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This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of November. The name November comes from the Latin word novem, meaning nine. In the original Roman calendar, November was the ninth month of the year before January and February were added. And now, with... more
Welcome to the Transum Newsletter for October 2024, and, as you'd expect, I can't resist the temptation to begin with a Halloween-themed puzzle. Vesper bought a number of pumpkins in one shop at the rate of 4 for £20. He then buys the same nu... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of September 2024. It's the month that sees the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere. It occurs on the 1st of September according to the meteorological calendar but not until the 22nd (the Equino... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of August 2024 and whether you are on holiday or not, here is the puzzle of the month for your consideration: I am thinking of three numbers. If I double them all the mean stays the same. If I square ... more
This is the Summer edition of the Transum Newsletter for the month of July 2024. It begins, as usual, with the puzzle of the month. Pirate Pearl sits in a hidden cove counting her treasure of 50 dazzling precious stones of three distinct colours. Th... more
Let's begin the Transum Newsletter for the month of June 2024 with the puzzle of the month. A judge is twice as old as her wig was when she was as old as her wig is now. How old are they now if the sum of their ages is 56? If you get an a... more
You are reading the Transum Newsletter for the month of May 2024. What better way to start than with the puzzle of the month: I insist that members of my class bring certain items to the lesson. Today 90% remembered to bring a pen, 85% brought a pen... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of April 2024. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. A - 3B + 5C = 373A + 7B - C = 47A + B + C = D What is the value of D? Please let me know if you solve the puzzle. I'd love to hear how ... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of March (Easter Edition). It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. Given Easter egg baskets that come in sizes of 5, 12, and 18 eggs, what is the largest number of eggs that cannot be purchased ... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of February 2024, a month with 29 days! It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. What birthday did Attika celebrate in the last leap year of the last century if she is ten years older than Winthr... more
Happy New Year! This is the first Transum Newsletter for 2024 and it begins, as usual, with the puzzle of the month: Justin Thyme has made a New Year's resolution to go jogging on days in January after the 1st of the month. He will jog on a day only... more
Seasonal Greetings! December has arrived and along with it comes the Transum Newsletter for December 2023. It begins with a festive puzzle of the month. If the average (mean) cost of 20 Christmas presents is £50. The cost of each present is a ... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of November 2023 containing a rare opportunity to enjoy a unique Fibonacci Day. The date on the 10th, written as 10/11/23, represents a strange version of the Fibonacci sequence (each digit is the previous... more
This is the October 2023 edition of the Transum Newsletter. The month that begins with 'oct' just like octagon, octahedron, octuplets, octet, octogenarian and octopus yet, due to the development of the calendar, means the 10th month not the 8th. Wit... more
Let's begin the Transum Newsletter for September 2023 with the puzzle of the month. A dartboard breaks into two pieces. The sum of the numbers on one piece is twice the sum of the numbers on the other piece. Where was the break? Don't forget Tran... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of August 2023 and what better way to start than with the puzzle of the month. The average (mean) age of the four Calamity cousins is 20. The average (mean) age of the two youngest cousins is 14. The av... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of July 2023. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. x + xy + y = 90 If x and y are positive integers, what is the sum of x and y? While you think about that here are some of the key resource... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of June 2023. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. x squared equals sixteen to the power of x. Find the value of x. Let me know if you find a solution and I'll reveal my solution next month.... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of May 2023 and it begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. Write a number in words in the blank space in the above sentence that will make the statement true. The answer and credit for this puzz... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of April. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. Cupcakes were being sold at three prices: large cupcakes were one pound each, medium cupcakes were two for a pound and small cupcakes were three... more
This is the one hundredth Transum Newsletter and it is for the month of March 2023. Did you know that 100 is the sum of the first nine prime numbers (2 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 11 + 13 + 17 + 19 + 23 = 100) and also the sum of the first four cubes (1³ + 2&... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of February 2023; the month you can celebrate Valentine's Day (14th), Pancake Day (21st) and a Palindromic Date (3rd). Talking of palindromes here is the puzzle of the month. Mr Wheeler was on a long driv... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of January. It is being published on the first of January when the shorthand version of the date has a Fibonacci feel about it: 1-1-23 I'll begin, as usual with the puzzle of the month. A teacher writes ... more
Glad tidings and festive felicitations! This is the Christmas edition of the Transum Newsletter and with it comes my best wishes for you and your families. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. I am looking at the ornaments hanging on th... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of November 2022. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. Randomly pick two different balls from the same pot then add the numbers on those balls together. The probability that this sum is odd... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of October 2022. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. Amir owes £100 to Beth. Beth owes £200 to Chris. Chris owes £300 to Dalbir. Dalbir owes £400 to Amir. What is the... more
Type 'viral Maths' into Google and the top search result is about the following calculation. \(8 \div 2(2 + 2)\) The puzzle of the month is to figure out what are the two different answers most commonly given for the result of that calculation and ... more
I am writing this newsletter while on holiday on an island with a very strange weather pattern. So far it has rained on 12 days since I’ve been here but luckily it never rained for a whole day. Rainy mornings were always followed by clea... more
At last we have arrived at the month of July, my favourite month. It has throughout my life featured wonderful times such as ‘School’s Out’ celebrations, holidays, my birthday, good weather(?) and I’m still buzzing after my 19... more
Best wishes for the month of June as we approach the end of the first half of the year. The puzzle of the month is not which number is first if all the natural numbers are arranged in alphabetical order? Instead, it is which number is second if all ... more
Tra la! It's May! The merry month of May! That lovely month when ev'ryone goes Mathematically astray. For some it’s exam time while for others it’s a chance to do some Outdoor Maths. You can begin the month with the May... more
Before any of your students catch you out on April Fools’ Day be prepared to get your own back with the 1st April Starter of the Day. As well as being great fun (when you realise the joke) it also reminds the over-enthusiastic students to read ... more
Just like every other Newsletter we'll begin with the puzzle of the month: A right-handed dice is placed on the near-left square of a chess board with the number one face uppermost and the number two face facing left. The edges of the dice are the s... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of February. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. Rachel has the same number of brothers as she has sisters. Each one of her brothers has 50% more sisters than brothers. How many children ar... more
May I wish you a Happy New Year and hope that the happiness continues all the way through 2022. This is the Newsletter for January and begins with the puzzle of the month. My bedside clock displays four large digits to show the time in 24-hour forma... more
A Merry Ho Ho Ho and yuletide greetings to Transum users around the world. This is the festive version of the monthly newsletter and begins with a seasonal puzzle. Santa lives in a region is called Korvatunturi, in Rovaniemi – which is in the ... more
Best wishes for another new month and I hope you are well, happy and safe. This is the newsletter for November 2021 and begins with the puzzle of the month: Maureen and Doreen both have some 20p coins and some 50p coins. Can you work out how much mo... more
I bought some items at the shopping centre yesterday and the bill came to £28. I noticed the prices of the items were each different and each a factor of the total. What were the prices of the items I bought? So that was the puzzle of the mont... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of September 2021. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. Think of all the sets of numbers that add up to ten. Which of them has the largest product? The answer is at the end of this newslette... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of August 2021. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. A woman is 21 years older than her son. In six years' time she will be 5 times as old as her son. Where is the father? Whil... more
I sincerely hope that you are safe and well and can take a moment to read this newsletter for the month of July 2021. The puzzle of the month was suggested by Transum subscriber Ann. Suppose you live in a world with only 5p and 7p coins. What's the ... more
This is the newsletter for June 2021 and I hope it finds you fit and well. We’ll begin with the puzzle of the month which I’ve chosen from a new book I’m reading called 100 Maddening Mind Mending Puzzles from Rob Eastway and David ... more
I am currently surrounded! There is big hairy spider (bigger than my hand) outside the back door and a humongous (slight exaggeration) snake on the front drive. [This is not setting the scene for a maths puzzle; this is actually happening.] I think I... more
It’s April, the month of foolery and fun but you’ll need a real poker face to pull off the April Fool’s Lesson Starter. The instructions clearly say to read all of the questions before doing any of them and it’s only when pupi... more
The shortest month has ended though for those locked down it may not have seemed that short at all. As a diversion here is the newsletter for the month of March 2021 and I’ll waste no time in getting to the puzzle of the month. Chris Smith, Sc... more
This is the February newsletter with the latest Transum news and, to kick things off, the puzzle of the month: Keith and Kath’s combined age is 91. Keith is now twice as old as Kath was when Keith was as old as Kath is now.How old are they? E... more
This is the first Transum Newsletter for 2021; a year which is the product of two consecutive prime numbers, but I'm sure I didn't need to tell you that! January is named after the Roman god Janus who had two faces, one looking forward to the new ye... more
It is said that Father Christmas lives in a magical place near the North Pole. One of the extraordinary facts about this place is that the mean temperature when reported in degrees Celsius is exactly the same number as when reported in degrees Fahren... more
Welcome to another month of puzzles, challenges and investigations. I hope you have recovered from Halloween and your pupils weren’t too scared by the 31st October Starter! For this month’s puzzle I have chosen one that appeared in the G... more
Another month begins and another newsletter is born. It will start, as always, with the puzzle of the month. A train leaves Aberdale bound for Bluffington and travels at 90 kilometres per hour. At the same time another train leaves Bluffington bound... more
Just in case you were wondering, this is the Transum Mathematics newsletter for the month of September 2020 and as Talk Like A Pirate Day will occur during this month I thought I’d give an old Russian puzzle a pirate theme: Two shipm... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of August 2020. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. Would you like to win the Ultimate Teacher Trophy? If so you need to win two games of Ultimate Noughts and Crosses in a row. You will... more
June has turned into July and the summer holidays (for some) are upon us. Here are some ideas for End of Term Activities and Holiday Activities you may find useful. For this month's puzzle I have chosen a riddle I heard on the radio: ... more
Another month flies by and we are now ready to welcome June and all it may have in store. I send you positive wishes and hope that you, your families and pupils are well and happy. You probably know that 14th March is known as Pi Day because th... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of May 2020 and I will begin by reminiscing. When I was 10 years old if I had been asked to name some famous mathematicians I would probably have said Pythagoras and Johnny Ball. The former obviously for ... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of April 2020. A newsletter to take your mind off the C word! The month began with April Fool's Day. Have you caught your pupils out yet? Set them today's Lesson Starter then sit back and wait for th... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of March 2020. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month which I heard on Signal Radio. Jamie and Ben each have some balloons. Ben said to Jamie "It's not fair, you have three times as many as me"... more
You are reading the Transum Newsletter for the month of February 2020; a month with 29 days due to the fact that this year is a leap year. On the 2nd February the date will be palindromic, it reads the same forwards as backwards w... more
Welcome to 2020. I have been talking about this year for a long time. Ten years ago, when my job involved producing a long term technology development plan for the next ten years the report we produced was called 2020 Vision. Do you see what we did t... more
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas so after first wishing you all the best for the festive season and informing that you can now open the first door of the (Maths) Advent Calendar I’ll continue with the puzzle of the month. ... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of November. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. What is the second smallest number such that when it is divided by 5 the remainder is 4, and when divided by 7 the remainder is 6? While you... more
It's October already; the month that begins with the ‘oct’ prefix but is the tenth month of the year (do you know the reason for that? – clue: think old calendars). I will begin the month, as usual, with a puzzle. I travelled by tr... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of September. When I was a pupil, September was thought of as the Back to School month but I'm now aware that around the world this is not the case for everyone. So for some, happy new school year, an... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of August 2019. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. In a field there are 20 animals (donkeys, goats and rabbits) who between them eat 20 carrots. Each donkey eats 3 carrots, each goat eats 1... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of July 2019. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. What fraction of the square does the red arrow cover? To be precise, the red arrow is a quadrilateral (kite) joining the mid point of the ... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of June 2019. It begins, as usual with the puzzle of the month. Once upon a time Patsy wrote the following in her diary: "The day before yesterday Percy was 13 years old. Next year he will turn 16." How... more
It is an old joke but this newsletter is being written just before Star Wars Day 'May The Fourth Be With You!' But the other interesting thing about this month is that 1st May is the only first day of the month in 2019 which falls on a Wed... more
The first day of April is April Fool's Day. Let me know if your pupils were fooled by the Maths lesson Starter for 1st April called One out of Ten which is not what it seems. This is the Transum Newsletter for the month of April 2019 and&n... more
As I sit here updating the Transum website I have the radio on for a little bit of background noise. The presenter (Max Mallen) has just asked the following riddle: If I start at five and add six I get eleven but if I start at six and add seven I ge... more
Think of all the ways of arranging the digits one to nine to make nine-digit numbers. How many of these nine-digit numbers are prime? It is not half as difficult as you may think! That’s your puzzle of the month for February and the answer is ... more
Happy New Year! This is the January 2019 Newsletter and it begins, just as all new years should begin, with a puzzle. I spent part of the holidays driving around the northern hills of Thailand. Each night I stayed in a different hotel and each of ... more
Glad tidings and welcome to the Transum Subscribers’ Newsletter for December 2018. I am writing it a few days early due to the fact that I’ll be enjoying a weekend break in the sun when I would have normally written this on the first... more
Welcome to the Transum newsletter for November 2018. Here is this month’s puzzle. Type a four digit number on to your calculator. The keys used to type in this number must form a rectangle. Each digit should be one of the corners of this recta... more
A very warm welcome to the Transum Mathematics newsletter for October 2018. It begins with the puzzle of the month. Five friends are talking about their house numbers. They work out that the mean is five, the mode is two, and the median is six.... more
You have just begun reading the Transum Newsletter for September 2018 and, as usual, it begins with a puzzle for the month. My clock does not have any numbers on its face, just markers for each hour/five-minute interval. I looked at it in a mirror o... more
Best wishes for August wherever you may be. I am in the UK and am about to catch a train for Glasgow, a city I’ll be visiting for the first time. The record heat wave in the UK has come to an end and today water is falling from the clouds. I th... more
This is a brief newsletter for the month of July because many of you will have your thoughts focused on the end of term and the holidays. Let’s begin with the puzzle of the month. Can you find five different integers that multipl... more
Despite this being the middle of the exam season for some I would still like to take your mind off your daily routine to present you with a puzzle. Imagine a 10cm by 15cm rectangle. What is the largest square that can be drawn snuggly in one corner ... more
Yes, it’s May already and here is the latest Transum Mathematics Newsletter. I hope the year is going well for you and you are finding what you need on the Transum Mathematics website. The puzzle for this month was inspired by the recent Londo... more
Hello, and welcome to the forty first Transum newsletter which is for the month of April 2018. What a pity April Fool's Day falls on a Sunday this year. You won't be able to catch your pupils out with the 1st April Starter! First on the agenda is th... more
In a break with tradition I am going to choose a puzzle of the month that I have already used as the monthly puzzle a couple of years ago. The reason is that two weeks ago I heard the most wonderful new solution to the puzzle that I’m sure you ... more
This is the Transum Mathematics Newsletter for February 2018. This month’s puzzle comes from The Penguin Book of Puzzles, a collation of great puzzles from old, out of copyright books written by the prolific puzzle setters from way back. "Div... more
Happy New Year. I hope that 2018 proves to be a good, positive number for you and that you, and your pupils, achieve all that you want during the next twelve months. If the Roman numeral in the title caught your eye you may like the Roman Numerals Q... more
As December has begun I hope you don’t consider it too early for me to wish you a Merry Christmas. As usual this newsletter will begin with a puzzle of the month. A slightly more difficult puzzle this month that could keep you thinking right th... more
Welcome to the Transum Newsletter for November 2017 which has a bit of a sheep theme! The puzzle for this month is about Percy Cod and Patsy Eel who are both shepherds. They keep sheep in adjacent fields near the source of the river mint. Can you wo... more
This is the Transum Mathematics Newsletter for October 2017. As usual I will begin with the puzzle of the month. In the fantasy world of Maths puzzles there aren't any stopwatches but there are two egg timers. One of them measures 7 minutes and the ... more
I hope you enjoy reading this, the September 2017 edition of the Transum Newsletter. It begins with the puzzle of the month. How many different ways are there of arranging the digits one to four to make a four digit number? That’s a familiar q... more
Welcome to the Transum mathematics newsletter for August 2017 wherever in the world you are. Some of you are enjoying the long school summer holidays while for others it is business as usual. Before getting on to the main theme of this missive let&rs... more
Welcome to the July 2017 Transum Newsletter. Before the news here is this month’s puzzle sometimes known as the Mystic Rose. Joining points with chords to divide a circle into regions[/caption] If there are two distinct points on the circumf... more
Welcome to the June 2017 Transum Newsletter. This month’s puzzle is about the Numlove family. Can you work out how many children are in the family from the following two clues? Each boy has the same number of brothers as sisters. Each girl ... more
Here is the Transum Mathematics Newsletter for May 2017. As last month’s puzzle was quite difficult (particularly if you did not have access to pen and paper), this month’s is a little easier. It’s the sort of puzzle that you could ... more
Beginning as usual with a puzzle for the month but this time from Transum Subscriber Nigel Fearn. He contacted me to say how a good puzzle just cropped up the other day and is probable one we are all familiar with in a practical situation. ... more
Before getting into the main theme of this newsletter let’s begin with this month’s puzzle. A 10cm long cylindrical hole is drilled straight through the centre of a solid sphere. What is the volume of the remaining part of the sphere? Th... more
Hello and welcome to the Transum Mathematics newsletter for February 2017. It is being written a little earlier than normal to make up for the fact that there was no January newsletter and that I will be travelling later in the month at the time when... more
Happy Christmas and welcome to the December 2016 edition of the Transum Mathematics newsletter. We will begin with the puzzle for this month: How many positive two-digit numbers are there whose square and cube both end in the same digit? The answer i... more
Welcome to yet another newsletter from Transum Mathematics. As has become traditional I will start off with the monthly puzzle. Trains from Punspace station go either north or south. Those going north leave hourly, those going south leave hourly. If... more
This is the Transum Newsletter for October 2016, the 10th month of the year. Have you ever noticed that the month name begins with the suffix ‘Oct-‘ suggesting eight and not ten. There is a reason for that and a quick internet s... more
If you live in the northern hemisphere you are probably starting a new school year so happy new year to you. Wherever you live you are welcome to the Transum Mathematics newsletter for September 2016. As usual I will begin with the puzzle for this mo... more
Before reading the rest of this newsletter you are challenged to find five two digit numbers that are multiples of three. The ten digits used in your five numbers must all be different! Well that’s the puzzle for this month. The answer will be... more
This month’s puzzle is all about numbers when written as words. Take the smallest positive whole number containing the letter 'a' away from the smallest positive whole number containing all of the vowels. Add to this total the number tha... more
Hello and welcome to the newsletter for May 2016 which begins with this month’s puzzle for your pondering pleasure! A particular triangle is drawn such that each of its angles are square numbers. What are those angles? Too easy? Well consider... more
Easter has come early this year which means that many schools are currently still closed for the Easter holidays. That’s a pity! It means that you don’t get the opportunity to fool your pupils with the 1st April Starter. Next year maybe?... more
Welcome to the March 2016 Transum Mathematics newsletter. I hope you made use of the 29th February Starter last month because it only appears every four years. As usual we will begin with the puzzle of the month. What is the smallest square num... more
Hello, I hope you are fit and well and ready straight away for February’s puzzle. It’s a story to make you think, calculate and wonder. Apologies to those who have been using the Starter of the Day regularly as they’ll probably have... more
Happy New Year to you, your family and your pupils. I hope 2016 brings you happiness and that a small part of that happiness comes from your use of the Transum online activities. We’ll start the year off with a strange puzzle for your ponderin... more
Happy Christmas. This is the December Transum newsletter coming to you with lots of festive cheer and good wishes for the future. Here is the puzzle for this month. Noel and Merrie received some Christmas presents. The number of presents Noel receiv... more
Welcome to another month of puzzles, challenges and investigations. I hope you have recovered from Halloween and your pupils weren’t too scared by the 31st October Starter! Let’s begin with the puzzle for this month. It’s about two... more
In the days before Wikipedia and Google we might refer to an encyclopedia to find answers to our questions. The puzzle for this newsletter is based on a set of ten volumes of an encyclopedia on a bookshelf arranged in order with volume one on the lef... more
It seems such a long time since the last newsletter but here it is again to welcome the month of September 2015. I have had a wonderful summer (northern hemisphere) and managed to visit lots of places and catch up with many old friends. I always had ... more
This is the June 2015 Transum Newsletter bringing you the latest news from Transum Mathematics. The puzzle for this month is about a game in which a coin is tossed repeatedly. If it comes up heads Pascal gets a point but if it comes up tails Fermat ... more
It's an old joke but this newsletter is being written on Star Wars Day, 'May The Fourth Be With You!' The puzzle for this month is not, on the surface, strictly mathematical but, as you’ll see from the answer at the end of this newsletter, th... more
Welcome to the April 2015 edition of the Transum Mathematics Newsletter. Did you start the month off with the April Fool’s Starter? Did your pupils fall for it? Your puzzle for this month is about a game called Best Dice in which t... more
Welcome to the March 2015 edition of the Transum Mathematics Newsletter. This month the focus is on probability and the puzzle for this month is one that all Maths teachers will probably (?) know the answer to. What is the minimum number of pupils th... more
This is the February 2015 Transum Newsletter bringing you the latest news from Transum Mathematics. During this past month I have been to the cinema and seen ‘The Imitation Game’ about the code cracking achievements of Alan Turing. I’m sure you ar... more
Happy New Year! Best wishes for twenty-fifteen, or two thousand and fifteen or ‘two oh one five’. Which is the correct way to say the year? Well it certainly is not the third suggestion above. More about that later. One of my Christmas pr... more
Dear All, This months' newsletter is a few days early due to an email received from Fox News but more about that later. This newsletter is for December so may I begin by wishing you a very happy Christmas. Many schools have special festive even... more
Another month has flown by and already it's November. When I was younger, November meant one thing and that was bonfire night. We looked forward so much to the fifth of November and lighting up the sky with the fireworks we had bought from the corner... more
This is the October 2014 Transum Newsletter bringing you the latest news from Transum Mathematics. October brings autumnal colour to the northern hemisphere while welcoming warmer weather to those down under. The highlight for some is Halloween ... more
This is the August 2014 Transum Newsletter bringing you the latest news from Transum Mathematics. If you are in the UK or US you are probably enjoying your well earned summer holiday right now but if you are in Australia or New Zealand it's business ... more
This is the September 2014 Transum Newsletter bringing you the latest news from Transum Mathematics. If you are in the UK or US it is 'Back To School' time while the rest of you it is 'Business as Usual'. Talking of 'Back To School' it is the time t... more
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