Christmas Presents

Five presents were bought for Christmas

Present Present

The red and purple presents together cost £33,

The purple and blue presents together cost £31,

The blue and gold presents together cost £25,

The gold and green presents together cost £16,

The green and red presents together cost £31

What is the total cost of all five presents?

Present Present Present

A Christmas Mathematics Lesson Starter Of The Day

Starter of The Day Transum Mathematics Topics


Topics: Starter | Algebra | Problem Solving | Xmas

You can find many more ChristMaths activities at:

Transum.org/ChristMaths/

ChristMaths

  • Mark Murray,
  •  
  • Hi,
    I'm not a teacher. I'm a concerned parent and I'd like to go over a math problem with my kids every morning before school. I'd love to be able to see the solutions to this. Is that possible?
    Thanks
    Mark.

    [Transum: Mark, if you scroll down the page you will find the place where answers are available to Transum subscribers. There is also a link to subscribe. Happy Christmas.]
  • Josh,
  •  
  • This was challenging, but I like the seasonal ring to it.
  • Moi (internet Safety!!), USA
  •  
  • Good problem but it would be nice if it was in dollars not pounds (yes, I know-stupid americans just have to have their way. Sorry.)

    [Transum: Good idea Moi. The facility to change the currency has now been added. You can find the button lower down the page.]
  • Transum,
  •  
  • If you are not a Transum subscriber and cannot see the answer below you may like to hear that the solution to this problem is a lot easier to work out than you may think. Don't try elaborate methods of solving simultaneous equations trying to find the cost of each present individually. Instead think laterally about totals! I hope that's not a spoiler and that you still have fun puzzling out the answer to this festive teaser!

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Globe of Flags

This activity is suitable for students of mathematics all around the world. Use the button below to change the currency symbol used to make it more relevant to your students. You may wish to choose an unfamiliar currency to extend your students' experience.

 Globe of Flags

Answers

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Note to teacher: Doing this activity once with a class helps students develop strategies. It is only when they do this activity a second time that they will have the opportunity to practise those strategies. That is when the learning is consolidated. Click the button above to regenerate another version of this starter from random numbers.
Laptops In Lessons

Teacher, do your students have access to computers such as tablets, iPads or Laptops?  This page was really designed for projection on a whiteboard but if you really want the students to have access to it here is a concise URL for a version of this page without the comments:

Transum.org/go/?Start=December19

However it would be better to assign one of the student interactive activities below.

Laptops In Lessons

Here is the URL which will take them to a related student activity.

Transum.org/go/?to=presents

Student Activity

 

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