KenKen Puzzles M

KENKEN Puzzles KENKEN puzzles develop problem solving skills and can be adapted to suit primary aged children (and adults!) of all mathematical abilities. They can certainly be challenging but are terrific fun! In fact, KENKEN is the fastest growing puzzle since Sudoku. Over 30,000 teachers use it in their classrooms, and over 200 publications worldwide carry it as a brain-exercising puzzle for adults. The size of the puzzle ranges from a 3x3 grid right up to a 9x9 grid. Using the official website www.kenkenpuzzle.com teachers, parents (and children) can download free puzzles and select whether to have all of the operations ( - x and ) included in the puzzle or perhaps just addition, ‘addition and subtraction’ or ‘multiplication and division’. The level of difficulty can also be selected (Easy, Medium and Hard) before downloading a puzzle. So the puzzles can be adapted to suit children’s needs. When using the official website www.kenkenpuzzle.com or the free iPhone, iPad, or Android app (KenKen Classic), it is also possible to have some parts (numerals) of the puzzle ‘revealed’ to further help children solve the puzzle. Teachers, parents and children can access complete puzzle solutions from the website to check their answers! And the great thing is, once children have learnt to solve them and become ‘hooked’ on KENKEN, there seems an almost limitless number of puzzles to choose from on the website. There are rules to follow. Each row and column in a 5 x 5 grid must have the numerals 1 to 5, and similarly, each row and column in a 7 x 7 grid must have the numerals 1 to 7 etc. The grids are divided into ‘cages’ (indicated by bold outlines) and each cage always has a target answer and usually an operator eg - x or . Each KENKEN puzzle has a unique solution and can be solved mainly using logic and at times some ‘trial and error’. When solving a puzzle, children can be encouraged to write possible placements of numerals in the boxes until they are sure that they know the correct positioning. KenKen is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC, 2016, KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. www.kenkenpuzzle.com . Copyright mathsmentality.com.au 2016

KENKEN Puzzles Here is a link to the KENKEN Apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. These are free downloads! http://www.kenkenpuzzle.com/store/mobile KENKEN has many benefits for adults as well! It has a wonderful following amongst senior citizens due to its brain training. It is also a rare product that a grandparent or parent can do with their kids . . . even the child can teach the parent. The following link has a great guide to help children teach their parents and grandparents how to solve KENKEN puzzles: http://www.kenkenpuzzle.com/Can Your Parents KenKen.pdf Perhaps the best way to understand how to solve KENKEN puzzles is to have a look at a worked solution. Here’s an example of a solution to a 4 x 4 KENKEN puzzle. KenKen is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC, 2016, KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. www.kenkenpuzzle.com . Copyright mathsmentality.com.au 2016

Firstly, there’s an individual box with the numeral ‘3’ in it and no operator ( - x or ) which means that in this box we can simply write the numeral ‘3’ To the right of the ‘3’ we just filled in is a cage that has two spaces, must use addition and add to 4. We know that 2 2 4 and 1 3 4. However the rules of KENKEN tell us that we can’t have a numeral repeated in a column therefore we will use ‘1 and 3’ rather than ‘2 and 2’. We can’t place another ‘3’ in the bottom row therefore the ‘1’ will go in the bottom next to the ‘3’ 3 3 3 1 1 4 3 3 1 There’s a cage that has two spaces, must use subtraction and have an answer of 3. Using logic and considering our numeral choices are 1, 2, 3 and 4, the only way to use subtraction will be 4-1. Because the rules of KENKEN tell us that we can’t have a numeral repeated in a column, we can’t place the ‘1’ in the right column as there’s already a ‘1’ positioned there. So we will put the ‘4’ in the right column. There is a cage that has two spaces, must use division and have an answer of 2. We know that 2 1 2 and 4 2 2. However looking closely at what we’ve already filled in, we can’t use 2 1 because we have already placed the numeral ‘1’ in the right column and column second from the right. So we will have to use 4 2. There’s already a ‘4’ in the right column so we will place the 2 in the right column. KenKen is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC, 2016, KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. www.kenkenpuzzle.com . Copyright mathsmentality.com.au 2016

In the column second from the right there’s just one number missing. The column has a 1, 3 and 4 therefore the missing number must be a 2. 2 3 4 There is a cage that has three spaces, must use multiplication and have an answer of 24. We can try different combinations of 1, 2, 3 and 4 and find that the only way to make 24 is 2x3x4. The ‘2’ is already positioned, and the 3 will have to go above the 4 because there is already another 4 in the second row from the top and a 3 in the third row from the top. 2 As the rules of KENKEN state that each row must have the numerals 1 to 4 in a 4x4 grid, we can see that the second and third rows from the top both only have one numeral missing. We can therefore work out that the missing number in the second row from the top is a ‘2’ and the missing numeral in the third row from the top is a ‘1’. There’s a cage in the top row that has two spaces, must use subtraction and have an answer of 2. We have already used a ‘4’ and ’2’ in the top row therefore the missing numerals must be a ‘1’ and a ‘3’. The ‘1’ can’t go in the left hand column (as there’s already a ‘1’ in this column) therefore the ‘3’ will go in the top left corner of the grid. KenKen is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC, 2016, KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. www.kenkenpuzzle.com . Copyright mathsmentality.com.au 2016

3 1 3 1 As the rules of KENKEN state that each column must have the numerals 1 to 4 in a 4x4 grid, we can see that the first and second columns from the left both only have one numeral missing. We can therefore work out that the missing number in the first column from the left is a ‘4’ and the missing numeral in the second column from the left is a ‘2’. This KENKEN puzzle is now complete! You can see that each row has the numerals 1 to 4 and each column has the numerals 1 to 4. Each cage has numerals that satisfy the operation and mini-answer required. 4 2 . Sometimes when solving a KENKEN puzzle, children might find it useful to place possible numerals in the spaces to help with working out. Here’s an example using a 6x6 grid. There’s a cage that has two spaces, uses multiplication and has an answer of 30. We can use any numerals from 1 to 6 and the only combination that works is 5x6. We don’t know yet exactly how to position these numerals so we can write mini numerals in each space for the moment. Later as the puzzle solution progresses, we can decide which of the spaces has the 5 and which has the 6 56 56 KenKen is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC, 2016, KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. www.kenkenpuzzle.com . Copyright mathsmentality.com.au 2016

Name: Date: KENKEN Puzzles KENKEN puzzles are challenging and develop problem solving skills and number sense! Best of all they’re great fun to solve! In these 3 x 3 grids, each row and column must have the numerals 1 to 3. Please go to www.kenkenpuzzle.com to find many, many more KENKEN puzzles and solve or download them for free! KenKen is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC, 2016, KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. www.kenkenpuzzle.com . Copyright mathsmentality.com.au 2016

- - - ANSWER KEY - - - KENKEN Puzzles In these 3 x 3 grids, each row and column must have the numerals 1 to 3. Please go to www.kenkenpuzzle.com to find many, many more KENKEN puzzles and solve or download them for free! KenKen is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC, 2016, KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. www.kenkenpuzzle.com . Copyright mathsmentality.com.au 2016

Name: Date: KENKEN Puzzles KENKEN puzzles are challenging and develop problem solving skills and number sense! Best of all they’re great fun to solve! In these 4 x 4 grids, each row and column must have the numerals 1 to 4. Please go to www.kenkenpuzzle.com to find many, many more KENKEN puzzles and solve or download them for free! KenKen is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC, 2016, KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. www.kenkenpuzzle.com . Copyright mathsmentality.com.au 2016

- - - ANSWER KEY - - - KENKEN Puzzles In these 4 x 4 grids, each row and column must have the numerals 1 to 4. Please go to www.kenkenpuzzle.com to find many, many more KENKEN puzzles and solve or download them for free! KenKen is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC, 2016, KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. www.kenkenpuzzle.com . Copyright mathsmentality.com.au 2016

KENKEN Puzzles KENKEN puzzles develop problem solving skills and can be adapted to suit primary aged children (and adults!) of all mathematical abilities. They can certainly be challenging but are terrific fun! In fact, KENKEN is the fastest growing puzzle since Sudoku. Over 30,000 teachers use it in their classrooms,