mscroggs.co.uk
mscroggs.co.uk

subscribe

Puzzles

Differentiate this

$$f(x)=e^{x^{ \frac{\ln{\left(\ln{x}\right)}}{ \ln{x}}} }$$
Find \(f'(x)\).

Show answer

Square numbers

Towards the end of his life, Lewis Carroll recorded in his diary that he had discovered that double the sum of two square numbers could always be written as the sum of two square numbers. For example
$$2(3^2 +4^2 )=1^2 +7^2$$ $$2(5^2 +8^2 )=3^2 +13^2$$
Prove that this can be done for any two square numbers.

Show answer & extension

N

Consider three-digit integers \(N\) such that:
(a) \(N\) is not exactly divisible by 2, 3 or 5.
(b) No digit of \(N\) is exactly divisible by 2, 3 or 5.
How many such integers \(N\) are there?

Show answer & extension

MathsJam

Maths Jam is always held on the second-to-last Tuesday of the month. This month, it will be held on the 17th. What is the earliest date in the month on which Maths Jam can fall and when will this next happen?

Show answer & extension

Tags: dates

Pocket money

When Dad gave out the pocket money, Amy received twice as much as her first brother, three times as much as the second, four times as much as the third and five times as much as the last brother. Peter complained that he had received 30p less than Tom.
Use this information to find all the possible amounts of money that Amy could have received.

Show answer & extension

Tags: numbers, money

Always a multiple?

Source: nrich
Take a two digit number. Reverse the digits and add the result to your original number. Your answer is multiple of 11.
Prove that the answer will be a multiple of 11 for any starting number.
Will this work with three digit numbers? Four digit numbers? \(n\) digit numbers?

Show answer & extension

Tennis

What is the minimum number of times a player has to hit the ball in a set of tennis and win a standard set (the set is not ended by injury, disqualification, etc.)?

Show answer

Tags: sport

The mutilated chessboard

You are given a chessboard where two diagonally opposite corners have been removed and a large bag of dominoes of such size that they exactly cover two adjacent squares on the chessboard.
Is it possible to place 31 dominoes on the chessboard so that all the squares are covered? If yes, how? If no, why not?

Show answer & extension

Tags: chess

Archive

Show me a random puzzle
 Most recent collections 

Advent calendar 2025

Advent calendar 2024

Advent calendar 2023

Advent calendar 2022


List of all puzzles

Tags

products cube numbers digital clocks 2d shapes number planes wordplay quadrilaterals expansions volume palindromes dice functions people maths pentagons indices probability xor floors probabilty cryptic crossnumbers books cards square roots graphs chocolate geometry christmas digital products circles the only crossnumber proportion calculus symmetry dates 3d shapes ave integration consecutive integers menace complex numbers square grids remainders range numbers elections matrices sum to infinity multiplaction squares chalkdust crossnumber consecutive numbers cubics division decahedra tournaments tangents algebra factors digits determinants polygons sequences time hexagons triangles colouring shapes speed rectangles multiples doubling triangle numbers coordinates means clocks fractions squares sport polynomials coins advent factorials arrows surds partitions games money dominos balancing binary scales sums crosswords perfect numbers gerrymandering ellipses even numbers multiplication prime factors mean pascal's triangle lines median averages quadratics chess star numbers differentiation irreducible numbers regular shapes prime numbers cryptic clues crossnumbers medians square numbers rugby taxicab geometry folding tube maps perimeter odd numbers combinatorics shape unit fractions logic tiling area geometric means neighbours spheres parabolas albgebra routes grids angles geometric mean bases axes integers dodecagons addition lists trigonometry powers percentages sets

Archive

Show me a random puzzle
▼ show ▼
© Matthew Scroggs 2012–2026