Triangle Chain Puzzle
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Can you place the numbers 1-9 correctly in this math logic puzzle involving a chain of triangles?
Want some more math puzzling fun involving triangles ? Check out the Triangle Sums Puzzle as well!
Instructions
Place the numbers 1 to 9 in the spaces provided so that the sum of the numbers placed on the vertices of each triangle have a sum of 13. Two of the numbers (3 and 5) have already been placed for you.
You might need to teach your students the meaning of the phrase “vertices” depending on their age/experience learning geometry.
Puzzle Source
This puzzle is from a collection of 199 different mathematical puzzles 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, Lines of 3 Puzzle, 4 x 4 Checkered Square Puzzle, Equal Sums Puzzle, Square Sums Puzzle, Product Square Puzzle, and the popular Loops Puzzle.
This specific puzzle is #132 – Chaîne de triangles.
Printing and Prepping the Puzzle
This puzzle is designed to print on letter-sized 8.5 x 11 inch paper, but you could easily scale it to print on A4 paper as well.
If you wanted to, you could skip the circular number tiles and have students write in the numbers on their own copy of the puzzle. I would recommend sliding the puzzle in a dry erase pocket if you do end up going this route!
I used this puzzle last year in my classroom as one of my Puzzles of the Week. I prepared several copies of the puzzle and hung it on my dry erase board using a Charles Leonard magnetic pocket which I picked up from Amazon. They have been a real game-changer in my classroom organization!
Free Download of Triangle Chain Puzzle
The Triangle Chain Puzzle is available to download in both PDF format and as an editable PUB file. In order to edit the file, you will need to make sure you have Microsoft Publisher installed on your computer.
Triangle Chain Puzzle (PDF) (1438 downloads )
Triangle Chain Puzzle (Editable Publisher File ZIP) (364 downloads )
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.
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.
