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In a Row Puzzle

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This In a Row Puzzle challenges students to arrange the digits 1 through 9 in such a way that four statements regarding the sum of various subsets of the row are true.

in a row puzzle

The numbers 1 and 2 and all the digits between them add up to 9. The numbers 2 and 3 and all the digits between them add up to 19. The numbers 3 and 4 and all the digits between them add up to 45.

Finally, the numbers 4 and 5 and all the digits between them add up to 18.

In a Row Puzzle

Often, people ask me where I run across the puzzles I use with my students and share on my blog. Here’s the short answer: One of my hobbies is reading through as many puzzle books as I can get my hands on.

I love checking puzzle books out of the Internet Archive’s free Online Lending Library for this purpose.

In a Row Puzzle

I discovered this puzzle in Maximize Your Brainpower: 1000 New Ways to Boost Your Mental Fitness by Philip Carter and Ken Russell. I checked this book out for free from the Internet Archive’s Online Lending Library that I mentioned earlier.

I attached disc magnets to the back of the digits 1 through 9 so that students can move them around as they work to solve the puzzle.

If you had students working in groups at their tables, you wouldn’t need magnets at all. You could even give this as a task on whiteboards with no number cards at all.

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.

Sarah Carter teaches high school math in her hometown of Coweta, Oklahoma. She currently teaches AP Precalculus, AP Calculus AB, and Statistics. She is passionate about sharing creative and hands-on teaching ideas with math teachers around the world through her blog, Math = Love.

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53 Comments

    1. Hey Sarah,

      Thanks for your posts.

      I was wondering if you have an answer Key for “In a row”?

      Thank you

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