Bogusia Gierus, host of this month’s Math Teachers at Play blog carnival, is offering to give away her First Book of Hexa-Trex Puzzles for just the cost of shipping. How generous!
My math club had fun with several of these puzzles a few years ago, and the “Easy” ones (like the sample shown here) were just right for my 4th-5th grade students. One girl enjoyed them enough that she took home extra copies to share with her father.
It’s a thin book, just the right size for a stocking-stuffer. To see the full range of difficulty levels, look over the puzzles on Bogusia’s Daily Hexa-Trex page. To get your own copy of the book, read the giveaway instructions on Bogusia’s blog.
Object of the Puzzle
The object of the puzzle is to find the equation pathway that leads through ALL the tiles.
Forming Equations
- Two or three (or four or five etc.) digit numbers are made up of the individual tiles in the particular order as the equation is read. For example 5 x 5 = 2 5 is correct, but read backwards 5 2 = 5 x 5 is incorrect.
- The equation must be continuous (no jumping over tiles or empty spaces).
- Each tile can be used ONLY ONCE.
- Order of operations is followed. Multiplication and division comes before addition and subtraction.
- The tile “-” can be used as both a subtraction operation or a negative sign in front of a digit, making it a negative number.
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 