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The 12 Ways of Christmas

How many different ways can you make the number 12 using the digits 1 to 4?

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Using the digits 1, 2, 3 and 4 make expressions that are equal to 12. For example you could begin with 12(4 − 3). Find as many different ways as you can.

Earn trophies based on the number of correct solutions:

Level 1: for finding at least 12 solutions;

Level 2: for finding at least 24 solutions;

Level 3: for finding at least 36 solutions;

Level 4: for finding at least 48 solutions;

Level 5: for finding at least 60 solutions;

If by mistake you type in the same solution twice the duplicate will be marked with a #.

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Check

This is The 12 Ways of Christmas level 1. You can also try Making Expressions:
Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

CentExpression One Digit Only

Instructions

Try your best to answer the questions above. Type your answers into the boxes provided leaving no spaces. As you work through the exercise regularly click the "check" button. If you have any wrong answers, do your best to do corrections but if there is anything you don't understand, please ask your teacher for help.

When you have got all of the questions correct you may want to print out this page and paste it into your exercise book. If you keep your work in an ePortfolio you could take a screen shot of your answers and paste that into your Maths file.

Why am I learning this?

Mathematicians are not the people who find Maths easy; they are the people who enjoy how mystifying, puzzling and hard it is. Are you a mathematician?

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Featured Activity

ChrisMaths

ChrisMaths

Christmas activities make those December Maths lessons interesting, exciting and relevant. If students have access to computers there are some online activities to keep them engaged such as Christmas Ornaments and Christmas Light Up.

Answers

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Learning and understanding Mathematics, at every level, requires learner engagement. Mathematics is not a spectator sport. Sometimes traditional teaching fails to actively involve students. One way to address the problem is through the use of interactive activities and this web site provides many of those. The Go Maths page is an alphabetical list of free activities designed for students in Secondary/High school.

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Are you looking for something specific? An exercise to supplement the topic you are studying at school at the moment perhaps. Navigate using our Maths Map to find exercises, puzzles and Maths lesson starters grouped by topic.

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This festive activity is based on the Make an Expression challenge which you can try by clicking on the link below.

Make an Expression - This is the original activity with five different levels.

Make an Expression :: Advanced - For this advanced challenge you cannot concatenate digits (you can't put 2 and 3 together to make 23) but you can use exponentials and factorials.

CentExpression - Find an expression for 100 using the digits 1 to 9

One Digit Only - Find expressions for target numbers using repeated digits.

More on this topic including lesson Starters, visual aids and investigations.

Answers to this exercise are available lower down this page when you are logged in to your Transum account. If you don’t yet have a Transum subscription one can be very quickly set up if you are a teacher, tutor or parent.

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ChristMaths

ChrisMaths

Christmas activities make those December Maths lessons interesting, exciting and relevant. Click on the snowman above for some online activities to keep everyone engaged in worthwhile, festive mathematics.

Help

The idea is to make correct mathematical expressions for 12 using all of the digits 1 to 4. Click the green buttons in the order you wish to see their values in the expressions. Press the C button to clear the expression and start again.

Examples:

2^3 means 23 = 2 × 2 × 2 = 8

5! means 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 120

 

This Numberphile video of the four 4s problem might give you some ideas!

Don't wait until you have finished the exercise before you click on the 'Check' button. Click it often as you work through the questions to see if you are answering them correctly. You can double-click the 'Check' button to make it float at the bottom of your screen.

Answers to this exercise are available lower down this page when you are logged in to your Transum account. If you don’t yet have a Transum subscription one can be very quickly set up if you are a teacher, tutor or parent.

Log in Sign up

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