solve it!

Edward S. Mooney and Sherry Meier

Composites and Primes

We encourage classroom teachers to pose this problem to your students and share their creative solutions. Please include a brief analysis of the specific strategy; examples of original student work or high-quality digital images; and your name, school name and address, and your e-mail address. E-mail submissions to Edward S. Mooney at mooney@ilstu.edu, or send to him at Illinois State University, Campus Box 4520, Normal, IL 61790-4520, by January 15, 2011. Published solutions will be credited. (Solutions on page 309)

Place the digits 1 through 9 into the grid at right so that each row forms a three-digit composite number and each column forms a three-digit prime number. Each digit must be used once in the grid. Explain how you found your solution. How many solutions can you find? In the example at right, the rows form 123, 456, and 789. The columns form 147, 258, and 369. All these numbers are composite. 1 4 7 2 5 8 3 6 9

Vol. 16, No. 5, December 2010/January 2011

Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School

265

Copyright 2010 The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc. www.nctm.org. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed electronically or in any other format without written permission from NCTM.

Marina Nezhinkay/iStockphoto.com

solve it! solutions

(Continued from p. 265)

Composites and Primes

Answers will vary. Some solutions are shown below.

5 7 3 4 6 7

8 2 9 2 8 1

4 6 1 5 9 3

2 5 7 5 7 3

4 1 9 4 6 1

8 6 3 8 2 9

4 6 3 4 6 7

8 2 9 3 5 9

5 7 1 2 8 1

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Vol. 16, No. 5, December 2010/January 2011

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