THOAN

Starter of The Day Transum Mathematics Topics

Topics: Starter | Algebra | Functions | Puzzles

C Fleming, Lancashire
Unfortunately the faces on these starters are an excuse to be distracted for some of my pupils.
Yr6, CASTERTON PRIMARY SCHOOL
It was quite a challenge but we achieved it!
Transum,
While it is certainly possible to solve these problems by trial and improvement, older children could use the 'working backwards' method using inverse operations. Secondary students may decide to use algebra to produce a linear equation to be solved.
Each time you refresh the page a new set of problems appear.
Year 7 St Michaels, St Michaels
We found it hard but did it. We are amazing!
Noah, Charnwood Primary Lichfield, Year 6
Not too tricky but you needed to read things carefully or it could catch you out. A good maths starter.
Transum,
Here's a different type of THOAN mystery. Think of a three digit number that has all three digits the same. Divide the number by the sum of the digits. I know what your answer is! Is it 37?
Mrs Royde, Manchester
The weakest girl in Year 9 bottom managed to work out one of these, much to my surprise. I asked her how she did it, she said 'I worked it out backwards'. I said, 'but you told me you can't do algebra!' She said 'this isn't algebra.' I told her it is, and then showed her how to write it using an x and how to figure it out. She was so chuffed that she had done it that she concentrated and worked brilliantly for the rest of the lesson.
Mrs Amin, Francis Holland School
I gave my girls in year five 2 minutes to do these and they all completed it and said it was very fun!
St Michaels,
We loved this starter, it was awesome.
Hanna Giha, Bruntsfield Primary, Edinburgh
This was a challenging, especially the angel one but I managed to do it.

How did you use this starter? Can you suggest how teachers could present or develop this resource? Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for Maths teachers anywhere in the world.
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Answers

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.

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=November1

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/?Num=58

Curriculum Reference

See the National Curriculum page for links to related online activities and resources.

	Faith thinks of a number. "If I double my number and add 4 the answer is 26"		Gabriella thinks of a number. "If I multiply my number by 4 and add 4 the answer is 28"
	Gabrielle thinks of a number. "If I add 5 to my number then divide the result by 2, the answer is 10.5"		Gavin thinks of a number. "If I multiply my number by 3 and subtract 4 then multiply the result by 5, the answer is 3 less than 43"