Maniac Magee's Math
Brain Busters

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Brain Busters
State Math Standards

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1.  Handshakes  
Eight people went to a party, and they all exchanged handshakes.  How many different handshakes were exchanged?

2.  Sports-minded Girls
Carol, Cindy, and Clara, who are close friends, are very sports-minded girls.  However, only two of them bowl, only two of them play golf, and only two of them play tennis.  Carol doesn't play golf.  Cindy plays tennis but doesn't play one of Carol's games.  Name the games that each girl plays.  It will be helpful to use a grid to find the answer.
 
3.  Toothpicks
Using tooth picks, make a square that is 3 tooth picks tall by 3 tooh picks wide.  Now make a grid inside that square so there are 9 smaller squares, each 1 tooth pick in size.  You will have used 12 tooth picks for the outside square and 12 more to divide that square into 9 smaller squares.  Now take away eight toothpicks so there are only two squares left.

 
4.  Spelling Math
Mrs. Exponent wrote this problem on the board.
                                                egg
                                             + egg
                                               page

Each letter in the math problem represents a different number between 0 and  9.  For example, the letter 'g' could represent  the number 4.  However, 'g' does not equal 4.  What is the numerical value of each letter?
                                              
5.  Red Cubes
There are 27 small cubes arranged in a 3 by 3 by 3 cube.  The top and sides of the large cube are painted red.  How many of the 27 small cubes have 0 faces painted?  1 face?  2 faces?  3 faces?  4 faces?  5 faces?  6 faces?
 
6.  Softball Team
Brenda, Tricia, Kathy, and Lucy are on their school's softball team, playing first base, second base, third base, and pitcher.  Use the following clues to find out who plays each position.  It will be helpful to use a grid to find the answer.
 
7.  Flash Psychic
Click on the link below and follow the instructions.  Can you explain how it works?