A Trip to the Cinema

There are plenty of opportunities to explore some mathematics on a trip to the cinema. From the cost of the tickets and the number of empty seats, to the price of the popcorn or buying some sweets, these problems will keep you busy while you're waiting for the trailers...

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Going to the Cinema

If every seat in the cinema is filled, and you know how much money was taken, can you work out who was in the audience? A chance to explore some simple examples of Diophantine Equations.

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Cinema Surprises

Sometimes the cinema can sell every seat while taking exactly £100, in more than one way. Sometimes it can't be done at all! How do you know when it can and can't be done?

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Cinema Sweets

Charlie has 3 coins in his pocket that add up to 32p - what could they be? Come and explore this and other exciting questions about the maths of partitioning.

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Pennies and Tuppences

Imagine you've won some coins from a slot machine. Can you find any patterns in the possible combinations of coins? Can you explain them?

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Counting Change

If you want to know how many ways there are of making different amounts of money, you need a really good method which makes sure you don't miss any combinations!

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Meet a Mathematician - Ramanujan

Find out about the life of one of the greatest ever self-taught mathematicians, who worked on advanced versions of problems similar to those on this website!

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P v NP

How do you decide if a problem is easy or hard? What if you're using computers to help you solve your problem?

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Partitions

Explore the mysteries behind partitions – how many different ways it's possible to write numbers as a sum.