Four Numbers
What values can you make?
Construct various mathematical expressions using your chosen number and the operations available from the buttons below. Click a button to add an operator tile, and then build up expressions by dragging the tiles on top of each other in the shaded area — the borders will turn red when combination is possible. (You can also drag two numbers together to join them.)
  • Can you construct expressions that evaluate to each number from 1 to 10?
  • What other interesting values can you make?
Click Save to store a copy of any complete expression in the box on the right.

About the activity

To get the most out of this activity, think about the relationships between numbers. For example, given a particular number for the four tiles, which target values are easier and which are harder? Can you think of reasons why?

Try and predict easy and hard combinations in advance, and then test your predictions.