The plane problem is a real-world problem, presented without any suggestion as to how it might be solved. It arose unexpectedly as the author was messing around on the internet, not thinking about maths at all. She did not encounter the problem in a maths lesson, nor as homework in the middle of a unit on a particular topic, and so she had no…

This article looks at a simple geometry problem that also involves some reasoning about number combinations, and show how it was used in a Year 7 classroom. The problem is accessible to students with a wide range of abilities, and provides scope for stimulating extensive discussion and reasoning in the classroom, as well as an opportunity for…

Everyone knows that teachers do not have unlimited time, a log of experience, or a deep understanding of all the mathematics they teach. To solve this problem, teachers often use textbooks, and the accompanying teacher's resource books, as sources of activities and advice about how to help students learn mathematics. The activity that prompted…