Pancake Day

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Instructions More Puzzles

Spatula
Arrow

Drag this handle to use the spatula to toss the pancakes.

Toss the pancakes until they are neatly stacked in order of size with the largest at the bottom. Drag the spatula between two pancakes to toss all of the pancakes above the spatula.

Start Again

This is Pancake Day level 2. You can also try:
Level 1 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Transum.org

This web site contains over a thousand free mathematical activities for teachers and pupils. Click here to go to the main page which links to all of the resources available.

Please contact me if you have any suggestions or questions.

Email address

Mathematicians are not the people who find Maths easy; they are the people who enjoy how mystifying, puzzling and hard it is. Are you a mathematician?

Comment recorded on the 1 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Phil Anthony, Head of Maths, Stourport High School:

"What a brilliant website. We have just started to use the 'starter-of-the-day' in our yr9 lessons to try them out before we change from a high school to a secondary school in September. This is one of the best resources on-line we have found. The kids and staff love it. Well done an thank you very much for making my maths lessons more interesting and fun."

Comment recorded on the 5 April 'Starter of the Day' page by Mr Stoner, St George's College of Technology:

"This resource has made a great deal of difference to the standard of starters for all of our lessons. Thank you for being so creative and imaginative."

Each month a newsletter is published containing details of the new additions to the Transum website and a new puzzle of the month.

The newsletter is then duplicated as a podcast which is available on the major delivery networks. You can listen to the podcast while you are commuting, exercising or relaxing.

Transum breaking news is available on Twitter @Transum and if that's not enough there is also a Transum Facebook page.

Featured Activity

Pentransum

Pentransum

Answer multiple choice questions about basic mathematical ideas. If you get a number of questions correct you will be invited to post a question of your own. The bank of questions grows larger every day.

Numeracy

"Numeracy is a proficiency which is developed mainly in Mathematics but also in other subjects. It is more than an ability to do basic arithmetic. It involves developing confidence and competence with numbers and measures. It requires understanding of the number system, a repertoire of mathematical techniques, and an inclination and ability to solve quantitative or spatial problems in a range of contexts. Numeracy also demands understanding of the ways in which data are gathered by counting and measuring, and presented in graphs, diagrams, charts and tables."

Secondary National Strategy, Mathematics at key stage 3

Go Maths

Learning and understanding Mathematics, at every level, requires learner engagement. Mathematics is not a spectator sport. Sometimes traditional teaching fails to actively involve students. One way to address the problem is through the use of interactive activities and this web site provides many of those. The Go Maths main page links to more activities designed for students in upper Secondary/High school.

Teachers

If you found this activity useful don't forget to record it in your scheme of work or learning management system. The short URL, ready to be copied and pasted, is as follows:

Alternatively, if you use Google Classroom, all you have to do is click on the green icon below in order to add this activity to one of your classes.

It may be worth remembering that if Transum.org should go offline for whatever reason, there are mirror site at Transum.info that contains most of the resources that are available here on Transum.org.

When planning to use technology in your lesson always have a plan B!

Transum,

Monday, September 17, 2018

"The topic of pancake numbers is the subject of the only well-known mathematics paper by Microsoft founder Bill Gates (as William Gates). The paper was titled Bounds for Sorting by Prefix Reversal and was published in 1979. It describes an efficient algorithm for pancake sorting."

Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for those learning Mathematics anywhere in the world. Click here to enter your comments.

Transum.org is a proud supporter of the kidSAFE Seal Program

Spatula Spatula Spatula

© Transum Mathematics :: This activity can be found online at:
www.Transum.org/go/?Num=769

Instructions

Close

Close

The objective is to stack all of the pancakes in order with the largest at the bottom and the smallest at the top. To do this drag the spatula down the page then insert it carefully between any two pancakes or below the bottom pancake. When you release your mouse button all of the pancakes above the spatula will be tossed, which in this case means they will be turned over so their order will be reversed. Continue the process until you have the ordered stack.

Level 1 - The 4 pancake puzzle.

Level 2 - The 5 pancake puzzle.

Level 3 - The 6 pancake puzzle.

Level 4 - The 7 pancake puzzle.

Level 5 - The 8 pancake puzzle.

Extension activity: Work out the smallest number of tosses required to order a stack of pancakes regardless of how much they are initially mixed up.

More Puzzles including lesson Starters, visual aids, investigations and self-marking exercises.

Answers to this exercise are available lower down this page when you are logged in to your Transum account. If you don’t yet have a Transum subscription one can be very quickly set up if you are a teacher, tutor or parent.

Log in Sign up

Read more about Pancake Numbers in the excellent book Casebook of Mathematical Mysteries by Professor Ian Stewart

Prof Stewart's book