Tag: bbc

Christmas Stamps

This Christmas themed puzzle was featured on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme as the 375th ‘Puzzle for Today‘. You can listen to the broadcast here at 48:55.

Christmas stamps are sold with the following values 16p, 17p, 23p, 24p, 39p and 40p. You want to send a present which has a postage cost of £1.00. How many stamps do you need to buy to make the exact amount?

Send your answers to @tomrocksmaths on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or using the contact form on my website. The solution will be posted with the next puzzle.

Merry Christmas!

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Arithmophobia – the fear of maths

New research shows that most parents can’t help their kids with maths homework because they have a fear of numbers. Here’s me being asked about the problem (and setting the presenters a farm animal themed maths puzzle) along with Martin Upton of the Open University on BBC Radio Scotland…

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Funbers 20

From the number of children of composer Johann Sebastian Bach, to the number of championships won by Manchester United, its fair to say that 20 gets around. Then there’s the 1920’s, seen as a time of boom and bust with the creation of jazz music followed by the great depression. Not to mention the Mayan counting system which uses base 20…

You can find all of the episodes in the Funbers series with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Oxford here.

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Funbers 19

The 1900’s saw inventions that made a BIG change to our lives. Aeroplanes in 1903 changed the way we travel, TVs in 1925 changed home entertainment, and Microwaves in 1946 changed the way we eat. Nineteen also played an important role in the British Civil War and was the title of Adele’s first album…

You can listen to all of the Funbers episodes from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Oxford here.

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Funbers 18

Time to celebrate with a glass of bubbly as we’ve reached the number 18! The legal drinking age in most countries around the world, unless you’re the US, Saudi Arabia or Haiti. In fact, in Haiti you only need to be ‘of school age’ to get your hands on the devil’s nectar…

You can listen to all of the Funbers episodes from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Oxford here.

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Funbers 17

Yet another applicant for the title of ‘world’s unluckiest number’, 17 spells ‘I am dead’ when rearranged in Italian. It’s also the ‘world’s most popular random number’ according to scientists at MIT and the number of ‘givens’ at the beginning of a Sudoku game that are required for there to be only one possible way to solve the puzzle correctly…

You can listen to all of the Funbers episodes from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Oxford here.

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Funbers 15

15 is possibly the most ‘quotable’ of the double digit numbers, with everyone from Andy Warhol to Jack Sparrow using it in one way or another. It’s also the total of every row, column and diagonal in a 3 x 3 magic square containing the numbers 1-9 and the average amount of seconds an employer spends looking at an applicants CV… It’s time for some fun with numbers!

You can listen to all of the Funbers episodes from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Oxford here.

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Funbers 14

From plagues and lambs, to wives and rams the Bible loves a good reference to the number 14. And then of course there’s St Valentine and his quest to fill the world with love – not unlike a certain Gene Simmons from KISS…

You can listen to all of the Funbers episodes from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Oxford here.

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