In the treasure-hunting game of Geocaching (pronounced “geo-cashing”), players use GPS systems to locate boxes hidden at different geographical locations across the country.
Now, the creative people at Mathbits.com have come up with an online treasure-hunting activity for junior high and high school students, called MathCaching. Students solve mathematical problems to find hidden “boxes” on the Internet. Each box reveals clues to the location of the next one.
The MathCaching game covers pre-algebra through trigonometry topics, with calculus levels under development. For more information, visit the MathCaching site, or read the post on my Frugal Homeschooling blog.
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 
This looks neat! Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome. I didn’t have time to test all the levels, but I worked through the pre-algebra problem sets. They weren’t challenging puzzles like you would expect on a math contest, but they did provide a decent assortment of questions for what is basically a 30-question review quiz. And the “find the secret page” idea turns what could otherwise be relatively boring exercises into a game.
Is there any way to check the answers? My dh and I worked out the first MathCache for basic math and we’re confident in our answers, yet they didn’t work.
I’d like to know where we went wrong. Or is there a problem with the URL?
Thank you!
Many of the answers for the Basic Math (prealgebra) level can be checked with a calculator. The most common trouble with the first problem set is probably #2, because you have to follow the correct order of operations.
is NOT the same as 
.
If you weren’t fooled by that problem, then perhaps you did have trouble with the URL. It starts the same on all of the “boxes” for that level. Compare the URL of the first page with the one they say you should type for the hidden page, and you’ll see that you can simply highlight “asicOpenCache1” and replace that with your calculated mystery number. Then for all the other pages, highlight the number and replace it with each new one.
Oh, here is another possibility. Did you notice that the first question was multiple choice? The correct answer for that question is not the value of the expression, but the number of the correct response. That will make a big difference when you multiply to find your secret code number.
What fun! Great game.
I love the picture more than the game. No seriously, it was a great game.
Thanks for finding our math resources, especially the Math-Caching series.
We have a process where homeschooling parents or any concerned parents may request answers to some of our resources. Under the directions on the caching page, there is a link to register as an “ecucation parent”. Once registered, you can request answers to some of our activities.
Live Long and Love Math!!
Hi, my name is William and I’m actually glad toget your math cache side,i would be very glad to get some math articles in my box together with the procedures and answers off course,because to be honest i had difficulties in understanding basic math.
Thanks yrs sincerely william