzzles several years …
I love introducing my students to new puzzles over the course of the school year. I often pull out strimko puzzles (a logic puzzle that is often compared to sudoku puzzles) on days when I am missing a large portion of my students due to activities or events. Strimko puzzles are one of my favorite …
I am really intrigued by these square sudoku puzzles from Erich Friedman. Place 16 digits in each 4 x 4 array so that every row and column contains the same 4 digits in a different order. Each rectangular box should contain the digits of a perfect square when read across or down. Need help remembering …
Looking for a challenge? Check out this page of Make It Pythagorean Puzzles. Insert the same digit (in any manner of your choosing) to each side of the triangle to form a right triangle. I ran across these interesting puzzles in Golf on the Moon by Dick Hess (Dover Publications).
Today I want to share a new puzzle I’ve been playing with for the last few days: Naoki Inaba‘s Number Ball Puzzles. The other day, I set out to try to bring some semblance of order to my puzzles folder on my laptop. This is the place on my computer where I keep PDFs of …
Hidato Puzzles have been one of my go-to puzzles in my file cabinet of puzzles for several years now. I have had great success with getting students interested in these puzzles who haven’t been interested in other logic puzzles like Sudoku or KenKen. Somehow, these puzzles have never made an appearance on my blog. Today, …
The last time I taught Algebra 1, I used Step Puzzles by Naoki Inaba to introduce the idea of arithmetic sequences. I tweeted about it, but in the craziness of packing up my classroom and house to move last summer they never made it up on my blog. I was first introduced to the amazing …
Recently, I was scrolling through pictures I had taken on my phone, and I realized that I never got around to blogging about the Kazu Sagashi Puzzles I used with my students back in April. I was introduced to this logic puzzle in 2016 when I discovered the amazing puzzles of Naoki Inaba. Inaba is …
Yesterday, I shared about all the amazing things I learned/experienced as part of the Tulsa Math Teachers’ Circle Summer Immersion Workshop. As part of that post, I mentioned that I had created some factor tree puzzles after being inspired by the puzzles shared by Dr. Harold Reiter and the puzzle created by one of the …