A presentation and questions for pupils to consider what makes maths problems hard? They will then be better equipped to solve (and create) their own problems. The main way that problems are made more difficult are: - Make the numbers harder - Repeated application - Difficult vocabulary - Extra operation at start or end - Reverse the problem - Hide information in a story - Extraneous information

A fascinating activity encouraging pupils to think about 'Fixed Points', things that stay the same when there is a change. For example, in the doubling function 0 is a fixed point as doubling keeps it the same. These fixed points have surprising applications, including the amazing result that if you scrunch up one piece of paper and put it on top of a flat identical piece, at least one point is in the same place! Pupils are guided along with a presentation with things for them to think about along the way. Some of the language is GCSE level but the ideas are applicable for all ages.

Nine provocative questions to get pupils thinking about infinity. Each one has footnotes on the Powerpoint to guide towards the answer. What are Zeno’s paradoxes? Is 0.9999999999999999999… the same as 1? What is the smallest decimal number more than 3? What is infinity plus one? What is Hilbert’s Hotel? If something is true for the first million numbers, is it true for all the numbers? What is 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 … equal to? Are some infinities bigger than others? Are there more: numbers, fractions, or decimals?

A short Powerpoint on common confusions such as 6 and 0, s and 5, ( and c and so on. Pupils are made aware of the pitfalls, and given tips for how to avoid them.

A series of examples and questions on the following topics: Express a change in value as Percentage Calculate Compound Interest Reverse Percentage Change Appreciation/Depreciation by a Percentage Provided with solutions

This is a free-standing resource on rounding. It involves questions like round 7.232 to two decimal places up to round 10.503 to three significant figures. There are two levels of difficulty (A is easier than B) that both have the same solution. Full solutions included.

This is a free-standing resource on ordering decimal numbers. It involves questions like 3 x 500 up to things like 300 x 22 ÷ 60 It's taken from a Murder Mystery Package I wrote hence it includes a small riddle element at the end. There are two levels of difficulty (A is easier than B) that both have the same solution. Full solutions included.

This is a free-standing resource on fractions, decimals and percentages It involves recognising groups of identical values like 1/10, 0.1 and 10% up to groups like 4/25, 8% and 0.08. It's taken from a Murder Mystery Package I wrote hence it includes a small riddle element at the end. There are two levels of difficulty (A is easier than B) that both have the same solution. Full solutions included.

This is a free-standing resource on ordering decimal numbers. It involves ordering heights like 1.5 metres, 1.43 meters and 145 cm. It's taken from a Murder Mystery Package I wrote hence it includes a small riddle element at the end. There are two levels of difficulty (A is easier than B) that both have the same solution. Full solutions included.

This is a free-standing resource on multiplying whole numbers It involves multiplications like 5 x 11 up to things like 3 x 11 x 11 It's taken from a Murder Mystery Package I wrote hence it includes a small riddle element at the end. There are two levels of difficulty (A is easier than B) that both have the same solution. Full solutions included.

This is a free-standing resource on multiplication (and addition) of decimals It involves multiplications like 4 x 0.64 up to things like 11 x 1.25 It's taken from a Murder Mystery Package I wrote hence it includes a small riddle element at the end. There are two levels of difficulty (A is easier than B) that both have the same solution. Full solutions included. [Edit - following a comment by angelpax I've fixed the phrase at the end]

Six classic maths problems from the 1150 AD book called Lilivati, each presented as a poem and with a short story to introduce the book. All of the problems involve forming and solving equations, and they also practice: - simultaneous equations - adding and multiplying fractions - square roots - Pythagoras Full solutions included.

A series of eight small sets of printable questions, each followed by an estimation question on the Powerpoint which uses the answers you have just calculated. The class work on the sets of questions individually then all attempt to estimate the final answer. I have found this very effective as a general revision activity with pupils in teams, scoring points out of 5 for the revision questions, and also a mark out of 5 for the quality of each estimate. The numeracy skills revised are: 1 - Rounding 2 - Perimeter and Area 3 - Angles 4 - Long Multiplication 5 - Units 6 - Decimals 7 - Big Numbers 8 - Time Provided with answers.

A fun activity to practice learning about the straight line. Includes - drawing graph from data points - working out the gradient - working out the y-intercept - working out the equation of a line from the graph - using the equation to interpolate missing points Solutions included

These notes complement my Course Notes for this SQA course. They include more further examples, more complicated statistical tests and links to Excel for examples.

A series of worksheets exploring the link between door codes, Euler Graphs and also De Brujn Graphs. This will introduce pupils to the concepts of - vertices - edges - degree of vertices - directed graphs

Two homeworks and a revision sheet on basic numeracy for National 4 Maths or National 4 Lifeskills Covers things like: decimals, money, fractions, ratio

A series of five homeworks covering the topics of - time (hours, days, weeks etc) - hourly salaries - tax - loans and repayments - money exchange - budgeting

A game to revise simple integration. Each catchphrase picture is hidden behind nine expressions. Randomly select a pupil, and if they can integrate their chosen expression they get 10 seconds to guess at the picture hidden below.

A series of simple questions that I used over the Summer Holidays to prepare pupils for Higher Mathematics. Topics include - mixed arithmetic, negatives, algebra, fractions, algebra, surds, trigonometry, notation, indices, and some more complicated algebra