I ran a math camp for 6 years and I made it my goal to show the kids that math is exciting and, believe it or not, fun.
One thing I learned is the kids loved to do math puzzles. It didn’t feel like math to them, and they didn’t realize the importance of what they were doing. Solving puzzles teaches valuable skills, including breaking problems into smaller parts, trying multiple strategies if one doesn’t work, and gaining a sense of accomplishment when they solve a difficult problem. They also learn that some puzzles (like the famous Bridges of Konigsberg problem) are not solvable, but can still teach us valuable lessons. The Konigsberg problem was real and the great mathematician Leonhard Euler was the first to prove it was impossible, laying the groundword for graph theory.
Here are a few of my favorite math puzzles:
The Four Fours Problem
Use exactly four 4’s to form every integer from 0 to 50 (or higher, if you want), using only the operators +, −, ×, /, () (brackets), . (decimal point), √ (square root) and ! (factorial).
Examples:
0 = 44 − 44
1 = (4 + 4)/(4 + 4)
The Sixes Problem
Use three of the same number and the operators +, −, ×, /, () (brackets), . (decimal point), √ (square root) and ! (factorial) to make 6
Example:
2 + 2 + 2 = 6
Do this for all the numbers from 0 to 9
The Fox, Sheep, and Cabbage Problem
This is more of a logic problem, but logic is very important when doing mathematics
A farmer has a fox, a sheep, and a cabbage. He must get them all across a river, but his boat will only hold one at time. If he leaves the fox and sheep alone together, the fox will eat the sheep. If he leaves the sheep and the cabbage alone, the sheep will eat the cabbage. How can the farmer get all three across the river?
If you want your child to grow up to be a Math Detective, start them on puzzles early on. I discuss some of these in The Math Kids series, fun math books for kids that also teach important math lessons (usually without them even knowing they are learning because they are busy trying to solve the mystery).