Brain Teaser Solutions

On this page you can find the solutions to the brain teasers from our My Maths Week Scotland booklets.

Matchstick Puzzle

Here's the original puzzle:

Matchstick Puzzle

Can you REMOVE exactly THREE matchsticks, to make the above equation true? It can be solved in three different ways.

And here are the three solutions:

Matchstick Puzzle Solution 1
Matchstick Puzzle Solution 2
Matchstick Puzzle Solution 3

Magic Square

Here's the original puzzle:

Magic Square

The challenge was to place the numbers 1-9 in the squares so that the sum of each horizontal, vertical and diagonal row or column adds up to 15. You could use each number only once.

We started you off with number 5 in the middle of the square. 15 - 5 = 10, which means the remaining numbers in each row or column had to add up to 10. So you had to pair up the remaining numbers to make 10: 1 + 9, 2 + 8, 3 + 7 and 4 + 6. To solve the magic square, place the pairs of even numbers in the corner spaces, and the pairs of odd numbers in the remaining spaces.

There are eight different possibilities of placing the numbers, but they are all rotations or reflections of the same pattern:

Magic Square Solutions

Latest News

Glasgow Sci Fest Preview 450x675

Looking Forward: Glasgow Science Festival

Glasgow Science Festival kicks off tomorrow (1 - 11 June 2023), with the theme "Glasgow's Looking Forward". We've had a browse through the programme, and picked out some of our favourite events.

View details

Upcoming Events

NMS Maths Trail events 1st Jan-31st Dec

A World of Maths Trail

National Museum of Scotland All day Free

Explore the National Museum of Scotland with our maths trail for families and school classes.

View details