School of Education

Exploring Mathematics 1: Problem

Book
Semester 2, 2015
Note: Problems in this book come from a range of sources
including:
Burkhardt, H. (2008). On strategic design. Educational Designer, 1(3), 1-
49.

Clements, M.A. & Ellerton, N. (1991). Polya, Krutetskii and the restaurant
problem. Geelong: Deakin University.

Karplus, E Karplus, R., & Wollman, W. (1974). Intellectual development

beyond elementary school IV: Ratio, the Influence of cognitive style.
School Science and Mathematics, 74 (6), 476 - 482

Learning math website (www.learner.org/courses/learningmath/).

Learning mathematics for teaching (LMT) project website

(http://sitemaker.umich.edu/lmt/home).

Lovitt, C., & Clarke, D. (1988). The Mathematics Curriculum and Teaching
Program (MCTP), Activity bank Vol. 1. Canberra: Curriculum
Development Centre.

Lovitt, C., & Clarke, D. (1988). The Mathematics Curriculum and Teaching
Program (MCTP), Activity bank Vol. 2. Canberra: Curriculum
Development Centre.

Lowe, I., & Lovitt, C. (1984). Reality in mathematics education (RIME)

lesson pack. Melbourne: Ministry of Education.

Ministry of Education (2001). Figure It Out: Problem Solving Levels 3-4.

Wellington: Learning Media.

Shell Centre (1984). Problems with patterns and numbers Nottingham, UK:
Shell Centre. Available: http://www.mathshell.com/scp/index.htm.

Please note: These references are in APA style.

Section A: Strategy Building
1. A frog is at the bottom of a 19 metre deep well.
Every day it crawls up five metres. At night it slips
down two metres.
How many days will it take for the frog to escape from
the well?

2. A superball rebounds two thirds of

the height from which it is dropped.
It is dropped 243 metres from a very tall building.
How far will the ball have travelled in total by the time it strikes
the ground for the fourth time?

3. Natalie went to the movies for $14.50 then spent half of her remaining money
on jogging shoes. Next she bought lunch for $9.00 then spent half her
remaining money on a skirt. After that she still had
$27 left.
How much money did she start with?

4. Brunswick East High School installs an intercom

system. All 30 classrooms, two staffrooms and the
main office are connected to each other room
individually (33 rooms in total).
How many connections are there?

5. A length of pipe is cut into sixteen

pieces in three minutes. At that rate, how long
does it take to cut a similar length of pipe into
seven pieces?

6. To drive from Bluff to Emerald you drive west

through Greywater then past Tolmie’s Siding before
passing through Comet and onto Emerald. Bluff to
Greywater is one kilometre less than half the
distance from Comet to Emerald whilst the distance
from Tolmie’s Siding to Comet is one kilometre
more than half the distance from Comet to Emerald.
Tolmie’s Siding is 20 kilometres west of Greywater.
If the distance from Emerald to Tolmie’s Siding is 55
kilometres, how far is it from Bluff to Emerald.

[3] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

7. Six black cows and two brown
cows produce as much milk in
three days as five black cows and
one brown cow produce in four
days.
Which coloured cows give more
milk, black or brown?
Explain your answer.

8. I am about to start an 24 000 kilometre trip in

my Holden Barina.
I check the specifications of tyres to use
to find that each is good for only 16 000 kilometres.

What is the fewest number of spare new tyres I

need to take so I can make it home without having
to buy any more? Explain your answer.

9. Three women went into a restaurant

and each ordered a meal worth $10.00.
After finishing their meals each women
gave the waiter $10.00.
The waiter took the $30.00 to the
manager who said, “These people are
such good customers give them this
$5.00 note back as discount.”
Feeling he deserved a tip the waiter
thought, “Five dollars is hard to share
among three people so I will give each
woman a $1 coin back and keep the extra $2 for myself.”
So each customer only paid $9.00 for their meal and the waiter got $2.00.
But 3 x $9.00 = $27.00 and $2.00 more is $29.00.
What happened to the other dollar?

10.There is a fine man from Mudgee

Whose age has the last digit three

The square of the first (digit)

Is his whole age reversed

So how old must the fine fellow be?

 11. In a radical change designed to counter
low scores FIFA is changing the scoring of the
World’s most popular game. Teams will soon
get 8 points for a goal and 3 points for a
corner.

What is the highest total score it is not

possible for a team to get under this new
scoring system?

12. Is it possible to design a ‘Walk for

Life” that crosses each bridge in
Konigsberg only once?

If it is possible, suggest where a bridge

could be built to make the walk
impossible?

If not, suggest where a bridge could be

built to make the walk possible?

In which of these towns can you plan a ‘Walk for Life” that crosses each bridge once?

Muggle Niggle

Oggle

[5] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

 13. Four friends need to cross a
bridge. They start on the same side of
the bridge. A maximum of two people
can cross at any time.
It is night and they have just one
lamp. People that cross the bridge
must carry the lamp to see the way.
A pair must walk together at the rate
of the slower person:

 Rachel: - takes 1 minute to cross

 Ben: - takes 2 minutes to cross

 George: - takes 7 minutes to cross

 Yvonne: - takes 10 minutes to cross

A friend says the fastest way takes 17 minutes. How could it possibly be done in
that time?

Go to: http://nrich.maths.org/5916 to attempt this problem.

14. This is a game for two players.

Players take turns to choose any whole number from one to

nine.
They keep a running total of all the chosen numbers.
The first player to make the total exactly 100 wins.

Below is a sample scoreboard.

Play the game several times and develop a strategy for winning.

Player A Choice Player B Choice Total (running)

8 8
6 14
5 19
7 26
2 28
… … …

5 89
3 92
8 100
Section B Problem Solving Strategies

A strategy is a method you try when you don’t know

immediately how to solve a problem. It is important to know
what strategies are helpful to solve different kinds of
mathematical problems.
Here is a short list of strategies:
Guess, check and refine Act out Try all possibilities
Make a model Solve a simpler but similar problem Work backwards
Make a list or table Search for a pattern Draw a picture or
diagram
As you work through Section B go back to Section A. Reflect on the strategy or strategies you
used to solve each problem.

Strategies: Guess (Estimate), check and

refine or Make a model

1. River valley land is valued more highly than

rolling hills in estimating the sale price of a farm.

Paula’s farm is a rectangle with an area of 40

square kilometres (40 km2). The river valley is
shaded.
A

B C

Points A and B are half way along the longer boundaries of the farm and point C is
half way between B and the corner. What is the area of river valley land?

2. Using the numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, fill in the

cells of the square so that the sum of each set of three
numbers (rows, columns, and diagonals) are equal. Each
number is used once.

[7] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

Strategy: Act it out

3. One coin (say 10 cent or 20 cent) is placed on the left side of another coin of
the same. The Queen’s head is up. The first coin is rolled around the other so
that the coin ends up on the right of the other. Which way is the Queen’s head
now? Why?

4. Place each of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

in one circle so that none is connected directly
with any number one different from it.

Strategy: Try all possibilities

5. I made tables (with four legs) and stools

(with three legs). I used 54 legs. What
numbers of tables and stools could I have
made?

6. What is the smallest number of coins I need to pay any amount up to $3.95
exactly? (The amounts are multiples of 5 cents).
What coins are in the collection? Prove you can make all the amounts.

Strategy: Make a model

7. This pattern of five squares is made from 12 matches. How many squares can
you make from 24 matches?

8. Arrange 12 matches in this way. Move only three matches to make three
squares all the same size.
 9. Make a set of digit cards.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Arrange the cards so you put down 0, shift the next card to the bottom, put
down 1, shift the next card to the bottom, put down 2, etc., until all cards are
used.

Strategy: Solve a simpler problem first

10. Find the total number of squares of any size

that can be found in this figure.

Try solving a simpler problem first.

Create a similar problem that is more complex.

Answer your problem.

Strategy: Work backwards

11. Taylor is thinking of a number. If you multiply her number by seven, then take
39 off, then divide the answer by five, then add 18 to that answer you get 83.
What is Taylor’s number?

Strategy: Make an organised list or table

12. There are only chickens and pigs in the farmyard.

Altogether there are 135 animals and 348 legs. How many of
each animal are there?

Strategy: Search for a B

C
pattern H
F
13. Here is the noticeboard at J
the ACU Student Centre. A
I
In which order were the D
notices put on?
E
Explain your strategy.
G

[9] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

 14. An empty tram fills up in this way.
At the first stop one person gets on. At
the second stop two people get on but
one gets off. At the third stop four people
get on but two people get off. At the
fourth stop eight people get on but three
people get off. And so it continues.
How many people get on at the 12th stop?
How many people in total are on the tram leaving the 12th stop?

15. a) I have a pile of 50 cubes. What is the largest

number of stacks I can make given that the stacks
must all have different numbers of cubes?
b) I take some cubes away from the pile of 50.
When I share the remaining cubes into four equal
groups there are three remaining.
When I share them into seven equal groups there
are also three left over.

How many cubes do I remove from the pile?

16. Here are the results of RACV open road tests on three different cars.

Canary travels 117 km on 9 litres of petrol VeeDub travels 196 km on 14

litres

Brit travels 144 kilometres on 12 litres

a. Which car had the best fuel economy?

b. How far would you expect Canary to travel on 4 litres of petrol?
c. You drive Veedub for 63 kilometres. How much petrol do you expect to
use?
Section C: Whole numbers and number properties
1. All the counting numbers are arranged in columns like this:

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24
In what column will 999 appear? Explain.
In what column will 301 appear? Explain.
In what column will 3602 appear? Explain.

2. Place each of the digits 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, in a different box to make this

multiplication equation true.

6  × 3 =  0 4
3. Try this magic trick.
Step 1: Choose any three digits from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Make each digit
different. For example, choose 3, 7, 5.

Step 2: Make all the possible two digit numbers with the digits. For example,
37, 35, 73, 75, 53, 57 can be made with 3, 7 and 5.

Step 3: Find the total of the two digit numbers. For example, 37 + 35 + 73 +
75 + 53 + 57 = 330.

Step 4: Find the sum of the three digits. For example, 3 + 7 + 5 = 15.

Step 5: Divide the total by the sum of the digits. For example, 330 ÷ 15 =?

The answer is always 22 no

matter what digits you
choose!

a) Is the fortune teller correct?

Check her prediction for four different
selections of digits.
b) Explain how her trick works.
c) Devise a similar trick that involves choosing 4 digits and making all the possible
three digit numbers.
[11] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015
4. The diagram on Sheet Two shows an example of a
“Mystic Rose”. On the example shown there are 16
points evenly spaced around the circle. Straight lines
have been drawn between all the possible pairs of
points.

a) How many lines are in the diagram on Sheet Two?

Explain your working.
b) Predict and check the number of lines for a Mystic Rose with:
9 points
13 points
34 points
c) Some Mystic Roses have a hole in the
middle formed by the envelope of the lines. Others
such as the six point design (above) have no hole.
Find some designs with and some designs without
holes.
Why does this happen?
d) The six point Mystic Rose could
represent the games played in a round robin
tournament involving six teams. Imagine there are 19
teams in the AFL.
How many games are needed so for each team to
play every other team once?

5. a) A farmer went to market and spent

$100 for five animals, with sheep costing
$40, pigs $20 and hens $10.
He bought at least one of each animal.
How many of each animal did the farmer
buy?
b) Try spending $200 to get ten animals.
Find at least three solutions.
c) Try spending $400 to get 20 animals.
Find at least six solutions.

6. Anusha is eleven years older than her little brother

Prakash. In nine years she will be twice as old as Prakash.
How old is Anusha now?
 7. Mr Tall’s height measures 15 small paper clips or
nine big paper clips.
Mr Short is ten small paper clips tall.
How tall is he measured in big paper clips?
(Do not read off the illustration)

8. Courtney, Jamie and Liam deliver pizzas for an

afternoon.

For every three pizzas Courtney delivers Jamie

delivers four.

For every two pizzas Jamie delivers Liam delivers one.

The total pay for all three people is $369.

How much should each person receive as a fair share, based on pizzas delivered?

9. To reverse the digits of the number 15 on your calculator you could enter the
operation + 36 = and the output would be 51.
What single operation would you enter to reverse the digits of these numbers
on your calculator? (Remember that this includes +, -, ×, and ÷)

26, 59, 82, 74, 156, 705, 30 213, 87 654, 25 255 252

10. Go to: http://www.math-

play.com/Factors-Millionaire/Factors-
Millionaire.html

As you play the game try to work out

how you can tell if a number is
divisible…

by 5,
by 4,
by 3,
by 6
by 9.
[13] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015
11. Go to this video clip from The Big Bang
Theory on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIY
MmbHik08
a) Clearly Sheldon has a favourite
number.
List and explain the memorable
characteristics about 73 that he
mentions. Explain each
characteristic.

b) Choose your own favourite number between 50 and 100. It may be a

number that has special significance to you. Write and explain some special
characteristics of your number.
c) Answer the following questions about your number:
i) Is your number prime or composite?
ii) Is your number divisible by 2, 5, 3, 6, 4, 9?
iii) How many factors does your number have?
iv) Is the square of your number even or odd? How do you know?
v) Is your number a triangular number?

12. A factor tree is one way to find the prime factors of a number. Here are two
examples:
12 30

3 4 5 6

3 2 2 5 2 3

12 = 22 × 3 30 = 2 × 3 × 5
Note that 2, 3, and 5 are all prime numbers.

Make factor trees for the numbers 36, 53, 65, 81, and 72.
Use the trees to express each number as the product of prime
numbers.

13. The Juicy Company wants you to design a cuboid shaped

carton to hold 330mL of fruit juice. To make production easier
the edges of the cuboid should be in whole numbers of
centimetres, e.g. 33 cm × 10 cm × 1 cm.
What cuboids are possible?
How can the prime factors of 330 be used to solve this
problem?
 14. Find out the ages of the children.

How old are my I don’t know.

children?

The product of the I need more

ages of my three information.
children is 72.

Their ages add to That’s helpful but

the same number still not enough
as where I live. information.

My oldest child That’s all I need.

loves I know the ages of
mathematics. your children.

15. Are the following statements true or false? Always, sometimes or never.
Explain your answers.
a) The sum of two odd numbers is even.
b) The product of an odd and an even number is odd.
c) All prime numbers are one more or less than a multiple of six.
d) The division of an odd number by an even number results in a whole number
quotient.
e) All square numbers have an odd number of factors.
[15] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015
16. Which is greater? Justify your choice (other than using a calculator).
a) 52 or 25
b) 93 or 36
c) 84 or 213
d) 127 or 614

17. Type the number one million into your calculator:

Your task is to start with the number 1 000 000 and end up with the answer 7.
You can only use the buttons below, but you can press them as many times as
you want and in any order.

Ensure your working is properly recorded.

What way takes the shortest number of steps?
[Hint: What is the answer to any number divided by itself?]
18. Times are tough and better for the environment! A cleaner uses the leftover
liquid soap from seven used bottles to refill one empty bottle.
One night the cleaner collects 343 used bottles.
How many refillings can he do with the leftover soap before there
is one seventh of a bottle left?

19. To check if 797 is a prime number which strategies will work?

a) Check to see whether 371 is divisible by 23 (sum of 7 + 9 + 7).
b) Break 797 into 7 and 97; they are both prime, so 797 must also
be prime.
c) Check to see whether 797 is divisible by any prime number less
than √797.
d) Break 797 into 79 and 7; they are both prime, so 797 must also be prime.

20. The two cubes in this desk calendar can be arranged to show all of the dates;
01, 02, 03,..., 29, 30, 31.
What digits are written on each cube?
 21. How much does each person weigh?

22. In the following multiplication problem, all of the digits 1-9 have been used
once and only once.
Fill in the blank squares to make the algorithm correct.

2 
× 8
5 
23. 13 can be partitioned in many ways
additively, such as 1 + 2 + 2 + 8 = 13
and 9 + 4 = 13.

If the addends are multiplied together you

get 1 × 2 × 2 × 8 = 32 and 9 × 4 = 36.

Which set of addends for 13 gives the

greatest product when multiplied together?

24. To enlarge an A4 image to A3 size you set the photocopier

magnification to 1.41.
What is the relationship between 1.41 and 2?
How much bigger is an A1 piece of paper than an A5?

[17] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

Section D Calculations
1. Solve this problem mentally (in your head). Record your strategy in some way.
You may like to use equations or a diagram like an empty number line.

Max had 704 songs stored on his ipod.

He deleted 388 of the tracks.

How many were left?

Here are three students’ strategies for the ipod problem. Record each solution
in your own way using equations or diagrams.
Four take away 88 is
I took 400 off 704 to get negative 84. 700 take
304. Then I added 12 to get away 300 equals 400.
my answer of 316. 400 minus 84 equals
316.

Yu Andre

388 + 12 = 400, 400 + 304 = 704, so 388 + 316 = 704.

The difference between 388 and 704 is 316.

Emily
2. Here are two different written methods for working out the answer to the ipod
problem.
Explain how each method works by drawing diagrams to model each step.

Use each method to solve 4012 – 1 987 = . Comment on the efficiency of the
methods.
 3. Record three different mental strategies for solving this problem.
What properties of multiplication and division are involved in your strategies?

How many bottles of water in total are in eight 24-packs?

Kayla
Eight 24-packs is the
Is Kayla correct? Explain why.
same total as sixteen
dozen.

4. Solve this problem using a written

method.
Explain how your method works
using diagrams.

Eighteen friends eat out at a

restaurant together.
The bill comes to $999.
What is each person’s equal share
of the bill?

Which of these mental methods correctly

solve the restaurant problem?

Give your reasons for accepting Liz:

or rejecting each method. If everyone pays $10, that’s
$180. So if they pay $20 that’s Teagan:
$360. So if they pay $40 that’s 999 is close to 1000 and 18 is
$720. So if they all pay $60 close to 20.
that’s $1 080. That’s $81 for a 20 x 50 = 1000 so $50 is a good
tip so maybe pay a bit less, enough estimate.
say $57 each.

Sam:
$999 shared by nine people is $111 each.
So $999 shared amongst 18 people is $55.50
each.
There are twice as many people so the bill is
half as much.

[19] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

 5. One outback cattle station in Western Australia
has an area the size of the rectangle below.
Calculate the area of each section of the
rectangle that is created by the dotted lines.
Use this to find the total area of the station.

60 km
4 km

40 km

A C

7 km B D

Use a written method to calculate 64 x 47 as a way to find the station area.

How do the numbers you write as you calculate relate to the sections of the rectangle?

6. In a binary (base two) number system only the digits 0 and 1 are used.
The diagrams below show a number of objects and that number written in
binary form.
Explain the binary form of each number.

111
1001

100
11
Here is a method of multiplication from ancient
Egypt. The method is similar to others used in rural
communities of Russia and Ethiopia.

Example: 9 x 36

Step 1 : Continually double the largest factor while

halving the other factor until one is reached. Ignore
any remainders.

9 36

4 72

2 144

1 288

Step 2: Cross out any row where the number in the smallest factor column is even.

9 36

4 72

2 144

1 288

Step 3: Add the remaining numbers to get the answer, e.g. 36 + 288 = 324

Use the Egyptian method to work out these multiplication problems:

(a) 88 x 7 (b) 11 x 49 (c) 15 x 144

Explain how the method works by connecting it to binary arithmetic.

7. Complete each of the following calculations without using a calculator. Explain the
mental algorithm you used and how it works.

a) 57 + 38 b) 57 – 38 c) 57 x 8

d) 57 x 38 e) 57 ÷ 3 f) 256 ÷ 12

[21] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

8. Look for similarity in the way you solve the three problems that follow:
a. You buy these lengths of rope on special because they are the “ends” of long
spools.
36 metres 27 metres 45 metres
You decide to cut each length into equal pieces to make long skipping ropes.
Each skipping rope needs to be the same length.
What equal lengths of skipping ropes are possible?
b. Irene bakes biscuits for the school
fundraiser at her Grandchildren’s school.
She bakes:
49 raisin cookies
35 chocolate chip biscuits
63 ANZAC biscuits
Irene packs the biscuits into trays that have exactly the
same number of each type of biscuit.
How many of each type of biscuit might she put in each
tray?

c. A large bowl of punch is made with:

32 cups of lemonade
24 cups of apple juice
16 cups of orange and mango juice
What mixture would you use to make a
smaller mixture that is the same flavour?

d. What is similar about these problems?

Explain your answer.

9. Three members of the investor’s club compared their success after ten years.

Phil started with $80,000 and

invested in property. After
paying off the loan and allowing
for expenses the land is now
worth $201,076.
Kim put $100,000 into shares
that are now worth $219,986.
Sophie put her $60,000 into
government bonds. The bonds
are now worth $148,874.
Who is the best investor? Explain.
 10. The Victorian Goldfields Vintage
Railway operates between Maldon and
Castlemaine. There are first class and
excursion class carriages (see diagrams
below). The train can tow a maximum
of three carriages.

a. If the first class carriage seats 30

people, how many people does the
excursion class carriage seat?

Dining

Excursion Class First Class

b. The adult fares for a return trip are:

First Class: $45 Excursion Class: $35

Is the railway better to have one, two or three Excursion Class carriages on each
trip? Explain.

[23] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

Section E: Number Patterns

1. A many goes into a shop and says to the owner,

“Give me as much money as I have with me and I
will spend $16.” The shopkeeper agrees so the man
does the same thing in a second and third shop.
After his third purchase he has no money left. How
much money did he start with?

2. The last (ones) digit of 31 is 3, of 32 is 9, 33 is 7.

What is the ones digit of 32011?

3. Here are some statements about the sums of consecutive

numbers, such as 3, 4, 5 (consecutive means immediately
after). Decide which statements are always true and
explain your thinking. If you think a statement is false give
a counter-example.

a) The sum of two consecutive numbers is always a multiple of four.

b) The sum of three consecutive numbers is always a multiple of three.
c) The sum of four consecutive numbers is always a multiple of four.
d) The sum of five consecutive numbers is always a multiple of five.

Note: A statement can be disproved by finding a single example that contradicts it.
However a statement cannot be proved true just by citing examples, no matter
how many, unless all the possible cases are tested.

4. Imagine a cube is made from smaller unit cubes.

For example, a 2 × 2 × 2 cube requires 8 unit cubes to
make. If you painted the outside of the cube each unit
cube would get three of its faces painted.
Complete the table on Sheet Four indicating for each
cube how many unit cubes would have zero faces painted,
one face painted, two faces painted, etc.
What strategies did you use in solving these problems?

5. Use Sheet Five to investigate the relationships between the edge length, base
area, surface area and volume of cubes of different sizes.
Consider what happens to the ratio of surface area to volume.
What implications might this have for creatures of different sizes when the
weather is extremely cold or hot?
6. Find a rule to describe the
relation between the
number of storeys and the
total number of dominoes
in the model.

7. Investigate the sum of the numbers in each row of this

triangle.
Find a way to predict the sum of the numbers in the
10th, 20th and 100th rows.
Explain your rule.

8. One photograph in the front of this book shows the magic square from Albrecht
Durer’s 1514 engraving named Melancholia. The earliest known magic square
dates from around 2800 BC in China. A Chinese legend says that Emporer Yu
found a tortoise with a pattern on its shell while strolling beside the Yellow
River. He called this diagram Lou-Shu (Anderson, 2001) as shown below.

a) Represent this magic square in number form and explain why it is magic.
b) Create three of your own 3 x 3 magic squares by transforming the numbers of
the ancient Chinese square in some way (e.g. adding one to each number).
c) Consider which transformations work in preserving the magic and which
transformations do not work.

[25] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

 d) This triangle is magic. Why?
e) Find three other magic triangles using the
numbers;
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

9. Millie cycles one circuit of the loop

every 12 minutes.
Kim takes nine minutes to complete
the same loop.
Both women begin at the same place
and want to train for just over an
hour.
a) How long should they ride for so
they finish at the start together?
b) How many times will Kim lap Millie
in that time?

10. A book is lying open on the

table.
If you multiply the page numbers
the product is 12 210.
What are the page numbers?

11. a) What is the next number in this famous sequence? Explain your answer.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ...

b) Choose any set of four consecutive

numbers in the sequence.
Multiply the first and fourth numbers.
Multiply the second and third numbers.
What do you notice?
Does this work for any set of four
consecutive numbers in the sequence?
Why?
12. Here is a growing formation of parachutists.

How many skydivers will there be in total at stage eight? Explain your strategy.

Stage One

Stage Two

Stage Three
14. For both Vyshan’s and Hema’s patterns below:
a. Predict the number of cubes needed to make the fourth and fifth patterns.
b. Find a rule for the relation between the pattern number and the number of
cubes.
c. Write your rule as an equation using appropriate letters to represent the
variables.

[27] Exploring Mathematics 1 2014

Section F: Measurement
1. Sheet 7 has estimation activities for lengths. Do set
1 and check your answers before set 2, when you should
be better because of the practice.

2. a) A rectangle is 120 cm by 50 cm. Work out its area

in square metres.

b) Sketch and label five triangles that each have an

area of 12 square centimetres.

c) Draw three different rectangles which have an

area of 36 square centimetres. Find the perimeter of
each.

d) A shape has a perimeter of 2 metres and an area

of 0.25 square metres. Sketch a diagram of it.

3. Here are diagrams of four different quadrilaterals with some measures.

Make exact sized copies of the shapes from paper.

8 cm 10 cm

6 cm
A 6 cm
B

12 cm 10 cm

12 cm

6 cm
6 cm C D

8 cm 10 cm

a. What is the area of each shape in square centimetres?

b. By cutting and moving parts of shapes A, B and C, show how they can be
transformed into shape D.
4. A clock is set correctly at 1 pm. It loses 4 minutes per
hour. What will the clock read when the correct time is
11 am. the next day?

5. Tennis serves can be very fast, so that at 200 km/h the ball
will travel between the baselines in 0.43 sec. Based on this
information, how long is a tennis court?

6. Ian travels to the country for a holiday at

110 km/h, but returns wearily at 70 km/h.
What is his average speed for the two trips?
(It is not 90 km/h.) Investigate and explain.

Explain why 90 km/hr is incorrect.

7. A recent headline stated that 17 million Australian adults are overweight or

obese. An obese adult is defined as someone with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of
over 30.

Mass ( kg )
BMI is the ratio of your mass to height. The formula is BMI  .
2
Height ( m )
a. Calculate your own BMI (You need not put this in your problem book as it is
private information).
b. What is the BMI of an adult who is 1.75m tall and weighs 73kg?
c. Do you think BMI is a useful measure of healthy weight? Explain.

[29] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

8. A shop owner wants to prevent shoplifting.
She installs a security camera on the ceiling of her
shop. The camera can turn right around 360°. The
shop owner places the camera at point P, in the
corner of the shop. This is a plan view of the shop:

a) Imagine there are ten people standing in the shop. Their positions are
labelled A, B, C,…, J and K. Which positions cannot be seen by the camera
at point P?
b) The shopkeeper says, “15% of my shop is hidden from the camera.” Is she
right? Explain why or why not.
c) Show the best place for the camera, so as much of the shop as possible can
be seen.
Justify your placement of the camera.

9. You have won a prize, but you

must choose which! Pick the
option worth the most money.
a) a one metre line of $2 coins

b) a one litre milk carton of 20-cent

pieces

c) a kilogram of $1 coins

d) a square metre of 5-cent pieces.

You may want to do some measuring

before calculating. Show your working.
 10. In 2005 two 19-year-old men from Byron Bay
earned themselves the label of The Dumb and
Dumber Bank Robbers. Watch their story on
youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2K4MxjcbcU

Is it possible to carry $1 million in $5 notes in a

normal sized suitcase?

Show evidence of the measurements and calculations you used to work this out.

11. Lake Wendouree was created to

supply water to Ballarat. Now it is a recreation
reserve. A map of the lake is provided in
Sheet 1.
a. There is a running track around the lake
named after a famous athlete.
Who is he and how long is the track?

b. The maximum capacity of the lake is 3860 megalitres. How many bucketfuls is
that?

c. What is the average depth of the lake? Show how you worked that out.

12. Vince and Kaylene travelled to

Satang Island off the coast of
Sarawak to snorkel with green
turtles. Three Norwegian tourists
were also on the trip.
a. At lunch freshly picked
coconuts were provided. They
seemed to hold a lot of liquid.
Being curious, one of the
Norweigans measured the milk of
one coconut.
“That’s surprising,” she said, “It’s
only 2.5 decilitres.”
How many cupfuls equal 2.5 decilitres?
b. Being equally curious Vince inquired, “Do you use deci-litres as a measure in
Europe?”
“Yes,” she replied, “And centilitres as well.”
What are the relationships between the measures litre, decilitre, centilitre,
millilitre and microlitre? Why did she measure the coconut milk in decilitres?
[31] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015
 13. On the front cover of this
problem book is an image of
Australia superimposed over a
map of North America. It
appears that the area of
Australia is approximately the
same as the area of the US (with
Alaska and other territories
excluded of course). Is this true?

a. Use mathematics to justify your

answer.
b. Look at a map of the all the
continents in an atlas. How do the areas of USA and Australia appear? Why do they
look like that?
c. Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8zBC2dvERM. Describe what you
learn.

14. The speed of a Tsunami depends on

the depth of the water that it travels
over. In shallow water the surge
increases in height, shortens in wave
length and slows down. In deep water it
travels at speeds sometimes faster than
a jet. This formula gives the speed of
Tsunami:

s  9.81d , where s is the speed in

metres per second and d is the depth of
the ocean in metres.

a. If a Tsunami approached the Australian coast at a water depth of 20 metres, how fast
would it be travelling in kilometres per hour?

b. One website reports that the Boxing Day Tsunami travelled at speeds up to 4800
kilometres per hour across the Indian Ocean. Referring to the formula and data about the
depth of the Indian Ocean determine
whether that is possible.

15. What is the area covered by Royal Park

in Melbourne? Explain your choice of unit.

Use Melways or Google Maps to calculate

the area showing your working.
Section G: Space (Geometry)

1. Sheet 8 shows square arrays of 9 dots. Mark in angles (between 0° and 180°) with
line segments beginning and ending on one of a set of nine dots, and the vertex on a
dot. How many different sized angles can you find? How do you know you have found
them all? And have no duplicates? [Measurement is to be used for checking only]

2. Here are three view of a model made from cubes.

Top

Left Front
a. What is the smallest number of cubes needed to make the model?

b. What is the largest possible number of cubes that can

form a model with these views?

3. What is the name of the Platonic solid that is formed by

folding this net?

Find at least ten different nets that will form the same
polyhedron and paste them into your problem book. Use
Sheet 9 to create nets to try out.

Classify your nets by their features in some way.

[33] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

4. The Otago Rail Trail is a cycle track built along the
path of the historical Central Otago Line in New
Zealand. It is very popular with tourists.
Sheet 10 contains a schematic map of the trail.
Use the map to answer these questions:

a. The second day the ride is usually between

Lauder and Wedderburn. Describe the nature of
that leg.

b. How steep is the hardest section of climb in that

leg? (Use the profile map to help)

c. St Bathans is the curling capital of New Zealand.

If you rode from Lauder to St Bathans and on to Wedderburn how far would your
journey be in kilometres?

d. What compass direction is the leg between Wedderburn and Hyde? How long (in
time) would you expect it to take to ride?

5. For this investigation you will need plasticine, clay or potatoes to make cubes from.

If you slice a cube with one straight knife cut what cross-
sections can you make?

For example, cutting the cube with a single cut, in the

three ways shown, results in square shaped cross-
sections.
What other cross-sections are possible?
What is the maximum number of sides a cross-section
can have? Explain why.

6. The squares on the left and right are rotated images of the square in the middle. Your
task is to draw the missing shapes in their correct position and orientation.
 7. Simon is standing on the deck of a ship. To the south he sees four mountain peaks;
Mounts Axe, Bob, Col and Don. The diagrams below show what Simon sees.

a) Which mountain is furthest away from Simon? Explain how you know.

b) Which mountain is nearest to Simon? Explain how you know.

To the north Simon can see two mountains, Mount Bart and Mount Homer.

Mount Bart is 20 km away and 1,200m high,

Mount Homer is 30 km away and 1, 500m high.

c) Which mountain looks taller to Simon? Explain how you know.

8. This problem involves an extended investigation.

Here is the famous 3, 4, 5 triangle.

5cm
The longest side of this triangle is 5cm and all 3cm
three sides are whole numbers of centimetres in
length.

How many different triangles is it possible to 4cm

draw that have whole number side lengths but
have a longest side no greater than 5cm?

9. Classification of shapes by their properties is an important part of Geometry. Sheet

11 requires you to draw quadrilaterals that meet given conditions. Try to fill all the
cells in the table.

[35] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

10. A truncated cube is a polyhedral created when the corners of a cube are “cut off”.

From the picture alone find:

a. The number of triangular faces

b. The number of octagonal faces

c. The number of vertices

d. The number of edges

e. The number of axes of rotational symmetry

11. This picture shows the famous

“Round House” which was the first
building constructed in Freemantle.
Strangely enough it was used as a prison.

The floor plan of the building is a

regular dodecagon shape though the
original plan was for 20 sides.

Accurately draw both a regular

dodecagon and a regular icosagon (20
sides) using a ruler and protractor.

What issues did you face?

Why might the original plans have been changed?

 Sheet 1
Lake Wendouree

[37] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

 Sheet 2
Mystic Rose
 Sheet 3

Trying Out the Divisibility Rules

1. Divisible by 2: Not Divisible by 2:

24 16 52 318 130 532 21 17 63 49 455 313

A number is divisible by 2 if:

Circle the numbers divisible by 2: 345 972 1900 869 214

2. Divisible by 5: Not Divisible by 5:

35 75 85 325 230 540 68 27 44 96 337 512

A number is divisible by 5 if:

Circle the numbers divisible by 5: 345 972 1900 869 214

3. Divisible by 10: Not Divisible by 10:

20 70 80 320 230 540 66 29 42 196 334 565

A number is divisible by 10 if:

Circle the numbers divisible by 10: 345 970 1900 869 2001

4. Divisible by 3: Not Divisible by 3:

54 504 810 675 1209 540 17 91 52 421 620 2051

A number is divisible by 3 if:

Circle the numbers divisible by 3: 345 972 1900 869 214

5. Divisible by 4: Not Divisible by 4:

16 216 816 24 1224 512 13 111 357 421 618 2051

A number is divisible by 4 if:

Circle the numbers divisible by 4: 324 972 1900 848 212

[39] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

 Sheet 4
Painting Cubes
Build cubes using unit cubes (size2, 3, 4, ….)

If you paint the outside, some unit cubes have 3 faces painted, some have 2 faces painted, some
1, and some receive no paint at all.

Complete the table to show this for different sized cubes.

Number of faces painted

Size of Cube (n) Total
3 2 1 0

2x2x2

3x3x3

4x4x4

5x5x5

…………...

10 x 10 x 10

Rule
nxnxn
(for each column)

Explain why each rule works:

Use the rules to predict results for:

i) 20 x 20 x 20 cube ii) a size 100 cube

 Cube Crazy Sheet 5

1. Make a set of cubes of edge length 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 units.

2. Complete the following table:

Edge Length Area of Base Surface Area Volume Surface Area

(units) (square units) (Square units) (Cubic units) Volume

What would be the surface area of a cube of edge length 18 units?

What would be the surface area of a cube of edge length n units?

Draw graphs of surface area vs. edge length and volume vs. edge length on the same set of axes.

Examining the last line of the table and your graphs, would the surface area/volume ratio
ever be 1 again. Explain your reasoning.

[41] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

 Sheet 6

Cones
A cone has three linear dimensions of interest: the radius, height and slant height.

Cone
Base

height radius

radius

slant
height

Photocopy the circle on the next page. Cut it out and cut through to the centre along the radius
(dotted line).

By placing the surface marked "top" over the surface marked "8 cm" and moving the cut edge
along until it coincides with the point on the circumference marked as A, the sloping surface of
a cone is formed. Use a paper clip to hold it in place. Sit it on the desk and try to measure the
diameter, height and the slant height as accurately as possible.
Slowly move the cut edge from A to B and repeat measurements. Repeat measurements with
the cut edge lined up at C, D and E.
1. What happens to the height of the cone?
2. At the same time what happens to the radius?
3. What happens to the length of the slant height?
4. What is the longest possible radius?
5. What is the greatest possible height?
6. At what height is the area of the sloping surface the greatest?
7. At what height is the area of the base the least?
8. As the height of the cone increases, what happens to the area of the base, the area of the sloping
surface and the total surface area of the cone?
9. Is it possible for two cones to have the same area of sloping surface but different heights? (Give
examples)
10. Is it possible for two cones to have the same base area, different heights and the same area of
sloping surface? (Give examples)

11. What strategies did you use to make your measurements as accurate as possible?
 A
B

8 cm
C

TOP
D

[43] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

 Sheet 7
Estimating Lengths – millimetres
Set 1 Guess Exact Error
1 1
2
3
4
2 4
5
6
3 7
8
9
10
9
5 6

10
7 8

Set 2 Guess Exact Error

1
2
3
3
1
4
5
2
6
7
4 8
9
10
6

5
9

8
10
7
 Sheet 8

How many Angles?

[45] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

Sheet 9
 Sheet 10

© Otagorailtrail Peter Andrews

[47] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015

 Sheet 11

Sorting Quadrilaterals
In the table below, sketch a quadrilateral with the properties indicated by each box in the table. Label
all right angles and sides that are parallel. (Part of the table have already been completed for you).

If it is impossible to fill a particular box in the table, write “impossible” and a brief justification for this.

If a particular case is possible, write in the most specific name you can for the quadrilateral you have
drawn underneath your drawing (e.g., rectangle, trapezium, etc.).

Number of pairs of parallel sides (exactly)

0 1 2

Parallelogram

1
Number of right angles (exactly)

If a quadrilateral has 4 right

angles, it must be a square of
4 a rectangle, and neither of
these can have 0 parallel
sides.

Impossible
[49] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015
[51] Exploring Mathematics 1 2015
 0
Exploring Mathematics 1, 2015