Primary Mathematics Challenge – February 2020

Answers and Notes

These notes provide a brief look at how the problems can be solved.
There are sometimes many ways of approaching problems, and not all can be given here.
Suggestions for further work based on some of these problems are also provided.

P1 C (112 + 2 = 123) P2 C (2020 × 5p = 10 100p = £101)

1 D 11 p.m. A 15-hour flight that leaves Singapore at 3 p.m. will land in Manchester when it
is 6 a.m. the following day in Singapore. This will be 11 p.m. in Manchester.
2 E 36% The area of toast remaining is 8 × 8 = 64 cm2 , so the amount thrown away is
10 × 10 − 64 = 36 cm2 , which is 36%.
3 C 14 811 852 It should be noted that the units digit of the product of 3333 and 4444 will be
the same as the units digit of the product of 3 and 4, namely 2: this succinctly
identifies the correct option as 14 811 852. Alternatively, the calculation 3333 ×
4444 will have an answer that is 3 × 2 times greater than 1111 × 2222. Now we
can work out 2 468 642 × 6 exactly, which is indeed 14 811 852.
4 D 2550 Both Astrod and Steven are adding together 50 numbers, but each of the
numbers in Steven’s list is one greater than one of Astrod’s. Hence Steven will
have a total of 2500 + 50 = 2550.
5 E 39 cm2 The area of the square is 3 × 3 = 9 cm2 ; the area of each triangle is 3 × 5 ÷ 2 =
7.5 cm2 . Therefore the area of the star is 9 + 7.5 × 4 = 39 cm2 .
6 E more than 10 Each of the 40 pairs of socks will last 100 days, so that my teacher has 40 × 100 =
4000 days of sock-wearing. There being 365 (or 366) days in a year, 4000 days is
more than 10 years.
7 A 3 We can illustrate the problem by means of the Venn
C S
diagram on the right. In the problem 8 + 10 + 13 =
31 members of the class appear to be mentioned, but 5 3 7
this is three greater than 28, the total number in the
class. Therefore three members have been counted twice, 13
namely those who like cabbage (C) and sprouts (S).
8 D 15 Referring to Dougie’s dogs as P, Q, R, S, T and U, we have the following pairings:
PQ, PR, PS, PT and PU; QR, QS, QT and QU; RS, RT and RU; ST and SU; and
finally TU – that is, 15 pairings. The notes below suggest other approaches.
13
9 A 13 minutes The rider travels for 13 hours over 60 rides, which is an average time of 60 of an
hour per ride, hence 13 minutes.
10 E 135 cm We can see the combined height of the table and 3 bricks is 150 cm, whereas the
combined height of one brick and the table is 140 cm. The extra two bricks have,
therefore, a height of 150 − 140 = 10 cm together, and so each brick must have
a height of 5 cm. Hence, the table has a height of 140 − 5 = 135 cm.
11 B 26 We could try each of the options in turn: 15 → 20 → 40 → 04 does not work nor
37 (→ 42 → 84 → 48) nor 48 (→ 53 → 106 → 601) nor 59 (→ 64 → 128 → 821).
Of the options only 26 works: 26 → 31 → 62 → 26. The notes below illustrate
an algebraic approach.
12 D 6 Since the number of motorcycles is the same as the number of fire engines, we
can count the points for these vehicles as equivalent to 9 + 2 = 11 points for each
fire engine. Then we can solve the problem by trial and improvement, working
our way through the possible number of buses and noting that the number
obtained by subtracting the total number of buses from 63 must therefore be
a multiple of 11:
 points for fire engines
number of buses points for buses
and motorcycles
1 5 58 5
2 10 53 5
3 15 48 5
4 20 43 5
5 25 38 5
6 30 33 ✓
7 35 28 5

Hence the number of buses is 6. The notes below show another approach to this.
13 D 17 Since the mean of Katherine’s prime numbers is 8, their total is 8 × 3 = 24. The sum
of three odd numbers is an odd number, so at least one of Katherine’s numbers is
even; however, the only even prime number is 2. Hence, the other two numbers
have a total of 22. There are three possibilities where both numbers are prime:
3 + 19, 5 + 17 and 11 + 11. The only possibility where the difference between the
smallest two primes is itself prime is 2, 5 and 17.
14 E 70 Of the options, only 70 is 6 more than a square number (64) and also 11 less than
another square number (81). In fact, 70 is the only possible number.
15 B 18 As can be seen in the diagram on the right, the shaded
parallelogram is formed of two equal triangles, each of which
is one quarter of a larger triangle, which is one quarter of the
square. So the area of the shaded parallelogram is 2 × 14 × 14 ×
12 × 12 = 81 × 144 = 18 cm2 .

12 cm
16 B 8 days If 4 machines take 6 days to harvest a crop, then 1 machine would take four times
as long, that is 24 days. So 3 machines would take a third of this time, 8 days.
17 C 240 m The length of the line is 4000 × 2 × 3 cm= 24 000 cm= 240 m.
18 A 75 421 We can find the correct option by scrutinising consecutive pairs of digits in each
of the options, eliminating those which are not multiples of 3: B (637 542) has
consecutive digits 37, C (721 543) has 43, D (751 263) has 26, while E (7 563 421)
has 56 and 34. Option A (75 421) satisfies the conditions of the question, since 75,
54, 42 and 21 are each multiples of 3. The notes below explain why 75 421 is in fact
the largest possible number to work here.
19 A 1 triangle The diagrams below show the three ways in which it is possible to cut off a triangle
and from the octagon (none of which leave a hexagon) and the ways in which to achieve
1 hexagon the four other options.
triangle two two
+ octagon pentagons hexagons

triangle triangle quadrilateral pentagon

+ nonagon + heptagon + hexagon + hexagon

20 B 3 Since there are 6 faces and each edge joins only 2 faces, Cassie
must colour a minimum of 3 edges red. The diagram in the right
shows that it is possible to choose 3 edges so that each face has a
red edge.
21 C 3◦ The exterior and interior angles of the three polygons are calculated as shown in
the table below:
polygon exterior angle interior angle
pentagon 360◦ ÷ 5 = 72◦ (180 − 72)◦ = 108◦
hexagon 360◦ ÷ 6 = 60◦ (180 − 60)◦ = 120◦
octagon 360◦ ÷ 8 = 45◦ (180 − 45)◦ = 135◦

Therefore the angle of the overlap = (108 + 120 + 135 − 360)◦ = 3◦ .

22 C 15.75 cm2 The rectangle in the bottom right with area of 5 cm2 has an area 14 times greater
than the rectangle with area of 4 cm2 . They share the same base, and so the lower
rectangle must have a height 14 greater than the upper one. Now the same can
be said for the rectangles on the left, and so the area of the unshaded rectangle is
4 greater than 3 cm , that is 3 × 1.25 = 3.75 cm . Hence the total area in square
1 2 2

centimetres of the four rectangles is 3 + 4 + 5 + 3.75, that is 15.75 cm2 .

23 D 3:2 Let the jars each initially contain, say, 100 ml of blackcurrant or orange juice.
jar X jar Y
100 ml of blackcurrant 100 ml of orange at start
100 ml of orange
50 ml of blackcurrant half of X added to Y
+ 50 ml of blackcurrant
50 ml of blackcurrant
50 ml of orange
+ 50 ml of orange half of Y added to X
+ 25 ml of blackcurrant
+ 25 ml of blackcurrant

Now jar X holds 75 ml of blackcurrant + 50 ml of orange, a ratio of 75 : 50 = 3 : 2.

24 B 36 In order to contain 125 smaller cubes, the cube must be 5 small cubes across, back,
and high. The cubes which do not touch the right, left, front, back sides or the
base of the box form a cuboid which is 3 across by 3 back by 4 high; this contains
3 × 3 × 4 = 36 small cubes.
25 C 3 mm Below is a list of the squares and rectangles produced from the original 210 × 297
rectangle and a diagram of the dissection:
dimensions of square (mm) dimensions of rectangle (mm)
P 210 × 210 210 × 87
Q 87 × 87 123 × 87
R 87 × 87 87 × 36
S 36 × 36 51 × 36
T 36 × 36 36 × 15
U 15 × 15 21 × 15
V 15 × 15 15 × 6
W 6×6 9×6
X 6×6 6×3
Y&Z 3×3 3×3

36
6
87 R 15 V 3 Z
210 P 36 S T 6 W X
3 Y
87 15 U
87 6 6 3
Q 36 36 15
210

So the length of the side of each of these final two squares is 3 mm.
 Some notes and possibilities for further problems

1 Ask pupils to research time differences between different cities and set each other problems based on
these. Which cities have the greatest time differences? Which cities (from different countries) have the
same time . . . and why?
2 Pupils will almost certainly find several ways of arriving at the correct answer.
4 The diagram below indicates why consecutive odd numbers beginning with 1 add together to give a
square number:
1
+3 can be
+ 5 rearranged
+7 to give
+9

Astrod (a Welsh name meaning ‘divinely beautiful’) and Steven (‘crown’) are British forenames. Can
pupils think of any other names that might allude to common mathematical words?
8 It is clear that the number of pairs of dogs is the sum of consecutive numbers (15 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5).
n×(n−1)
With n dogs this is given by the formula 1×2 . If we were able to take 3 of the 6 dogs for a walk, then
6×(6−1)×(6−2)
we could calculate the number of combinations as 1×2×3 , which gives the answer 20.
11 If we write the number we are seeking as ‘ab’= 10a + b, then adding 5 gives 10a + b + 5. Multiplying
by 2, we have 2(10a + b + 5) = 20a + 2b + 10. If this is the ‘reverse’ of the original ‘ab’, then we have
20a + 2b + 10 = 10b + a. Rearranging we get 19a = 8b − 10. Since 8b − 10 is an even number, it must be
that 19a is also even, and hence a itself is even. Taking a = 2, we have b = 6; since the remaining even
values of a < 10 do not give whole number values for b, the only possible answer is 26.
The other observation that eagle-eyed pupils might make is that after adding 5 and then multiplying by
2, the result must be an even number. Hence the original number must have had an even tens-digit –
this succinctly eliminates three of the five options.
15 Ask pupils to design their own tangram puzzles for each other. Using a standard tangram, arrange the
pieces to make a shape, with no overlaps and no gaps. Draw round the outline and ask a friend to solve
the puzzle. Perhaps they can make whole phrases:

17 Draw a line in the classroom or in the playground. Ask pupils to estimate how many 10 pence coins it
would take to cover the line. Give them some resources, e.g. a short piece of string, a ruler, a 10 pence
coin. How can they best check the accuracy of their estimates? Compare methods.
18 In order to find the largest number to satisfy the conditions of the problem, it is worth noting that the
digits 3 and 6 can be combined only with each other in forming a two-digit multiple of 3. Therefore
we can choose only from the five digits remaining, 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7. We should start by choosing 7 as
the leading digit. Now the ‘7*’ has to be a multiple of 3, so we should choose 75. Next, for ‘5*’ to be
a multiple of three, we choose ‘54’, and then ‘42’ (since the 5 has been used already) and then the only
possibility left is ‘21’. Hence the largest answer is 75 421.
What would you have to change to design a question like this where each pair of consecutive digits has
to form a multiple of 5?
19 Investigate shapes which could be made with two cuts. Or start with a different shape.
24 Can pupils generate a ‘formula’ (maybe in words) to solve this problem for different cuboids?
25 This question provides a way of visualising one method for finding the highest common factor of two
numbers – it was first described by the ancient Greek mathematician, Euclid around 300 B.C. and is
referred to as the Euclidean algorithm.

© Primary Mathematics Challenge Bonus Round, February 2020