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The Math Dice Daily Challenge

Hosted by thinkfun.com

6:00 AM to 11:00 PM East Coast Time

(Some Days We Run It, Some Days We Don’t)

Featured Challenge:

Math Dice Classic

Click here to play!

Also Playing, Also Fun!:

Math Dice Limited Operators

Click here to play!

Math Dice 3 Ball

Click here to play!

Math Dice Power Center

Click here to play!

The Math Dice Challenge Menu

What These Games Are About

Math Dice Classic:

Math Dice Classic plays just like the popular dice Math Dice game… you move the Operator and Number Dice (and Parentheses) around the screen to build your best math expression that comes as close as you can to the Target Number. Then you submit your answer to see if you are correct. Win three challenges as fast as you can, your time is your score.

Today’s Challenge Set:
– Target Numbers range from 12 to 24
– Closest Result always within 3 of Target Number
– Can reach Closest Result from Above Target and from Below Target

Click here to play!

Math Dice Limited Operators:

Limited Operators uses Classic rules, except you only get the operators we give you and you can always hit the Target Number exactly. This game demonstrates how Order of Operations actually works, and why it matters.

Today’s Challenge Set: Players add first and then multiply. For this set you must use parentheses.

Click here to play!

Math Dice 3 Ball:

This is a light tempo mental math version of Math Dice. We reveal 3 Scoring Numbers and 3 Target Numbers. You figure out which Target Number is unhittable and click that number… faster the better. Win by getting 3 correct answers. Your score is your time, every incorrect answer adds a 10 second penalty.

Today’s Challenge: Multiply then Subtract.

Click here to play!

Challenges are hand crafted by Molly Engelberg.

“For all the puzzles in this challenge set, both the hittable targets use the same order of operation,” says Molly. “For the False Target, I tried to keep it close or in between the others, overall just trying to be clever and think up good red herrings that I think might work on people. I hope you enjoy.”

3 Ball Challenge Creator Molly Engelberg

“Mental math has become such a key, useful skill for me. I used to be homeschooled, and all I really had access to was writing out my times tables in charts, again and again. Now, in public high school, I have been given the opportunity to exercise these skills to save time during math tests, the AMC exam, the SATs, and more. I was also able to use these skills in the speed rounds at math meets for the math team at my school–which I am now the president of. I am such a huge advocate for being able to do simple calculations quickly without thinking, but the way I got to this place is not what I would wish on any group of middle school students.

“Making these challenges was not only a way to make some side money but to reinvent how I would have wanted to be drilled on mental math. I feel really grateful for this opportunity to assist in designing a fun, easy-to-follow curriculum that provide skills that will last a lifetime.

I was given a database of every possible combination of rolling three dice and all the possible targets they could make, and an outline by my boss of what kind of skills we’d focus on each week. I then sorted and combed through them, devising up fake targets to mix in with real, possible targets, to create a quick, 30-second problem where students will have to use mathematical operations to combine the three dice they rolled and see which targets they can hit and which target they can’t.

It’s a fun way to test your skills–and then you can compare times of how long it took with your friends, make a little competition out of it! I personally am someone who responds really well to incentives, so I know I would do this again and again at school with my friends to see if I could beat them. With over 200 potential problems I’ve created for every week, kids are free to drill this over and over. It’s a really exciting tool, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to contribute!”

— Molly Engelberg, 16, Student/ThinkFun

Math Dice Power Centers:

Today’s Power Center Number is 27

Click here to play!

One of the great joys of Math Dice is how it reveals the playful power of exponents. With exponents, the right two numbers can get you almost anywhere between 1 and 128 in a flash.

Power Center uses Classic rules, each Challenge Set is specially developed to train players to quickly recognize exponents based on reaching a Target Number. When a player commits to a training program to do better with Math Dice, that’s when they focus down deep.