Maths Day 2021 – 10 Puzzles For The Maths Lover In You

The thrill of getting the answer right to a challenging maths puzzle is amazing, right? What better day to get cracking on these 10 puzzles than National Mathematics Day!

In India, we dedicate this day in honour of the legendary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. He was the brains behind creating the magic square and other famous puzzles, and was popularly known as “the man who knew infinity.”

Ramanujan also has the credit of solving several challenging maths puzzles which stunned the world. Let’s celebrate his genius and crack these engaging puzzles. 

Here’s what you have to do:

We have two sets of puzzles. One for grades 4 to 7 and the other for students of classes 8 to 10. 

Take the set of questions appropriate for your class and share your answers, along with your name and class in the comments. We will reveal the solutions next week so keep your eyes peeled on The Learning Tree Blog.

Classes 4 to 7

1) Find the fraction: the number of squares made by exactly TWO colours by the number of squares made by only ONE colour in the picture below. 

1. 1/4
2. 1/5
3. 2/5
4. 3/4

2) There are 66 eggs, or 11% of the total, that went unsold. How many eggs were sold?

1. 600
2. 578
3. 534
4. 522

3) What is the sum of the missing digits in this magic square? (In a magic square, the sum of digits along the rows, columns and diagonals is the same)

1. 14
2. 15
3. 20
4. 21

4) If Peppy takes 4 slices and puts them back after eating exactly half of each, then what fraction of the total pizza would be left?

1. 1/4 
2. 4/8
3. 3/4 
4. 1/4

5) If the page numbers that are multiples of 9 and 10 are missing till the page shown in the book, then how many sheets in total should have been torn? (Note: The last page of the book is numbered 51)

1. 5
2. 9
3. 10
4. 11

6) What is the area of the shaded portion of the rectangle if the areas of other 3 rectangles are as given?

1. 5
2. 10
3. 15
4. 20

7) What would be the maximum sum of the dots on the opposite faces of the dice formed by folding the given net? 

1. 6
2. 7
3. 8
4. 9

8) In a group of 200 people, there is one teacher for every four students. The number of teachers in the group will be:

1. 100
2. 50
3. 40
4. 20

9) Two days ago, on a Sunday, you went for a birthday party. What day will it be three days later?

1. Thursday
2. Friday
3. Saturday
4. Sunday

10) The numbers in the image represent the sum of values of the fruits in each column/row. Study the image and find the value of a kiwi. 

1. 6
2. 7
3. 8
4. 10

Classes 8 to 10 

1) In how many ways can you make the given image symmetric by placing another red dot 

in the grid?

1. 0
2. 4
3. 8
4. 16

2) What will be the sum of all visible dots on this tower of three dice when viewed from all angles?

1. 42
2. 47
3. 49
4. 51

3) If the sum of 10 different natural numbers is 100, then what is the greatest possible value of any of these 10 numbers?

1. 40
2. 49
3. 55
4. 60

4) If six spherical marbles are cut into 24 identical pieces, then how many new surfaces in total get generated?

1. 12
2. 24
3. 48
4. 96

5) For what value of “x” is the area of the shaded region maximum?

1. 1
2. 2.5
3. 5
4. Doesn’t depend on x

6)What is the minimum number of identical cubes that can be formed by cutting a big cube, without any wastage?

1. 9
2. 4
3. 8
4. 7

7) If a welder has to weld together the four identical rings shown (below), what is the maximum number of welds possible?

1. 9
2. 12
3. 18
4. 24

8) If the points on the circumference of a circle are equally spaced, how many right-angled triangles can be drawn 

using ANY three of them?

1. 6
2. 9
3. 12
4. 18

9)How many unit blocks will remain as it is, once the given figure (below) is sliced diagonally by the highlighted green line on the cube?

1. 336
2. 294
3. 245
4. 147

10) How many two-digit numbers are there whose ‘tens’ digit can be removed to obtain a single digit number that is ⅙th of the original two-digit number?

1. 2
2. 4
3. 5
4. 8

Remember to ​​share your answers along with your name and class in the comments section below. Solutions will be revealed next week.