Spring Maths

I know no one likes to reminisce about lockdown but I want to talk about something we used to do during lockdown that I want to bring back! During lockdown, our Music teacher Jack (who has since left us to pursue the glamorous world of creating music) would run a radio station. 

Each week, we would put out weekly maths ‘challenges’ that we would ask families to try and solve. We would then share the students who had correctly been able to solve the answer on the radio the following week. 

Now, luckily lockdown is well and truly in our rear view mirror which means so is the radio station, I did enjoy the weekly maths challenges, especially when students would come up to me and tell me the different ways they worked out the answer with their families! I loved hearing the conversations they were having, the different solutions they came up with and ways the adults would then set a slightly different challenge to complete. 

It reminded me of someone who I taught a few years ago who loved the Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base. He completed the hidden message challenge at home with his family and was really excited to share it with us the next day. 

So, to celebrate the first day of Spring - when the flowers start to blossom, the weather slowly gets warmer and the sun starts to stay out later, here is a maths problem for you! 

This flower has three lines, a green, a blue and a yellow line. Each line has four circles along it. I put some numbers in the circle and when I added them up: blue = 4 + 3 + 6 +5 = 18 

                                                                    yellow = 2 +3 + 8 + 7 = 20

                                                                    green = 1 + 6 + 8 + 9 = 24

Can you use the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 but rearrange them so that the green line equals the same as the blue line and the yellow line? 

You can only use the number once. 

If you can do it, can you rearrange them so they all equal the same number but it’s a different number to your first attempt? 

If you solve it and see me around in the yard, I’d love to know the answer and how you did it! 

Alice Hamilton