We know this is a stressful time for all, and that many of our children are feeling that stress

as well. We want to do our part to inject some normalcy, fun, and community back into our
children’s lives and to do it through the medium we know best — math!

We will be releasing age-appropriate activity packets containing a variety of math-related

activities as frequently as we can. We call it “Math Arcade” because various problems and
activities can earn students “tickets” that they can collect while we are all self-isolating,
and redeem for prizes once we’re back in school!

We hope to build on this — introducing fun competitions and projects to this Math Arcade
world. Stay tuned!

ow to use this activity packet:

This activity packet includes 4 types of activities, identified by their corresponding symbol.

These symbols include:

Solve: Independent work: non-straight- Create: Use your hands and creativity!
forward problems that require students
to pause and think
Read: Math-focused stories that
Compete: Challenge problems that encourage students to read, reason,
have an element of competition to and solve
them

Earning Tickets:
Earn: This denotes when a problem or section can earn students “tickets!” The
number in the symbol indicates how many tickets a problem or section is worth.

On the last page of this packet you will find detailed

instructions for submitting your solutions to us in order
to earn tickets that you can later redeem for prizes!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Houston, we've got a problem!….......…………………...................................…………..2

Challenge Accepted!.......................................................................................................................3
Hands On Math…………………………………………………….......................................................……..............4
Story Time…………………………………………………………................................................................................5
 2

Houston, we’ve
got a problem!

The following problems are independent work. Snap a picture of your solutions and answers
and submit to us per the instructions below to earn tickets!

1. The figure at the right is cut out on S

1 the thick outer lines and folded on
the thin inner lines to form a cube. M A T H
Which letter will be on the face of the
cube opposite the letter T? E

A
2. Each whole number from 1 to 9 is
1 placed in a circle so that the sum of 3 1
the three numbers along any straight
line is the same as the sum along any
other straight line. Which number 7
must be in the circle marked A?

3. In this subtraction, the boxes contain

1 the digits 3, 4, 6, and 9 in some
order and the circles contain the
digits 4, 5, 8, and 9 in some order.
What four-digit number is represented
by the boxes? 3 4 9 7
 3 3
4. Fifteen darts have landed on the
5
1 dartboard shown. Each dart scores 7
3, 5, or 7 points. In how many
different ways can fifteen darts score
a total of 75 points?

5. A large cube, 5cm by 5cm by 5cm, is

painted orange on all six faces. Then
1 it is cut into 125 small cubes, each
1cm by 1cm by 1 cm. How many of
the small cubes are not painted
orange on any face?

Challenge
Accepted
The problem below is a challenging one. We recommend you take time to think on it — cut it
out, paste on your refrigerator, spin your wheels and once you figure it out snap a picture of your
solution and answer and submit to us per the instructions below to earn your tickets!

Adam the Ant and Anna the Ant dared each other to grab a moving bicycle wheel. Adam
the Ant hung on for 20 seconds, in which time the wheel made 30 turns; then, he fell
6 off. Anna the Ant hung on 12 seconds longer than Adam the Ant. How many times did
she spin around on the bicycle wheel?
 4

hands on
math

#RSMKidsExplain
Each week we will propose a topic that we’d like you to explain using any format of
your choice. Create a music video, rewrite lyrics to a song, make a power point, or
a craft - the choice is yours! We’ve included some examples of students doing this
below. Submit your finished work through facebook using the hashtag
@RSMKidsExplain or email it to us to earn your tickets!

25

Topic of the Week:

Gauss’s Theorem

Here are some examples of students doing

similar things for inspiration:
Pictorial representation of the topic
Explain your concept creatively
Legend of the 17 Camels 5
Victor Gutenmacher

There is a well-known, funny story that camels (9 + 6 + 2 = 17) according to their father’s
instructions. Grateful for his help, the brothers
poses the problem of dividing an old
returned the wise man’s camel. He then continued
man’s property of 17 camels among on his way.  
his three sons. This story originated
many centuries ago; and although The three brothers were happy with the outcome
since they each got more camels than they
the characters and settings may differ
expected. (See Problem 1.)
in the various retellings, the basic
premise of the story remains the same. An explanation of the wise
man’s trick
An ancient story retold
We first remark that the sum of the fractions is less
Once upon a time, there was an old man who had
than 1: 1
2
+ 13 + 19 = 17
18 , and thus, either the father
three sons. One day he gathered his sons together
and said: “My sons, I’m about to die. I leave to you was bad at math or he had something else in mind.
my herd of 17 camels, which you are to divide in In the above equality we see the number 18—it
the following way: You, my eldest son, take one is the least common denominator of the fractions.
half of the herd; you, my second son, take one The wise man actually divided the  17 camels in the
third of the herd; and you, my youngest son, take correct proportion
1 1 1
: :
2 3 9 . In fact, the proportions
one ninth of the herd.” With these words the man 1 : 1 : 1 = 9:6:2
are the same: 2 3 9 since 12 : 13 = 9 : 6 ,
died. Soon after, the sons began to divide the 1 : 1 = 6:2
3 9 , and 19 : 12 = 2 : 9 . 
inheritance. However, they quickly realized that
17 camels could not be divided according to their
father’s instructions without harming any camels.
Unit Fractions
A fraction that has a numerator of one and a
So, they began to argue.
denominator that is a positive integer is called a
unit fraction.
Magic Solution
At this time, a man traveling with his one camel 1
Let the fractions p
, 1q , and 1r represent the shares
came across the brothers. It just so happened
that this wise and quick-witted man had some of the brothers’ inheritance, and the herd consists
experience with settling conflicts. Upon hearing of the s – 1 camels. After the wise man adds one
the brothers arguing, he said, “Allow me to help! camel, the new number of camels s must be
s s s
Please, take my camel.” divisible by p, q, and r, and p + q + r = s − 1 .
 
We divide both sides of the equality by s:
They now had 18 camels, which could be divided 1 1
p
+ q
+ 1r = 1 − 1s .
as instructed by their father. So, the eldest son
took one half of the herd, or 9 camels, the second
son took one third of the herd, or 6 camels, and
the youngest son took one ninth of the herd,
or 2 camels. Thus, they divided the herd of 17
 6

Finally, we arrive at the equality in which one is Problem 1

represented as the sum of four unit fractions:  If the sons divided the 17 camels as instructed by their
1 1 1 1
p
+ q
+ r
+ s
= 1 . It turns out that there are just father, what is the actual share each son would get?
12 sets of four denominators (p, q, r, s) of unit
fractions that meet the following two conditions:
1 1 1 1
(1) p + q + r + s = 1 ; and (2) s is divisible by p, q,
and r.

They are: (2, 3, 7, 42), (2, 4, 5, 20), (2, 6, 6, 6), (2, 3,

8, 24), (2, 4, 6, 12), (2, 3, 9, 18), (2, 4, 8, 8), (2, 3, 12,
12), (2, 5, 5, 10), (3, 3, 4, 12), (3, 3, 6, 6), (4, 4, 4, 4).
We leave it to the reader to check that all these
sets satisfy both conditions. The set (2, 3, 9, 18)
was used in the ancient story about 17 camels.
Problem 2
Suppose the old man left 35 camels. How would you
divide the camels among the three sons?

Our story with 41 Camels

Let’s consider the unit fractions with denominators
(2, 3, 7, 42) and retell the story with these numbers.
In this version of the story, the father leaves 41
camels to his sons upon his death. He instructs his
1 1 1
sons to divide the herd in the proportion 2 : 3 : 7 .
A wise man adds his camel to the 41 camels and
divides 42 camels by 2, 3 and 7. The sons get 21, 14
Story Time
and 6 camels, which is 21 + 14 + 6 = 41 camels all
together. Again this is a happy ending.
  6 Solve the problems above.

Write a problem of your own to

5 submit for tickets!
 INSTRUCTIONS TO SUBMIT ANSWERS
This virtual math arcade allows you to solve problems, earn tickets and redeem your tickets
for prizes! Each section of this packet indicates the number of tickets you are eligible to
earn for each correct answer.

How does this work?

1. Download the packet onto your computer. Print it out so that your child can get to work
or work on a separate sheet of paper if you don’t have a printer!

2. Take a picture or scan your child’s work, and submit it to us in one of two ways:
Post on social media with the hashtag #RSMMathArcade. If your account is not
public, please follow and tag @russianmath on Instagram or
@Russian School of Mathematics on Facebook.
OR email us your pictures at matharcade@russianschool.com.

3. Fill out and snap a picture of the form below so that we can keep a tally of how many
tickets your child has earned. Provide your email address so we can email you back
pdf’s of your tickets that your child can keep and redeem for prizes! Submit it along
with your work. If you don’t have a printer just make sure to send us the information
requested in the form!

Don’t forget to provide your information so

we can email you your tickets!
Child’s Name:

RSM Branch (or closest branch

if you’re not an RSM student):

Email to send tickets:

Attach images of your work

How to redeem prizes?

1. If you are an RSM student, bring your collected tickets to your RSM branch to redeem them
for prizes once schools re-open.
2. If you are not an RSM student, you may still bring your tickets to the nearest RSM branch to
redeem them for prizes. If you don’t live close to an RSM branch, we encourage parents to
create your own “arcade store” once life goes back to normal.

Note: Please don’t forget to submit your child’s solution as well as the answer!

Have questions?
Email us at matharcade@russianschool.com