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Parts of a Whole – An Equilateral Triangle Puzzle

The Parts of a Whole Puzzle gives students five shapes that must be arranged to form a triangle whose three sides are of equal length. In other words, form an equilateral triangle.

I would have renamed this as the Equilateral Triangle Puzzle, but I have already shared a different equilateral triangle puzzle on my blog before. That puzzle was slightly different in that the pieces were different colors, and there were restrictions regarding colors touching.

parts of a whole puzzle equilateral triangle

I found this puzzle in The Ultimate Clever Puzzle Book. I borrowed it for free from the Internet Archive’s Online Lending Library. This is a great way to check out puzzle books to see if they have enough puzzles you might be interested in before purchasing them.

math puzzles

I posted this in my classroom several weeks ago alongside 8 other puzzles. It didn’t get quite the attention that some of the other puzzles did.

Instead of solving the Parts of a Whole Puzzle, students tended to just see what kind of pictures they could make with the pieces. You can see a rocket ship that one student created above.

I wouldn’t recommend putting out so many puzzles at once. I normally only have one puzzle up at a time. I couldn’t use my magnetic puzzles for so much of the school year due to COVID-precautions.

So, when restrictions lifted, I might have gone a bit puzzle crazy…

Puzzle Solutions

I intentionally do not make answers to the printable math puzzles 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.

Ms. Geometry

Thursday 3rd of June 2021

Can you post the answer?

Sincerely, A math teacher, doctor, and engineer...

Sarah Carter

Saturday 5th of June 2021

Here's a hint: It's definitely a think outside the box type puzzle.

If you're still stuck, send me an email at mathequalslove@gmail.com, and I can send you a picture of the solution. I try not to post solutions on the blog.

Geni

Monday 31st of May 2021

How do you make your puzzles magnetic?

Sarah Carter

Saturday 5th of June 2021

I buy adhesive magnets in bulk from Amazon. I have also purchased them from the craft section at Walmart, as well. I just add magnets to the back of each piece.

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