‘A secret of bees’ is a series of 7 problems that looks at an interesting feature of the family tree for bees. The series shows how to take a complicated problem and break it down into manageable parts. It is recommended that the sheets are given to students one at a time.

Initially a family tree for bees is...

‘Ball bouncing’ is a series of 7 problems that looks at what happens if you put a tennis ball on top of a basketball and then drop them both. This is done through mathematical modelling. The series shows how to take a complicated problem and break it down into manageable parts. It is recommended that the sheets are...

This problem serves as an introduction to the ideas of Fermi problems. The question posed is ‘how many dump trucks would you need to move Mount Fuji, a major mountain in Japan?’
The topics required to complete this problem are calculating the volume of a pyramid, working out mass from density and volume, and...

This question asks us to consider a person opening a burger bar, doing all of the cooking themselves, and then estimate how much space should they rent?

The main topics required are rates (number of burgers per hour that one person could cook, number of customers per hour), and areas. 

This Mathematics Matters case study looks at how mathematicians are aiding the fight against viruses. Many viruses have a symmetrical structure made from basic building blocks, and biologists have struggled to explain some of the more detailed shapes. Now mathematicians are using complex theories of symmetry to...

In this resource from CensusAtSchool, students are asked to apply their knowledge of the Poisson distribution to real life data in the context of a school problem. This resource is good at contextualising and reinforcing understanding of the Poisson distribution, it requires students to consider developing a...

Sarah is a finance manager for the Arcadia Group, she discusses her role in this video. Sarah is responsible for cash flow forecasts and finance...

This Core Maths resource package involves students completing a financially-themed project. Students are given the task of promoting, manufacturing and delivering a new mobile phone for the best possible price. Students complete annual reports on monthly income and expenditure, explore interest rates, exchange...

Produced by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), this case study looks at the themes of embedding functional skills, numeracy and financial capability. It describes a project that is being piloted at Hull College.

The project aims to improve the financial awareness of its entry and level one...

This collection of Nuffield Maths resources explores Financial Calculations. The demand is roughly equivalent to that in Higher Level GCSE and Level 2 Functional Mathematics.

The collection contains the following resources:

Pay as you earn   Students work out how much income...

Ian is an independent financial advisor for Valiant, he discusses his role in this video. Ian spent time in both France and Germany as a teenager and had a variety of jobs having completed a degree before becoming an independent financial advisor. Ian explains that a key part of being successful is having good...

This collection of resources is produced by the Core Maths Support Programme to support the implementation of Core Maths. The collection contains a range of activities all designed to enable students to use and apply financial mathematics in unfamiliar contexts.

The maximum value of a quadratic function is given, together with the value of f(3) and the information that this is equal to f(-1). The challenge is to determine the coefficients of the quadratic. This involves the use of symmetry and solution of a simultaneous equation.

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The mathematical solution explains how to find the value of the first and second derivatives of a given function at specific values for x. The function is presented in the form of algebraic fractions which needs to be converted to index notation and the chain rule used to find the differentials.

The mathematical solution explains how to solve the equation: sin(x+150) = 1/sqrt2 for x between 0⁰ and 360⁰. To begin with, the principle values for (x+150) are found. The fact that a sine curve is periodic is used to find the solution set for (x+150) based upon these two initial values. Subtracting 150 from each...