Tom Murray, the coordinator of the The Math Puzzle, has been kind enough to give CM permission to run the weekly Little Math Puzzle Contest (inspired by The Great Canadian Trivia Challenge.)

Royal West Academy (a high school) in Montreal, Quebec is sponsoring a little math puzzle contest.

This contest is open to all participants but is designed for students in grades five through ten. English will be the language used for all problems and if their solutions relate to a language, the language will be English.

Contest Format:

Each week a new puzzle will be presented and the answers and winners from two weeks earlier will be posted. Answers are to be received by 8:00 a.m. eastern time the following Friday.

The answers will then be judged, and a correct answer along with the winners' names, will be posted with the puzzle two weeks later.

Both individual students and entire classes are welcome to participate.

Do not to send your answers to CM.
Instead, please send all answers to Andrea Pollock and Alex Nazarov at the following address:

math_puzzle@rwa.psbgm.qc.ca

With your solution please include your names, school, grade, and e-mail address, and your city.

Question #11 from two weeks ago was the following:

What are the next two numbers? 61, 52, 63, 94, 46, __ , __

New deadline (try a new approach) December 8st.

Answer #11:

There were some very impressive solutions such as the ones well explained below from Winnipeg. One is a neat solution to the number set that went out in error.

There is a much simpler pattern to #11 that may be found. Problems are puzzles. Look for a twist, try another approach, it is not intended to be a trick. The puzzle is one of my favourites and a little different so you have been given the next number as a hint and publication of the answer will be delayed a week. Hopefully someone will enjoy a flash of insight.

A very common (incorrect) answer was 65 and 136 such as given by Clyde Dohey level 1, Fatima Academy St. Bride's Newfoundland

I like how you were thinking but the 13 was based on a guess at a pattern from 2 numbers. You need 3 at least to show a pattern.

A very rare answer(correct?).

The next two numbers are 145 & 216: Between 61 & 52 is a distance of -9; from 52 to 63 is +11. Therefore, the jump in adding numbers is +20.

61-9 = 52; 52+11 = 63; 63+31 = 94; 94+51 +145; 145+71 = 216

By Brett Kuntz, Gr. 7 B, Mennonite Brethren Collegiate, Winnipeg, MB

Here is a neat solution to the number set that went out in error (WOW).

61, 52, 63, 49, 67, 44

increase by 2 on the first number, then decrease by 3 the second number; place results after the first two numbers, then continue...

61+2, 52-3, 63+4, 49-5, etc., working on every other number

By Eric Klatt, Gr. 7 B, Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Inst., Winnipeg, MB

The Winners - Solvers of Puzzle #11

1. Jane Scaplen's grade 6 French Immersion class
   Sacred Heart Elementary - Marystown, Newfoundland
2. Lindsay Pettigrew and Nick Humber in Mr.Garbaty's Grade 8 class
   St.Margaret's School - Sarnia ,Ontario.
3. Gail Snow & Jennifer Mullett in Edgar Lee's class
   Lakewood Academy - Glenwood
4. Ryan Cook, Kiran Helferty, Evan Powell, Vincent Spano Ms. L. Laudoniio' s Grade 5
   Gregory A. Hoggan School Sarnia, Ontariio
5. Chris Galipeau, Frank Spano, Shawn Andrews in Mrs. Pitt's class
   Gregory Hogan School Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
6. Erin Doyle, Jaclyn Doyle
   Lambton County Roman Catholic Separate School Board Sarnia, Canada
7. Meagan Heard Grade 9
   Cunard Junior High School - Halifax, N.S.
8. ( and a unique solution - also satisfying the problem )
   Brett Kuntz, Gr. 7 B
   Mennonite Brethren Collegiate, Winnipeg, MB

Puzzle #13

What are the next two numbers in the set?

30, 27, 9, 12, 9, 3, 6, 3, 1, ___, ___

Send your response by 8:00 a.m., Friday, December 8st to: