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Association of Teachers of Mathematics
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Matchstick Problems
This activity, from the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) publication ‘The Long and the Short’, contains two activities concentrating upon the process of counting and spotting patterns.
Students are presented with a number of rectangles. Each rectangle is constructed from adjoining squares made from matchsticks. Students are asked to count how many squares there are and how many matchsticks have been used and to state which number of matchsticks cannot be used and explain why not.
The next stage is a repeat of the first except the shape is changed to a series of triangles made up from smaller triangles and hexagons.
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