1. THE CRYSTAL MAZE

2. Get into teams of 4
The Crystal Maze is split into four zones based on four ancient cultures that made important Mathematical discoveries
Each zone has three puzzles:
A physical puzzle that requires you to make something
A skill puzzle that uses some of the number skills you have learnt
A mystery puzzle - something slightly different to the usual!
For each puzzle:
3 crystals are awarded to the team that finishes first
2 crystals are awarded to the team that finishes second
1 crystal is awarded to the team that finishes third
Each crystal counts as a 5 second head-start on a final puzzle to be revealed after the rest...

3. GREEK
EGYPTIAN
INDIAN
CHINESE

4. physical
skill
mystery

5. Plato is best known for his identification of 5 regular solids now known as the Platonic Solids, made from one regular shape each:
Tetrahedron
Octahedron
Cube
Dodecahedron
Icosahedron
Use the straws and play doh to make an icosahedron (hint – it has 20 sides)

6. Euclid is known as the ‘father of geometry’ and laid down the rules of geometry still used today. He also wrote about primes and proved that there an infinite number of them...
Take the first n primes, multiply them together and add one to obtain a new prime.
Eg using the first 3 primes 2,3 and 5
2 x 3 x 5 = 30
= 31 is prime
Without a calculator, evaluate the prime given by this method, using the first 8 primes =

7. The Greeks knew of several rules for the area of a triangle.
Hero worked out this formula for a triangle with sides a, b and c
Area =
where
Find the area of a triangle with sides of 4, 13 and 15cm

8. physical
skill
mystery

9. Cut out the nets, fold and stick to make 3 pyramids.
Egyptians realised that the volume of a pyramid is a third of the volume of a cuboid with the same base and height Eg
volume of cuboid = 2 x 2 x 3 = 12
so volume of pyramid = 4
Cut out the nets, fold and stick to make 3 pyramids.
Then fit all 3 together to make a cube!

10. The Egyptians liked to keep things simple
They only liked to use unit fractions - with one for the numerator. Eg Eg
can be written two ways as an Egyptian fraction:
Find three ways to write as an Egyptian fraction 7 60

11. Solve this problem, giving your answer in the Egyptian style!
Egyptians used symbols to represent numbers:
Solve this problem, giving your answer in the Egyptian style!

12. physical
skill
mystery

13. Indian mathematicians were the first to develop the concepts of zero and negative numbers
Cut out and position the numbers so that every circle add up to zero -3 2 7 -4 -2 3 -6 1 4

14. Indian mathematicians were the first to develop a proper decimal system
Use 8 8s in an addition sum to make 1000

15. (the answer is 25502500 by the way)
Indian Mathematicians knew how to quickly add up difficult-looking sums like
(the answer is by the way)
Possibly related, how many squares can be fitted into the grid?
There are:
5 x 5 ways to fit a 1 by 1 square
4 x 4 ways to fit a 2 by 2 square
3 x 3 ways to fit a 3 by 3 square
2 x 2 ways to fit a 4 by 4 square
1 x 1 way to fit a 5 by 5 square
= 55 squares

16. physical
skill
mystery

17. Cut and rearrange the square to make a parallelogram
Tangrams are an ancient Chinese puzzle
Starting with a square made up of 7 pieces…
you must arrange them to make something else
Cut and rearrange the square to make a parallelogram

18. Chinese mathematicians found ways to deal with many problems at once
I have a bag of sweets
If I share them between 7 people there are three sweets left over
Could be 10, 17, 24, 31, 38, 45, 52, 59, ...
If I share them between 5 people there are two sweets left over
Could be 7, 12, 17, 22, 27, 32, 37, 42, 47, 52, 57, ...
If I share them between 3 people there is one sweet left over
Could be 4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46,49,52,...
What is the least number of sweets in the bag?
52 is the first number in all 3 lists

19. Chinese Mathematicians were intrigued by magic shapes...
Magic squares
Magic circles
Magic triangles
Any line of 3 adds to the same total
Any side adds to the same total
Any diameter or circle adds to the same total 7 7
Use the digits 1 to 9 to make a magic triangle where each side adds to 23 or 3 6 6 5 4 2 1 3 9 1 5 8 9 4 2 8

25. -3 2 7 -4 -2 3 -6 1 4

27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

29. Solutions Greek Indian Egyptian Chinese Physical Physical
Skill
Skill
Mystery 24
Mystery
Egyptian
Chinese
Physical
Physical
Skill
Skill
Mystery
Mystery

30. Final challenge