Math Adventure: Stationery Harvest on Planet Qizzle

Welcome to Planet Qizzle, a place where the unexpected is the norm. Here, Pop tends to a magical garden of stationery items like markers, pencils, and paint pots instead of traditional plants. However, after a comet's visit, some items gained legs and started moving! Pop now needs help to count the remaining stationary in the garden.

Mysterious Clues:

• When counting all the heads (in this case, the tops of the markers, pencils, and paint pots), Pop found a total of 30 winking at him from the garden.
• Upon counting all the legs (yes, these stationery items grew tiny legs!), there were 74 scampering around the garden soil.
• In Pop's magical garden, whiteboard markers and pencils have sprouted 2 little legs each to scamper around, while the pots of paint, being a bit more lavish, have grown 4 legs each.

Your Mission:

Help Pop figure out how many whiteboard markers, pencils, and pots of paint are currently making up the whimsical scene in his garden. Use the clues provided to solve the puzzle and ensure Pop can keep track of his lively stationery supplies.

Hint: Think about setting up a magical equation or two, using the clues about the heads and legs to uncover the numbers of each stationery item.

Can you solve the mystery and help Pop manage his extraordinary harvest on Planet Qizzle?

Provide your answer by Midnight Thursday 22nd February, winners announced Friday 23rd February. 

Here’s the answer!

The formula for figuring out this math problem is:

(X x 2) + (Y x 4) = 74

If you first focus on figuring out the number of pots and then subtract that by 30 you can find the answer.

30 heads x 2 legs = 60 legs

74 legs – 60 legs = 14 legs

14 divided by 2 = 7 pots

30 – 7 = 23 whiteboard markers/pencils (You can split with whiteboard markers and pencils)

Therefore, Pop grew 7 Pots of paint and 23 whiteboard markers and pencils.

Congratulations to our winners!

Megan Garside from Broomfield School

Alex Caradus from St Mary’s Whanganui

Janette Potter from Kaikorai Valley College

Gareth Swete from Sawyers Bay School