m e i . o r g .

u k

Curriculum update
GCSE
A summary of general
GCSE changes (all
subjects) is available
on the gov.uk
website.
This Ofqual document
sets out the re-sit
opportunities exam
boards must provide
for GCSEs (graded A*
to G).

Weve created a
summary of the
GCSE legacy re-sit
information, which
you will find in the
Useful Links on
our Forthcoming
Mathematics
Curriculum Change
web page.
A level

I s s u e

J u l y / A u g u s t

2 0 1 6

Conference update
We have a different format of M4
magazine this month as we know that
the end of the term is nigh!

We recently held our annual conference

and wanted to share some of it with
you, especially if you were unable to
attend, so on the next page youll find a
few photos from the three-day event,
and an adapted version of the Delegate
Challenge for you to use with students
(or to try yourself!). This was devised by
Carol Knights, MEIs Extension and
Enrichment Coordinator, and sponsored
by Oxford University Press. The original
activity, targeted at teachers, included
QR codes for participants to scan to
find more information related to the
questions. The QR codes (and
resources) were available on each of
the exhibition stands on the Friday of
the conference.

This Ofqual document

sets out re-sit
opportunities exam
boards must provide
after the last
scheduled sitting of
legacy AS and A
levels.
Weve created a
summary table of
the new A level re-sit
information, which
you will find in the
Useful Links on
our Forthcoming
Mathematics
Curriculum Change
web page.

5 4

We awarded other prizes: some

delegates spotted a gold label on a
leaflet in their delegate bag, which won
them a prize from that organisation.
We celebrated ten years
of MEIs Maths Item of
the Month with a
display around the
Chancellors Building of
problems and challenges
published each month on
our home page. A list of Maths Items of
the Month categorised by GCSE/A level
topics can be seen at: Maths Items of
the Month Curriculum mapping.
Conference session resources will be
uploaded over the summer to our
conference archive.
#MEIConf2016
@MEIConference

Overall winner of the Delegate

Challenge was Alaric Stephen from
Hereford Sixth Form College. Alaric
was presented with a prize of an Oxford
University Press goody bag and choice
of mathematics books, also a binary
wall clock. The photograph (top right)
shows Alaric with Carol Knights.

Click here for the MEI

Maths Item of the Month

In this issue

Curriculum Update: GCSE

changes, GCSE legacy resits,
new A level resits

July/August focus: Conference

update

KS3-KS5 Teaching Resource:

Summer Challenge 2016

M4 is edited by Sue
Owen, MEIs Marketing Manager. Wed love your

Disclaimer: This magazine provides links to other Internet sites for the convenience of users. MEI is not responsible for the availability or content of these
external sites, nor does MEI endorse or guarantee the products, services, or information described or offered at these other Internet sites.

University of Bath
30 June - 2 July
Top to bottom:
Jonny Griffith, our
Conference afterdinner speaker; Tom
Button, one of our
quizmasters; Sue de
Pomerai, our other
quizmaster and
occasional Ada
Lovelace
impersonator...

MEI Conference 2016

End of term
resource
The final teaching and
learning resource of
the academic year is
a replica of the
delegate challenge
from MEIs Annual
Conference.
You should find some
questions are suitable
for KS3 students
whilst others will
challenge A level
students. The order of
difficulty is hard to
ascertain since the
mathematical content
of one question might
be judged as simpler
than the content of
another, but the
amount of problem
solving or juggling
with maths required
makes it more
challenging.
However, we have
attempted to present
them in approximate
order of difficulty, for
you and your students
to enjoy.
The PowerPoint
version of the
resource can be
downloaded from the
M4 web page remove the teacher
notes and answers
before sharing it with
your students! Enjoy!

The after-dinner quiz

that took place on
Thursday evening was a
popular event. Hodder
provided the wine with
dinner, and OCR
sponsored the quiz.
Pictured left are Neil
Ogden from OCR with
the winning quiz team
and their prize boxes of
chocolates.

Fridays exhibition enabled delegates to

find out about the support offered by
various maths-related organisations.
Rob Eastaway and Ben Sparks kindly
provided some magical maths
entertainment for the lunch queue!

M4 Magazine will return next term, with a September/October edition.

Challenge 1
Using only the numerals
1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, plus a
decimal point if required,
find 3 numbers whose
sum is 30.

Challenge 2
How many prime numbers
less than 10 000 have a
digit sum of 2?

Challenge 3
What digit should replace
the question mark?

9
7
7

5
4

6
?

Challenge 4
How many different sets of consecutive positive
integers sum to 105?

Challenge 5
Starting with a large cube, and leaving it in situ,
can you use 6 cuts to divide the cube into 27
identical smaller cubes?
If you are allowed to
rearrange the various
slices between cutting,
whats the least number of
cuts needed?

Challenge 6
What is the largest even
integer that cannot be
written as the sum of 2 odd
composite* positive
integers?

* A whole number with more than 2

factorsi.e. not 1 and not prime.

Challenge 7
Can you use each of the digits 1 to 9, exactly
once each to make a set of 6 prime numbers?

Whats the largest prime

number that can appear in
a set?

Challenge 8

How many factors does 2016 have?

(Including 1 and itself)

Challenge 9
What number does BOB represent in this
division where letters take the place of digits?

BOB
=
DID

.TALKTALKTALKTALK..

Challenge 10
In a non-special quadrilateral the angle bisectors
are constructed.
If the blue angle is 125, whats the yellow angle?

125

Challenge 11

The radius of
the blue circle
is 20cm and
the radius of
the purple
circle is 12cm.

Whats the radius

of the yellow
circle?

Challenge 12
What is:
side length of
small pentagon

side length of

large pentagon?

Challenge 13
A rectangle and equilateral triangle are inscribed
into circles of radii 2cm.
They have the same area as each other.
What are the dimensions of the rectangle?

*Leave answer in surd form

Challenge 14
Two boats are crossing a river from opposite sides.
When they first meet, they are 720 metres from the
near shore.
When they reach the opposite shores, they stop for
10 minutes and cross the river again, but this time
they meet 400 metres from the far shore.
How wide is the river?

Challenge 15
What is the diameter of
the largest semi-circle
which can be inscribed
in a square of side
length 1cm?
*Leave answer in surd form

Teacher notes: Summer Challenge 2016

The final edition of the academic year is a replica of the delegate
challenge from MEIs Annual Conference.
You should find some questions are suitable for KS3 students whilst
others will challenge A level students.
The order of difficulty is hard to ascertain since the mathematical
content of one question might be judged as simpler than the content of
another, but the amount of problem solving or juggling with maths
required makes it more challenging. However, we have attempted to
present them in approximate order of difficulty, for you and your
students to enjoy.
All answers are given in the teacher notes below.

Enjoy!

Teacher notes: Maths required for solutions

Q

Maths

Maths

Maths

Adding only

Composite numbers

11

Similar triangles,
simple algebra.

Prime numbers

Prime numbers

12

Angles in polygons,
trigonometry.

Multiplication

Factors - prime
factorisation helps

13

Pythagoras, solving
quadratics (although
its a quartic)

Consecutive
number sums

Division, recurring
decimals

14

Rates of change,
solving equations

Understanding of 10
a cube (shape)

Angles (triangles,
vertically opposite,
quadrilaterals)

15

Tangents, 1:1:2
triangle, solving
equations

Teacher notes: Just answers

Q

Maths

Maths

Maths

5.3+5.7+19=30
Many other
solutions

38

11

7.2cm

3 (2, 11, 101)

641

12

Cos 36 (0.809017)

36

13

(8+37) by (8-37)

242

14

1760m

10

55

15

4-22 or equivalent

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 1: What whole numbers can you make?
Challenge 2:
Can you find the set of possible numbers are we should check?
For a digit sum of 2, there must be just a 2 with some zeros or two 1s
with some zeros, so the contenders are: 2 20 200 2000 11 101
110 1001 1010 1100.
Anything that ends in a zero is divisible by 10 and therefore not prime;
removing these leaves: 2 11 101 1001
1001 = 7 x 11 x 13, the other 3 are prime.
Challenge 3: this is simply spotting that each row is the row above
multiplied by 8. 9 x 8 = 72, 72 x 8 = 576, 576 x 8 = 4608

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 4:
One way to approach this is to look at the divisibility of 105.
If it is exactly divisible by an odd number or gives an answer ending
with a .5 when divided by an even number there is a set with that
amount of numbers in it. (but not 21 numbers with 5 in the middle as
this goes into negative values)
For example: 5 x 21 is 105 which means there is a set of 5 numbers
with 21 as the middle number.
For example: 1056 = 17.5 which means there is a set of 6 numbers
with 17 18 as the middle pair of numbers.
This leads to the following 7 sets:
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(14)

52
34
19
15
12
6
1

53
35 36
20 21 22 23
16 17 18 19 20
13 14 15 16 17 18
7 .15
2 .14

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 5: Consider the central cube. It has 6 sides that need to be
individually cut from the larger cube, therefore no matter how you
rearrange the slices, youll still need 6 cuts.
Challenge 6:
Can you write down some odd composite numbers?
9 15 21 25 27 33 35 39 45
What do you notice about these? They are all multiples of 3 and/or 5.

So if we can find a run of 14 even numbers which can all be written as

the sum of a pair of odd composites, all wed have to do is add 30 to
one of the composites to get the next ones. (Why would this work?)
40 to 68 are all possible e.g. 40 = 25+15 so 70 = 55 + 15.
List all the pairs of odd numbers which sum to 38 and you will find that
at least 1 of them is prime each time.

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 7: A list of prime numbers will really help see next slide.

We have 9 digits to play with and need 6 prime numbers.

This means that we could potentially have:
A. 3 single digit numbers and 3 double digit numbers
B. 4 single digit numbers, 1 double digit numbers and 1 triple digit number
C. 5 single digit numbers and 1 four digit number.
There are only four prime single digits (2 3 5 7), which rules out option C.
For option B we would need all of the single digits as primes and would
then need to make a 2 digit and a 3 digit from 1 4 6 8 9. Clearly the
numbers would have to end with a 1 and a 9, so possible pairings to check
are:
(41 689) (41 869) (61 489) (61 849) (81 469) (81 649)
(49 681) (49 861) (69 481) (69 841) (89 461) (89 641)
Bold numbers are prime, so 641 is the largest prime that could appear.

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 7: Prime numbers to 1000
2
31
73
127
179
233
283
353
419
467
547
607
661
739
811
877
947

3
37
79
131
181
239
293
359
421
479
557
613
673
743
821
881
953

5
41
83
137
191
241
307
367
431
487
563
617
677
751
823
883
967

7
43
89
139
193
251
311
373
433
491
569
619
683
757
827
887
971

11
47
97
149
197
257
313
379
439
499
571
631
691
761
829
907
977

13
17 19
23 29
53
59 61
67 71
101 103 107 109 113
151 157 163 167 173
199 211 223 227 229
263 269 271 277 281
317 331 337 347 349
383 389 397 401 409
443 449 457 461 463
503 509 521 523 541
577 587 593 599 601
641 643 647 653 659
701 709 719 727 733
769 773 787 797 809
839 853 857 859 863
911 919 929 937 941
983 991 997

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 8: Find the prime factorisation of 2016
Challenge 9: http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/56803.html for a
very similar problem
Challenge 10: In the diagram, 2a+2b+2c+2d=360, so a+b+c+d=180

180-(a+b) =125

a+b = 55
c+d =125

180-(a+b)
125

180-(c+d)

b
b

180-125=55=yellow angle

c
c

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 11:
Construct lines from the circle centres which are
perpendicular to the sides of the cone. These form
similar triangles.
If the radius of the yellow circle is r, what other
lengths can you write?

Adding some other lines in to form

more right angled triangles, what
lengths do you know?

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 11:
Working with this diagram you
should see some similar
triangles.
(12+r)/ (12-r) = 32/8 = 4

12+r = 48-4r
5r=36
r= 7.2cm

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 12:
sin36=small/x
small= xsin36
tan36=large/x
large=xtan36

small/large = (xsin36)/(xtan36)
small/large= cos36

36

small

large

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 13:
What are the dimensions of the triangle?
Whats the area of the triangle?
33

2
2

1
3

What do we know about the rectangle?

x2+y2=16 (then y2=16-x2)

x
y

Also, xy=33, so x2y2=27

Substituting for y2 we get x2(16-x2)=27

Use the quadratic formula to obtain

x4-16x2+27=0

x2=(8+37) and x2=(8-37)

Since y2=16-x2 when x2=(8+37), y2=(8-37) and vice versa, so the

dimensions of the rectangle are (8+37) and (8-37)

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 14:
This is an old problem, origin unknown, usually set in yards so that the
answer of 1760 yards is a mile.
One method for solving it is given here:
http://www.braingle.com/palm/teaser.php?op=2&id=19622&comm=1

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

Challenge 15:
Think about a semi-circle whose diameter
joins the midpoints of the sides of the square
and touches the top.
It can rotate within the square getting larger
(and smaller at times, depending on which bits
move).

When it reaches 45 it has reached a

maximum so the diagram for the largest semicircle becomes as shown.
(Think about what happens if it isnt at 45)

Teacher notes: Hints, ideas and solutions

T

Challenge 15:
The diagonal line is a line of symmetry.
Drawing some other lines on the diagram.
Since the semi-circle just touches the square,
the sides become tangents, so drawing the
normal OT creates an isosceles right-angled
triangle (OVT).
Since we have a diameter and a square on it,
P must also be on the circle.

Add in a perpendicular line through O.

Assume the radius is r.
Find the side length of the yellow triangle
(which is also right-angled and isosceles).

r
r
O

Then side length + r =1.