Help with maths question

[Mathsatish]

Hope its posted properly.

[Mathsatish]

If any questions are there, post them. At my free time I will post the solutions.

[KenR]

Thanks for all your replies. So, for this particular question, would you say that a highly gifted child in Y6 would be able to solve this particular question by using their existing up-to-year 6 maths syllabus knowledge if they simply applied their thinking/logical skills (assuming no maths focused parents/teachers in the family)?

Very curious as I have no clue in how to solve this!

I don't believe that even gifted year-6 children around Nov or Jan (when most Independent 11+ exams are taken) would be likely to solve the particular question unless they had some additional home schooling. I know it's possible to solve the particular problem without Algebra(as shown in the posts above), but quite frankly it's so much easier with Algebra as my solution shows. I'm not an expert of KS2 maths but I don't think the curriculum covers Algebra in year-6 (any KS2 State Maths teachers???).

I taught both of my 2 children additional Maths material at home as part of their preparation for the 11+ exams (for both State & Independent Schools) and we did cover quite a bit a Algebra, quite simply because they took to this like a duck to water in some Maths problem solving situations. We did cover some of the advanced Independent School Maths final questions from previous papers. (some free papers used to be able on this site). With my 2 children I sometimes found that they had difficulty trying to understand a non Algebraic solution (which often took more time) whereas an Algebra solution they found a lot easier (and faster). Having said that both of my children were very good at Maths (my DD studied Maths & Philosophy and my DS Natural Sciences) so maybe our family is a bit unusual.

Would be interested to hear Guest55's thoughts on this and whether she taught her own children any Algebra prior to their 11+ exams

[yoyo123]

Algebra is taught in KS2 . Simple expressions using an unknown eg: 2n=6

But using algebra to solve a problem like this would not be a KS2 wuestion. I woukdn’t have expected any of my pupils to do this.

[Mathsatish]

If any of the students solved this question with Algebra correctly then that student is definitely a gifted one.
No school teaches algebra to that level in year5. if some parents claim that their kid solved using algebra means then they got extra coaching in algebra.

[Deb70]

Thanks for all your replies. So, for this particular question, would you say that a highly gifted child in Y6 would be able to solve this particular question by using their existing up-to-year 6 maths syllabus knowledge if they simply applied their thinking/logical skills (assuming no maths focused parents/teachers in the family)?

No!!!!!

[Guest55]

No- I did not teach my child any additional work for 11+ or any other exam. Accceleration is not advised by UKMT [see their policy] or ACME who published a report I have linked before.

Secondary teachers end up picking up the pieces and it harms the student's confidence at a crucial time.

Fortunately Bucks only tests to the end of Year 5 so there is no need here.

[turnip08]

Fabulous, thanks for all the responses. I agree with so many here. My son is incredible with maths (and so many other things) and he's a true autodidact but neither my husband nor I have taught him extra maths (well, me doing it would clearly be pointless ) but we have had tutors who have taught him some algebra (I think) but I do think this is really quite a stretch for even the most gifted out there.

[turnip08]

Sorry, it didnt post properly and the letters got moved. I am editing to make sure it posts properly


Let the 5 digits number be ABCDE

1ABCDE
------X 3
---------
ABCDE1
3XE should give *1 means E =7 and 3X7=21
------2 <----carried
1ABCD7
------X3
---------
ABCD71

3XD+2 = *7, which means D should be 5 and 3X5+2=17

-----12<------------ carried
1ABC57
------X3
------------
ABC571

3XC+1=*5, that means C=8 and 3X8+1=25

---212 <-------------carried
1AB857
------X3
---------
AB8571

3XB+2=8 which means B = 2 and 3X2+2=8

---212
1A2857
------X3
----------
A28571

3XA=*2 which means A=4, 3X4=12 and 3X14=42

1-212
142857
------X3
--------
428571

Therefore the answer is ABCDE=42857 is a 5 digits number which satisfies the given conditions.
This can be also solved with Algebra. But, I dont think students of year5 can think in Algebra in the exam hall.
If they learn how to solve any question in a simple way then they can answer any question easily.

This is absolutely great but would require quite a lot of time, no?

[Mathsatish]

It looks like lengthy but its a simple approach and it can be solved quickly by year5 student.
I am sure students of that age solving this question using algebra is very rare.