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 masting the Four Fours Challenge.
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)
28 downloads – 39.63 KB
PowerPoint
Click here to Download
Five Fives Puzzle (PPT in ZIP)
11 downloads – 118.95 KB
Puzzle Solutions
I intentionally do not make answers to the printable puzzles and math activities I share on my blog available online because I strive to provide learning experiences for my students that are non-google-able. I would like other teachers to be able to use these puzzles in their classrooms as well without the solutions being easily found on the Internet.
However, I do recognize that us teachers are busy people and sometimes need to quickly reference an answer key to see if a student has solved a puzzle correctly or to see if they have interpreted the instructions properly.
If you are a teacher who is using these puzzles in your classroom, please send me an email at sarah@mathequalslove.net with information about what you teach and where you teach. I will be happy to forward an answer key to you.
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, as fun activities in their workplace, or as a birthday party escape room.
