Fun math puzzles

I try my best to provide you with fun math puzzles. Fun does not necessarily means easy. As a math major, anything that becomes challenging is fun for me. 

I cannot guarantee all the puzzles will be fun, but I can guarantee that some of the puzzles will be very challenging eventhough the skills that you need is basic math. Try to do the puzzles yourself before looking at the solution at the end of the page 

The puzzles on this page are warm ups. More complicated puzzles will be added on a regular basis

Let's get started with some fun math puzzles!

Puzzle #1:

Use four 5s and some of the symbols +, ×, −, and ÷ to give expressions for 0, 1, 2, and 5

Puzzle #2:

Use the two isosceles triangles below to make a star?

Puzzle #3:

It takes 1629 digits to number the pages of a book. How many pages does the book have?

Puzzle #4:

Use only 4 straight lines to cut a pizza into 11 pieces?

Puzzle #5:

would you rather work for 30 days and get paid 5 millions dollars, or be paid 1 cent the first day, 2 cents the second day, 4 cents the third day, and so on...?

Puzzle #6:

Place 10 dishes along the 4 edges of a table so that each edge has the same amount of dishes

Puzzle #7:

In a family with 4 siblings, John is older than Mary, Peter is younger than John, Mary is older than Peter, and Sarah is older than John. Who is the second oldest in the family? Who is the youngest?

Puzzle #1 solution:

5 − 5 + 5 − 5 = 0

5 − 5 + 5 ÷5 = 1

5 ÷5 + 5 ÷5 = 1 + 1 = 2

5 × (5 − 5) + 5 = 5

Puzzle #2 solution:

Puzzle #3:

From page #1 to page # 9, there are 9 pages

From page #10 to page # 99, there are 90 pages. However, since each page number has 2 digits, there are 180 digits from page # 10 to page # 99 

From page #100 to page # 999, there are 900 pages. However, since each page number has 3 digits, there are 2700 digits from page # 100 to page # 999

Since there are 1629 digits, we know so far that number of pages is less than 900

Now, we need to find out how many digits there are for those pages greater than 99 or those pages with 3 digits

Since there are 189 digits for pages with less than 3 digits, we can subtract 189 from 1629 digits to find the number of pages with 3 digits

1629 − 189 = 1440

1440 represents the pages with 3 digits, so number of pages with 3 digits = 1440/3 = 480

Thus, total number of pages = 480 + 90 + 9 = 579 pages

Puzzle #4 solution:

Puzzle #5:

The trick is to find out how much money you make in 30 days if you get 1 cent the first day, 2 cents the second day, 4 cents the third day, and so on... Day 1: 1 cents

Day 2: 2 cents

Day 3: 4 cents

Day 4: 8 cents 

Day 5: 16 cents

Day 6: 32 cents

Day 7: 64 cents

Day 8: 128 cents

Day 9: 256 cents

-------

-------

-------

-------

Keep mutliplying by 2

-------

-------

-------

-------

Day 30: 536,870,912 cents

536,870,912 cents/100 = 5,368,709.12 dollars and 5,368,709.12 is bigger than 5,000,000

Therefore, you are better off taking 1 cent the first day, 2 cents the second day, 4 cents the third day, and so on... until the 30th day

Puzzle #6:

If the blue rectangle represents the table and the red circles represent dishes, here is the solution

Are you not tired yet with these fun math puzzles? Read on...

Puzzle #7:

In a family with 4 siblings, John is older than Mary, Peter is younger than John, Mary is older than Peter, and Sarah is older than John. Who is the second oldest in the family? Who is the youngest?

This puzzle. You solve it! Yes, the first person who solves this fun math puzzle with a detailed solution, will have his solution posted on this page with his name in parenthesis. As an added bonus, you can get my fractions ebook plus all bonuses with a donation of your choice

All other persons who solve this puzzle will not have their names listed, but they can get my fractions ebook and the bonuses with a donation of at least 10 dollars instead of paying the regular price of 29 dollars!

Here is the process to follow:

Send the solution using the form here

If you have the correct solution, I will contact you with further instructions. 

If you love these fun math puzzles, stay tune. This page will be updated with fun math puzzles on a regular basis!