Brain Teaser Solutions

On this page you can find the solutions to the brain teasers from our My Maths Week Scotland booklets.

Matchstick Puzzle

Here's the original puzzle:

Can you REMOVE exactly THREE matchsticks, to make the above equation true? It can be solved in three different ways.

And here are the three solutions:

Solution 1
Solution 2
Solution 3

Magic Square

Here's the original puzzle:

The challenge was to place the numbers 1-9 in the squares so that the sum of each horizontal, vertical and diagonal row or column adds up to 15. You could use each number only once.

We started you off with number 5 in the middle of the square. 15 - 5 = 10, which means the remaining numbers in each row or column had to add up to 10. So you had to pair up the remaining numbers to make 10: 1 + 9, 2 + 8, 3 + 7 and 4 + 6. To solve the magic square, place the pairs of even numbers in the corner spaces, and the pairs of odd numbers in the remaining spaces.

There are eight different possibilities of placing the numbers, but they are all rotations or reflections of the same pattern:

Latest News and Events

News

Maths Tales Winners

To celebrate Book Week Scotland, we are delighted to announce the finalists and winners of our Maths Tales story-writing competition, run in partnership with Read Write Count with The First Minister.

News

Maths Week 2024 - Tales Highlights

We have enjoyed seeing what everyone got up to for Maths Week Scotland this year, in particular the different ways everyone was inspired by this year's theme of 'Maths Tales'. We've picked out a few highlights to share.

23rd Nov-1st Feb
Event

Family Fun with Numbers

Scottish Maritime Museum | | Free
Come along and explore the Scottish Maritime Museum and take part in some fun family activities with their Learning Team.