Equal Sums Puzzle

Can you place the numbers 1 to 5 in the correct places to solve the equal sums puzzle?

Puzzle Instructions

Place the numbers 1 to 5 in the triangular diagram so that the sum of the numbers on the vertices of the smaller triangle is equal to the sum of the numbers on the vertices of the larger triangle.

Puzzle Source

I ran across this puzzle in a collection of 199 different mathematical puzzles that is offered as a free download from IREM de Lyon. This is a top-notch puzzle resource if you speak French.

I sadly do not speak French, but I was able to use the Google Translate app to translate quite a few of the puzzle instructions in order to use them in my classroom. Other puzzles I typed up from this same resource is the U Sums Puzzle, Magic H Puzzle, and Lines of 3 Puzzle.

This specific puzzle is #199 – Sommes sur triangles. This translates to “Sums over Triangles.” I have already shared another puzzle previously which I called Triangle Sums, so I decided to just call this one Equal Sums to avoid confusion.

Using the Puzzle in the Classroom

I recently used this Equal Sums puzzle as one of my Puzzles of the Week in my high school math classroom. This puzzle was definitely on the easier side for my high school students, so I made sure to pair it with a few of my trickier puzzles like the Equilateral Triangle Puzzle and the Eight Checkered L’s Puzzle.

I hang my weekly puzzles on the dry erase board in these fabulous magnetic pockets that I ordered from Charles Leonard on Amazon.

When students get to class, they often grab one of the puzzles off the dry erase board and take it to their desk to work on before class starts. Other students gravitate towards the puzzles when they finish early.

Since this puzzle is on the easier side, it would make a great warm-up activity or a brain break activity.

The only trouble my students had with this puzzle was their unfamiliarity with the word “vertices.” I had to answer so many questions about what that word meant over the course of the week.

Printing and Prepping the Puzzle

This puzzle is designed to print on letter-sized paper. I suggest printing the puzzle board on regular copy paper or cardstock and running it through a laminator to make the puzzle more durable.

The second page of the PDF features three sets of number tiles. You only need one set of the number tiles if you are printing a single copy of the puzzle. I like to print the number tiles on colorful Astrobrights paper.

I also run the number tiles through the laminator to make the pieces last for years to come.

MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…

A laminator is a MUST-HAVE for me as a math teacher! I spent my first six years as a teacher at a school with a broken laminator, so I had to find a way to laminate things myself.

I’ve had several laminators over the years. I currently use a Scotch laminator at home and a Swingline laminator at school.

• Scotch Laminator
• Swingline Laminator
• Nuova Laminating Pouches

I highly recommend splurging a bit on the actual laminator and buying the cheapest laminating pouches you can find!