Can you compete with the Brine Leas Maths Champions?

Brine Leas excel at the Maths Challenge

An exciting start to 2018 for students at Brine Leas School.

Chris Barker, Head of Mathematics, was delighted with the team of BL6 students that excelled in the team challenge organised by Keele University.

Our photo shows the Mathematicians from BL6 proudly showing the Keele Shield won for their successful performance in the University 0f Keele Senior Maths Team Challenge

The puzzles came from the Further Mathematics Support Programme website.

Have a go yourself

Here are three of the questions which faced the BL6 Mathematicians:

Question 1

Alfred, Brenda, Colin, David and Erica have to sit on a row of five chairs.

Alfred does not want to sit next to Brenda. David does not want to sit next to Erica.

In how many ways can these five people arrange themselves and ensure the above conditions are met?

Question 2

The fifth prime number is A.
The Ath triangular number is B.
The B/Ath positive square is C.
The Dth prime number is (B – C – A)

What is the value of D?

(Note – triangular numbers are the series of numbers (1, 3, 6, 10, 15, etc.) obtained by continued summation of the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on. 2 is the first prime number – 1 is not regarded as a prime number).

Question 3

In the following multiplication the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H represent different digits:

....A B C D
x...........A B
_________
......B G E F
A B C D H
_________
A E C B F

What is the value of A+B+C+D+E+F+G+H?

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