Five Fives Puzzle
Looking for a new number challenge to take on? The five fives number puzzle involves making the numbers 1-50 using exactly five fives.
This is the perfect challenge to take on after mastering the Four Fours Challenge.
This puzzle is just one of many free printable number challenges that I have created for my own classroom and am sharing with you!
Be sure to check out my entire collection of free printable math puzzles.
Instructions
Use exactly five fives along with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, square roots, and factorials to form expressions equal to the target numbers.
Digits may be joined together (concatenated) to form numbers such as 55 or 555.
For example, 1 can be written as (55 / 5) – (5 + 5).
Printing Options
There are actually five different levels of this puzzle to choose from which involve make the numbers 1-10, 1-20, 1-30, 1-40, or 1-50.
If your students are unfamiliar with factorials, I recommend sticking to the numbers 1-10. All of the numbers from 1 to 17 can be solved without the use of any factorials.
Want to introduce your students to factorials? I have a printable factorial chart featuring factorials and double factorials as well as a factorial poster that you can print and hang up in your classroom!
Free Download of Five Fives Puzzle
The Five Fives Number Challenge is available to download both as a PDF and as an editable PPT file.
Click here to Download
Five Fives Puzzle (PDF)
653 downloads – 39.63 KB
PowerPoint
Click here to Download
Five Fives Puzzle (PPT in ZIP)
521 downloads – 118.95 KB
Puzzle Solutions
Puzzle solutions are available on a password-protected solution page. I do not openly post the puzzle answer keys because one of my goals as a resource creator is to craft learning experiences for students that are non-google-able. I want teachers to be able to use these puzzles in their classrooms without the solutions being found easily on the Internet.
Please email me at sarah@mathequalslove.net for the password to the answer key database featuring all of my printable puzzles and math worksheets. I frequently have students emailing me for the answer key, so please specify in your email what school you teach at and what subjects you teach. If you do not provide these details, I will not be able to send you the password.
Not a teacher? Go ahead and send me an email as well. Just let me know what you are using the puzzles for. I am continually in awe of how many people are using these puzzles with scouting groups, with senior adults battling dementia, or as fun activities in their workplace. Just give me enough details so I know you are not a student looking for answers to the puzzle that was assigned as their homework!
