We went along to Stoneyburn Primary School to take part in a Maths Problem solving challenge day.

We talked about different types of problems we can be given and the different strategies we might use to solve them.

We had lots of opportunities to work through different types of problems – logic, finding different possibilities, visual and rules and patterns.

Scott – I really enjoyed the logic problem all about Lego.

Jason – I really liked when I got to work out how many ways I could arrange number cards 1-15.

In the afternoon, we tackled 3 challenging questions. One was about how many jelly babies we would need to pull out of the bag to ensure we got one of each colour. The second question asked us to work out whether it was quicker to travel by horse and cart then a donkey or to walk the whole way.

The last question was the hardest and most challenging. We had to use our logic problem skills to work out the name and job of the son and Father.  We found it hard but we didn’t give up.

Can you solve the problem?

Messrs. Baker, Butcher, Farmer, Joiner and Plumber are all residents of the small village of Haar. They are the sons of a baker, a butcher, a farmer, a joiner and a plumber, who are all retired, and they themselves work as a baker, a butcher, a farmer, a joiner and a plumber. None of the five has a name which is that of his father’s occupation or of his own occupation; and none follows his father’s occupation. None has, as yet, a son of his own. Here are five clues to help you find out the occupation of each of the five villagers and the occupations of their fathers. 1. The retired plumber’s son is engaged to a girl in the neighbouring village of Smirr. 2. The village badminton team, which has four players, consists of Mr Baker, Mr Plumber, the retired butcher’s son and the joiner. 3. Mr Butcher and the retired baker’s son married sisters. 4. The village folk group, HearHaar, is made up of the retired farmer’s son on guitar, the plumber on fiddle and Mr Butcher on percussion. 5. The joiner is the only unmarried man in the list.