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FREE Numeracy Meets        14 October and 18 November

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FREE Numeracy Meets        14 October and 18 November

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Please share your own activities, photos, or tips.

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Please share your own activities, photos, or tips.

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What could you do for Maths Week? What works well with your learners?

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Extension activity:

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SOLAS - Further Education and Training Authority

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The Craft of Sewing in Cork - ALL Collaboration and Innovation Fund

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A lot of this is targeted for school age children but it also includes resources for adults.

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Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, assistant professor, UCD and science communicator

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Maths Week will take place from 12-20 Oct 2024. We will have events and activities we have for all the family. Check out MathsWeekTV live for great shows all week.

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Numeracy in context: Exploring real life contexts for numeracy development webinar

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Numeracy in context: Exploring real life contexts for numeracy development webinar

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Numeracy in context: Exploring real life contexts for numeracy development - Dr Aibhín Bray

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Are you looking for numeracy resources to use with adult learners?

This guide will show you NALA’s numeracy resources which include:

workbooks,

worksheets,

videos, and;

eLearning courses.

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Are you working in Further Education and Training or in a job where you may come into contact with adults with unmet literacy needs?

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Common European Numeracy Framework - 80 Lesson examples

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Common European Numeracy Framework - 80 Lesson examples

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Numeracy is always connected to reality taking place in context. Adults use literacy, numeracy and digital skills to deal with problems in everyday life and at work. This is our didactical starting point for the worked out example material for adult learners.

A total of 80 teaching and learning examples are available in eight subject areas.

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Learning activities | Common European Numeracy Framework

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Numeracy is always connected to reality taking place in context. Adults use literacy, numeracy and digital skills to deal with problems in everyday life and at work. This is our didactical starting point for the worked out example material for adult learners.

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Join our webinar series for Maths Week 2023

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The National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) is hosting a webinar series for adult education tutors to mark Maths Week 2023. NALA is hosting five numeracy webinars that week.The webinars are free for tutors to attend and a wide range of topics.

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Extension activity for Guess the Skittles 

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Extension activity for Guess the Skittles 

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ETBI Digital Library: Numeracy Resources: Numeracy Meets Series

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ETBI Digital Library: Numeracy Resources: Numeracy Meets Series

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Johnny Ball Joint IET, BCS and IMA Christmas Lecture | 09.12.2020 | #ietcovwarks

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Don't like plant-based meat alternatives, but want to spare animals and the environment? There's hope on the horizon, aided by a good helping of maths.

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The 1kg Challenge: Feel It, Fill It, Weigh It!

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The 1kg Challenge: Feel It, Fill It, Weigh It!

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Collaborative Choice

The effect is that the class all contribute to the free selection of a number which the teacher had predicted in advance.

To set up this trick you need to firstly choose the target number and write this down as your "prediction"! This should be done before the class have arrived for their lesson. Your prediction can be sealed in an envelope or, for more of a showy reveal, written on the back of a picture hanging in the room.

For the purposes of this explanation the target number is 36.9. Easy for you to remember as it is normal human body temperature (you knew that didn't you)?

So the trick begins with you asking a student at random to choose a number between 1 and 100 which you have written on the board like this:

If the student offers a number which is larger than the target number you replace the bottom number with the student's number, otherwise you replace the top number.

Let's imagine the student offers the number 40. Your board should now look like this:

The next number you ask for has to be between 1 and 40 (the new top and bottom numbers).

Let's imagine the next five students you pick at random offer the numbers 20, 30, 35, 37.5 and 36.5. Your board should now look like this:

Can you see how by deciding to put the students' numbers in either the top or bottom rows you are zooming in on the target number? Eventually one of the students will offer the target number. You then white it in large digits spanning both rows. You say something like "I think that's enough to ensure many of you have contributed to selecting the class' chosen number". You then reveal your prediction and all are amazed!

iPhone Calculation

This trick works best on the standard iPhone calculator* though other calculators may have the same way of working and could also be used.

The effect is that pupils come up with random two and three digit numbers which you multiply together. Irrespective of what numbers they come up with the product will be the same as the number you had previously predicted.

To set up the trick you need to have previously chosen the large number as your prediction. This should be done before the class have arrived for their lesson. Your prediction can be sealed in an envelope or, for more of a showy reveal, written on the back of a picture hanging in the room.

The other essential part of the setup is to type your predicted number into the calculator then press the plus button, the zero button and the multiplication button ... nothing else.

When the students call out their random two and three digit numbers you type them into the calculator pressing the multiplication button between each one. This should be done in full view of the students so that can see that you are not doing anything sneaky! After five or six numbers you press the equals sign and, as if by magic, the predicted number appears on the calculator screen. You then reveal your prediction and all are amazed!

How does it work? Well it involves the principle of the Order of Operations or BIDMAS. Let's imagine the students' numbers were 19, 345, 21, 999 and 456 and your prediction was 1,601,863.

The numbers entered into the calculator were:

1601863 + 0 x 19 x 345 x 21 x 999 x 456

The students didn't see the first two numbers entered as you did this before they arrived. The calculator performs the multiplications before the addition so the product of zero is added to your prediction. Magic!

*Sadly recent iOS updates (18+) prevent this trick working as describod.

Fibbing about Adding!

The effect is that you can add up ten numbers in your head faster than anyone in the class can do it with a calculator.

A volunteer from the class is chosen to be the calculator operator. Another student, with good handwriting, is chosen as the Scribe, to write on the board.

You, the teacher, and the calculator operator stand with your backs to the board so you can't see the numbers being written.

The scribe is told to write down a one digit number then, underneath that, to write a second one digit number.

A third number, the sum of the first and second numbers, should now be written down.

A fourth number, the sum of the second and third numbers, should also be written down.

The scribe continues to write down numbers, each one being the sum of the previous two, until there are ten numbers in the list altogether.

At this point you and the calculator operator turn to face the board in a race to find the total.

The trick is that rather than attempt to add all of the numbers together you simply multiply the seventh number by 11. It will give you the total that will take the calculator operator more time to work out. The class will be amazed at your numeracy skills!

How does it work? There are two tricks involved. The first is the quick way of multiplying by eleven and the other is related to the fact that this is a Fibonacci type sequence.

Let the first and second numbers selected be x and y respectively. The ten terms of the sequence will be x, y, x+y, x+2y, 2x+3y, 3x+5y, 5x+8y, 8x+13y, 13x+21y and 21x+34y.

The sum of this sequence is 55x + 88y which is 11 times 5x+8y.

Two Squares

This trick appears to be mathematical but perhaps it is not!

Can you change this square into two using only a pencil? You are not allowed to come anywhere near the screen (or whiteboard).

The Trick: Carefully use the blunt end of a pencil to push up the lower eye lid of one eye and you will see double!

Coming Together

Each student is asked to think of a number between 2 and 9 inclusive (or ace, jack, queen or king). Whatever number they have chosen, there are four cards in their pack with that value. Students are asked to shuffle the pack while thinking about their cards.

Students are considered to have magical powers if two of their cards come together in the pack (well there might be one card between them but for the purposes of this exercise we will call that coming together).

Most students should find that this works for them ... so they have magic powers ... or have they?

The Trick: In fact this is an example where the odds are weighted in favour of a success ... can you estimate the probability from the results of this activity?

Think of a number

Multiply it by nine

Add the digits of your answer together

Subtract five

If A=1, B=2, C=3 etc what letter is represented by the number you are thinking of now?

Think of a country beginning with that letter

Think of an animal beginning with the second letter of that country

What is the colour of that animal?

"There aren't many grey elephants living in Denmark are there?"

Virtually everyone in the room will have thought of Denmark as their country and as elephant as their animal. Is this magic?

Students can now investigate the probability of this happening. Having first satisfied themselves that everyone will arrive at the letter D independently of their starting number, how many countries are there starting with D?

How many animals beginning with E? Of all the animals beginning with E how likely is a person to choose elephant? Perhaps a survey might answer this question.

Students could now be asked to make up for themselves a similar trick (but not using Elephants from Denmark). Try out the tricks on some other students and teachers.

Finally a demonstration of tree diagrams can be used to explain the probabilities of these tricks working.

Update November 2014: The 96% and 85% on the tree diagram above were made-up figures for illustrative purposes only. We have now conducted our own survey to see what those figures should be. You can see the results on the Predictive Survey Results page.]

Amazing Adding

You can amaze your students by pretending to add up a whole column of three digit numbers in a couple of seconds.

Ask three students to write three digits each on a piece of paper as if they are to be added and return the paper to you.

You write two more numbers below those. Choose your first number (which is the fourth one in the problem) so that the first number and fourth numbers add up to 999. Choose your next number so that it adds with the second number to give 999.

Give a student the paper and ask them to add up the numbers on a calculator. Then the student could return the paper to you. Look at it briefly as if you are adding the numbers in your head and announce the answer.

The answer will be 2000 plus the third number minus 2 which you could compute very quickly once the student returns the paper.

This could be followed by a class discussion about how this trick works ... students practise with friends.

Letters In A Number

The Teacher writes a number on a large piece of paper. The students can see this going on but can't see which number it is. The paper is the put in an envelope or a box and put in a safe place in view of the students.

The Teacher then asks a student to think of a very large number. This number is written on the board in words.

"How many letters are in these words?" ... the answer is written underneath in words...."How many letters are in these words?" ... and so on repeating the process again and again till the list of numbers has reached the bottom of the board. The envelope is then opened to reveal the number FOUR which will be the last number written on the board.

F O U R

"What if we start with a different number?" ... another student volunteers a different starting number which eventually generates four again.

"Does this always happen?".. students try some of their own.

"Why does it always happen?"

"What about other languages?"

Students now do an investigation looking at the properties of the number words in different languages. They can use foreign language dictionaries or the internet as appropriate. They should produce a write up of their findings for their folders.

Mental Tricks

many calculations have short cuts or tricks associated with them which enable students to perform the calculations quickly in their heads.

Here are a couple of examples:

Quick Square
Did you know that there is a quick way of squaring a two digit number which ends in 5?
Just multiply the first digit by that number plus one.... stick a 25 after your product and there's your answer .... simple ?

Example:

Q. What is 35 squared?
A. 3x4=12
.....now stick on the 25
...........the answer is 1225

Do you know why it works?

Times Eleven
The eleven times table has always been very easy to learn up to 9 x 11. Here's a way of multiplying large numbers by 11 too:

Example:

Q. What is 324 x 11 ?
A. Write down the first digit ... 3
.......Add the first and second digits ... 3 + 2 = 5
.......Add the second and third digits .. 2 + 4 = 6
.......Write down the last digit ........... 4

The answer is 3564.

Try it yourself ... multiply 543 by 11

Do you know why it works?

Does it work for all three digit numbers?

Cluedo

A large house plan made from 9 pieces of carpet (each 3m by 3m) is set out in the middle of a large room as shown:

A student is dressed to look like the murderer(!) and stands on the carpet piece marked "Hall".

A teacher (acting as Sherlock Holmes) explains that the murderer will be tracked down in the house and arrested. Sherlock is blindfolded.

A second student throws the dice and states the number on the dice out loud. The murderer walks through that many doors on the plan of the house.

Sherlock says "I know the murderer is not in the kitchen (or name of other room) , so will someone please take away the kitchen"

A third student takes away the piece of carpet labelled "kitchen". the murder from now on cannot step on the area which was once the kitchen.

The process is repeated a number of times until Sherlock can say "I know that the murderer is in the ........... (name of room), you are under arrest.

"How does the trick work?"

Well if the murderer starts in the hall, four rooms are one door away (study, bathroom, dining room and conservatory). We shall call these rooms odd rooms.

The other rooms are two doors away. We'll call these rooms even rooms.

If the number on the dice is even, Sherlock knows that the murderer must have walked into an even room so can ask for one of the odd rooms to be removed.

The process continues. Sherlock uses the principles that:

Odd + odd = even

Even + even = even

Even + odd = odd

Odd + even = odd

... to keep track of the rooms the murderer can't be in. By process of elimination the correct room can be found (In practice Sherlock must reserve the right not to remove a room in certain cases)

This could be followed by whole group discussion about how the trick was performed (using student's own theories and words.

Students in pairs try to perform the trick using the a diagram and a counter to represent the murderer.

Acting as Sherlock requires a great mental effort keeping track of the rooms.

Memory Tricks

A number of items can be memorised in order by associating each item with a place on a familiar journey.

For example 20 geometric shapes could be visualised at various places on the journey from bed to school each morning. The shapes could be visualised at places such as the bathroom, kitchen bus stop etc.

Students challenge each other to memorise the order and names of 20 shapes such as pyramid, sphere, octagon etc.

One technique for remembering a list of items in order is by associating each item with an item from the following children's rhyme:

This activity could start by collecting from the students a list of ten popular video films. Students are then asked to conjure up in their minds a crazy image of the item from the list above involved in the action of the film.

Eg if the fifth film is The Sound of Music; a student might picture Julie Andrews being chased over the Austrian Mountains by a swarm of angry bees.

Working in pairs students could practice this technique by memorising ten items from a shopping list

Mind Reading

Many mind reading tricks involve a "plant" in the audience secretly giving information to the mind reader. The way this information is given often involves mathematical codes or systems.

Nine objects are arranged in a 3 by 3 grid formation

While the magician isn't looking, the students are asked to choose an object an concentrate on it. The magician can quickly identify the chosen object by feeling the thought vibrations coming from it ... well not really. One of the students has previously been asked to act as the "plant" giving the magician a secret sign. Students are asked to work out some secret signs which could correctly identify one of the nine objects.

One system could be that the plant and the magician agree to define each object in terms of its row and column (like a matrix). The plant uses the position of their head to indicate the row and arms to indicate the column.

Students are encouraged to invent similar (more complex) illusions.

(alternatively this trick could be performed using nine buckets placed upside down on the floor with an item being put under one while the magician isn't looking.)

" Black Magic" is a well known old party trick in which a person apparently mind reads to find an object previously selected by an audience. An accomplice helps by pointing to various objects asking "is this it?". The mind reader always says no till after the accomplice has pointed to a black object; the next object to be pointed out will be the chosen object.
Students could devise similar mind reading tricks using number codes of other systems.

Numbered Cards

One person thinks of a number 1 - 20. They are asked which cards contain their number. The magician can work out the number by adding up the top left numbers on each of the selected cards.

How does it work? The numbers in the top left of each card are powers of two and any number can be expressed as a combination of powers of two. this can be shown to be the basis of the binary system.

This trick could be described by a teacher without showing the students a set of cards. Students challenged to make their own set of cards and extend for numbers greater than 20 (the trick works better the more numbers there are on each card). Students should practice performing this trick on each other using their own set of cards

Here's a more detailed Interactive version
The Online Psychic

Real Magic Square

Wouldn't it be impressive if you could instantly write down a 4x4 magic square giving any total that a friend suggests. It can be done ... there's a trick to it!

First you have to memorise the basic 4x4 magic square which gives a total of 34. (Memorising this could lead to some interesting multisensory work!)

Let's suppose your friend chooses the number 57. Firstly subtract 33 from this giving 24.

Now replace the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the basic square with 24, 25, 26 and 27 in that order.

You now have a magic square with 57 as the sum of each column, each row, each diagonal and each 2 by 2 square within the larger square.

Why does this work? Look at the positions of the numbers 1 - 4. How are they significant?

See also the Magic Square Puzzle.

Three Consecutive Primes (7,11,13)

The effect is that a pupil comes up with a three digit number and you challenge them to perform a calculation on that number using a calculator. You are always able to find the answer faster than thay can work it out.

The calculation involves multiplying the three digit number by 7, then the product is multiplied by 11 and then 13.

While the pupil is busy pressing buttons on the calculator you write down the three digit number twice to produce a six digit number which is the correct answer.

Example: 619

619 x 7 x 11 x 13

= 619619

It works because 7x11x13 is 1001.

Odds and Evens

Ask a friend to hold an odd number of coins in one hand and an even number of coins in the other but not to let you see. You will be able to work out in which hand the odd number of coins is hidden.

Ask the friend to multiply the number of coins in their left hand by three and the number of coins in their right hand by four then add the two totals together.

If the sum of their totals is odd then the odd number of coins is in their left hand otherwise the odd number of coins is in their right hand.

For a clue to realising why this trick works see Mix and Math.

Mathematical Mind Reader

Finally, a trick that is guaranteed to impress everyone you show it to. A trick people will beg you to show them how it works. This trick is truly mathemagical.

As this is the last trick in our collection we will let you ponder over it and discover the method for yourself. It is simple mathematics and if you try it enough times, keeping a record of your results, the secret will become clear. Good luck!
Mystic Mathematical Mind Reader
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Amazing tricks, all based on mathematics, which are easy to learn, perform and use to impress your friends and family.

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€1 million today or double €1 for 30 days?

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€1 million today or double €1 for 30 days?

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A variety of free math resources for teachers, parents and students.

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Extension Activity: €1 million today or €1 for 30 days

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Extension Activity: €1 million today or €1 for 30 days

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A bus timetable (time, schedules)

A grocery receipt (prices, totals, discounts)

A measuring tape (length, estimation)

A recipe card (fractions, conversions)

A payslip or budget sheet (percentages, income)

Speech Bubbles or Labels: Add short captions like:

“How much change will I get?”

“What time does the next bus leave?”

“Can I double this recipe?”

Interactive Element: Include a “Maths Challenge of the Week” or QR codes linking to short videos or numeracy tips.

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Are you ready to give your mathematics skills a boost? These simple math tricks can help you perform calculations more quickly and easily. They also come in handy if you want to impress your teacher, parents, or friends.

Multiplying by 6

If you multiply 6 by an even number, the answer will end with the same digit. The number in the ten's place will be half of the number in the one's place.

Example: 6 x 4 = 24.

The Answer Is 2

1. Think of a number.

2. Multiply it by 3.

3. Add 6.

4. Divide this number by 3.

5. Subtract the number from Step 1 from the answer in Step 4.

The answer is 2.

Same Three-Digit Number

1. Think of any three-digit number in which each of the digits is the same. Examples include 333, 666, 777, and 999.

2. Add up the digits.

3. Divide the three-digit number by the answer in Step 2.

The answer is 37.

Six Digits Become Three

1. Take any three-digit number and write it twice to make a six-digit number. Examples include 371371 or 552552.

2. Divide the number by 7.

3. Divide it by 11.

4. Divide it by 13.

The order in which you do the division is unimportant!

The answer is the three-digit number.

Examples: 371371 gives you 371 or 552552 gives you 552.

1. A related trick is to take any three-digit number.

2. Multiply it by 7, 11, and 13.

The result will be a six-digit number that repeats the three-digit number.

Example: 456 becomes 456456.

This is a quick way to multiply two-digit numbers by 11 in your head.

1. Separate the two digits in your mind.

2. Add the two digits together.

3. Place the number from Step 2 between the two digits. If the number from Step 2 is greater than 9, put the one's digit in the space and carry the ten's digit.

Examples: 72 x 11 = 792.

57 x 11 = 5 _ 7, but 5 + 7 = 12, so put 2 in the space and add the 1 to the 5 to get 627

Memorizing Pi

To remember the first seven digits of pi, count the number of letters in each word of the sentence:

"How I wish I could calculate pi."

This becomes 3.141592.

Contains the Digits 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8

1. Select a number from 1 to 6.

2. Multiply the number by 9.

3. Multiply it by 111.

4. Multiply it by 1001.

5. Divide the answer by 7.

The number will contain the digits 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8.

Example: The number 6 yields the answer 714285.

Multiply Large Numbers in Your Head

To easily multiply two double-digit numbers, use their distance from 100 to simplify the math:

1. Subtract each number from 100.

2. Add these values together.

3. 100 minus this number is the first part of the answer.

4. Multiply the digits from Step 1 to get the second part of the answer.

Super Simple Divisibility Rules

You've got 210 pieces of pizza and want to know whether or not you can split them evenly within your group. Rather than whip out the calculator, use these simple shortcuts to do the math in your head:

Divisible by 2 if the last digit is a multiple of 2 (210).

Divisible by 3 if the sum of the digits is divisible by 3 (522 because the digits add up to 9, which is divisible by 3).

Divisible by 4 if the last two digits are divisible by 4 (2540 because 40 is divisible by 4).

Divisible by 5 if the last digit is 0 or 5 (9905).

Divisible by 6 if it passes the rules for both 2 and 3 (408).

Divisible by 9 if the sum of the digits is divisible by 9 (6390 since 6 + 3 + 9 + 0 = 18, which is divisible by 9).

Divisible by 10 if the number ends in a 0 (8910).

Divisible by 12 if the rules for divisibility by 3 and 4 apply.

Example: The 210 slices of pizza may be evenly distributed into groups of 2, 3, 5, 6, 10.

Finger Multiplication Tables

Everyone knows you can count on your fingers. Did you realize you can use them for multiplication? A simple way to do the "9" multiplication table is to place both hands in front of you with fingers and thumbs extended. To multiply 9 by a number, fold down that number finger, counting from the left.

Examples: To multiply 9 by 5, fold down the fifth finger from the left. Count fingers on either side of the "fold" to get the answer. In this case, the answer is 45.

To multiply 9 times 6, fold down the sixth finger, giving an answer of 54.

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Math is amazing. These math tricks will blow your mind and impress your friends - plus, they'll teach you how numbers work.

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Nourishing Literacy and Numeracy in a Digital Era 

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Nourishing Literacy and Numeracy in a Digital Era 

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Using cooking to improve adult literacy and numeracy skills.

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Adult Literacy for Life National Framework Strategy

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An Ireland where every adult has the necessary literacy, numeracy and digital literacy to fully engage in society and realise their potential.

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Managing Your Money, Building Your Future 

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Managing Your Money, Building Your Future 

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Empowering individuals to manage their personal finances.

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Adult Literacy for Life National Framework Strategy

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An Ireland where every adult has the necessary literacy, numeracy and digital literacy to fully engage in society and realise their potential.

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Improving literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy through cooking.

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Adult Literacy for Life National Framework Strategy

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An Ireland where every adult has the necessary literacy, numeracy and digital literacy to fully engage in society and realise their potential.

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Authored or co-authored by Dave Tout, these publications are designed to develop the numeracy skills of learners.

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Authored or co-authored by Dave Tout, these publications are designed to develop the numeracy skills of learners.

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Website includes a PDF Guide

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In the spring of 2015, the Adult Program at Sullivan County BOCES, NY hosted a full day Student Numeracy Adventures Day. This guide is the result of that fair and the other math fairs that followed...

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Numeracy as part of our everyday lives: A gardening project and a Maths Trail

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Numeracy as part of our everyday lives: A gardening project and a Maths Trail

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Elaine Clifford, Kerry ETB

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Numeracy as part of our everyday lives: A gardening project and a Maths Trail

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Recipe Challenge - converting measurements

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Recipe Challenge - converting measurements

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10 fun maths facts to brighten up a rainy day

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10 fun maths facts to brighten up a rainy day

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Dividing by zero once put a US Navy Warship out of action

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Everyone needs some fun maths facts to brighten up a rainy day...

1. You can cut a cake into 8 pieces by using only 3 cuts

You just need to make two cuts in a vertical plane and one in a horizontal plane. Save yourself some time next time you have a party!

If you can make cuts which aren't straight then you have some other options. Find out more

2. Dividing by zero once put a US Navy Warship out of action

In 1997 an unwitting crew member onboard the USS Yorktown wrongly entered a zero into one of the ships computers. This caused the ship's software to divide by zero, meaning that it was stranded and unable to move for over two hours.

3. The number 0.999999..... is exactly equal to 1

Proof: Let x=0.9999...

Then 10x = 9.9999...

10x-x =(9.9999...)-(0.9999...)

9x=9

x=1

4. The word googol was made up by a 9-year old boy

In the 1930s an American Mathematician named Edward Kasner asked his nine-year old nephew Milton Sirotta to make up a word for him to use. Milton made up the world 'googol' which Edward Kasner later used to describe the number . The search engine Google was later named after the 'googol' meaning that Milton Sirotta had unwittingly helped name one of the world's most famous companies.

5. There are only 17 possible types of wallpaper pattern

If you look at the underlying symmetry in a wallpaper pattern then mathematicians have shown that there are only 17 possibilities. You can of course vary the colours and decoration, but you will still only be left with 17 different possible symmetries.

6. William Shanks calculated pi to 707 decimal places but made a mistake on the 528th digit

Amateur mathematicia William Shanks (1812-1882) spent a good part of his life calculating mathematical constants by hand. Shanks never found out about his mistake as it wasn't revealed until after his death.

7. If you folded a piece of paper in half 103 times it would be the thickness of the observable universe

In practice, the world record for folding a piece of paper in half is only 12 times. If you go beyond that (in theory) you will quickly start to get some pretty huge thicknesses.

8. The only Shakespeare play to contain the word 'mathematics' is the Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew does however contain the word 'mathematics' on three separate occasions.

9. The numbers on opposite sides of a dice always add up to seven

On a dice the numbers 1,2 and 3 all share a vertex. If these three numbers run clockwise round this vertex then the dice is called left-handed and if the three numbers run anti-clockwise round the vertex, then it is a right-handed dice. Chinese dice are normally left-handed and Western dice are normally right-handed.

10. Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google studied maths (and computer science) at university

Lots of tech entrepreneurs used maths to make their billions and Sergey Brin is no exception.

Article by Hazel Lewis

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10 fun maths facts to brighten up a rainy day

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Everyone needs some fun maths facts to brighten up a rainy day... You just need to make two cuts in a vertical plane and one in a horizontal plane. Save yourself some time next time you have a party! If you can make cuts which aren't straight then you have some other options.

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Ask learners to write or draw how they use numbers in real life.

Use the template or create your own postcard.

Ideas include: working out wages, measuring for DIY, splitting bills.