Math Games
A Journal of Máthēma: Knowledge in All Its Forms by Barry Leung, KoMG
Barry’s Notes
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No Matter What, You Keep Finding Something To Fight For
barry leung
2–4 minutesRead more: No Matter What, You Keep Finding Something To Fight ForIn an alternate timeline, an outbreak of mutant fungus devastated the country many years ago. Here comes Joel, the protagonist…
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Learning Maths Does NOT Make One A Better Problem Solver In Other Areas Of Life
barry leung
4–7 minutesRead more: Learning Maths Does NOT Make One A Better Problem Solver In Other Areas Of LifeIn Robert Plomin’s Blueprint, he challenges the conventional notion that our environment influences our destiny. One particular example that caught…
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Instead Of Doomscrolling, I Colour
barry leung
3–4 minutesRead more: Instead Of Doomscrolling, I ColourIt’s been 13 months since I graduated from university. And for the same time period, I have been living in…
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The Lewis Carroll In Me
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: The Lewis Carroll In MeThere was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think in so very much out of the way…
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It’s Child Abuse To Force Adolescents To Spend Their Time Studying Subjects They Hate
barry leung
4–5 minutesRead more: It’s Child Abuse To Force Adolescents To Spend Their Time Studying Subjects They HateThe system has to force people to behave in ways that are increasingly remote from the natural pattern of human…
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I Don’t Believe In Having To Go Above And Beyond Just To Live A Basic Life
barry leung
3–5 minutesRead more: I Don’t Believe In Having To Go Above And Beyond Just To Live A Basic LifeEverywhere I look, I see a point of no return in all facets of humanity. Recently, I was taken aback…
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What’s Happened, Happened
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: What’s Happened, HappenedWhat’s happened, happened. It’s an expression of faith in the mechanics of the world, and it’s not an excuse to…
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If you have had a good day, you have lived a good life that day
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: If you have had a good day, you have lived a good life that dayWe need to remember that if we make it to sundown today, and can enjoy a warm hearty meal with…
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What’s Your Dream?
barry leung
3–5 minutesRead more: What’s Your Dream?Recently I have come across many of Simon Squibb’s Instagram reels, where he interviews people on the streets, asking them…
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A Multiplayer Game of Backgammon
barry leung
4–7 minutesRead more: A Multiplayer Game of BackgammonRecently I visited my friend Dave in Oxford for the weekend. He was working on some deer hide, so I…
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7 Years Ago, I Solved Over 6,000 Maths Puzzles
barry leung
3–4 minutesRead more: 7 Years Ago, I Solved Over 6,000 Maths PuzzlesBack in secondary school, I used to look forward to solving maths puzzles on my laptop after dinner. It was…
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Life Is a Game of Musical Chairs
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Life Is a Game of Musical ChairsIt’s an unfortunate reality of the human condition that there are more people vying an ever dwindling number of musical…
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Wilnecote, Middleton Lakes, Kingsbury & Echills Wood Railway
barry leung
6–10 minutesRead more: Wilnecote, Middleton Lakes, Kingsbury & Echills Wood RailwayLife itself is the best game there is to play. You as a character get to explore the uncharted lands…
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The Public Goods Game – You Are Not So Smart
barry leung
4–6 minutesRead more: The Public Goods Game – You Are Not So SmartTHE MISCONCEPTION: We could create a system with no regulations whereeveryone would contribute to the good of society, everyone would…
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The Consciousness Curse – Cyberpunk 2077
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: The Consciousness Curse – Cyberpunk 2077Man dies the way he was born: soft, weak and helpless. Death, the one certainty in this universe of chaos,…
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Jordan Peterson – Women in High Paying Jobs
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Jordan Peterson – Women in High Paying JobsWell the thing is: young stupid people have the advantage of being young. Middle-aged stupid people have the disadvantage of…
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How Can I Monetise This?
barry leung
3–5 minutesRead more: How Can I Monetise This?Interactive puzzle You pick 3 random points on a circle. What is the probability that the resulting triangle contains the…
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The Truth about Cyberpsychosis
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: The Truth about CyberpsychosisI’ve had enough of the senseless shootings that claim hundreds of innocents every day. I’m sick of the satire on…
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A Content Arms Race
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: A Content Arms RaceSometimes I use AI to generate my blog posts on Medium. The thing is I am doing this for money…
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Bowling in Lane 7, Birmingham
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Bowling in Lane 7, BirminghamThere were 4 of us today. Me, Sawan, Rushil and George. We all studied maths at Warwick University. Sawan and…
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Who Are You? Who Am I? Who Are We?
barry leung
3–4 minutesRead more: Who Are You? Who Am I? Who Are We?If someone asks you the question, ‘Who are you?’, how would you answer? Perhaps you will say your name, followed…
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About Vegetarianism and Killing for Food
barry leung
14–20 minutesRead more: About Vegetarianism and Killing for FoodI came across Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride’s blog post on vegetarianism. I believe it is one of the most important posts…
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That’s Why McDonald’s CEO Only Took A small Bite Of The BIG Arch
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: That’s Why McDonald’s CEO Only Took A small Bite Of The BIG ArchSo recently there’s a popular video circulating on the internet about the McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski trying the BIG ARCH™…
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English Was My Favorite Class
barry leung
5–7 minutesRead more: English Was My Favorite ClassI have been trying to slow down when it comes to writing. Since ChatGPT came out, I too have unfortunately…
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Almost — The King of Math Games (Math Games Official Anthem)
barry leung
3–5 minutesRead more: Almost — The King of Math Games (Math Games Official Anthem)I wouldn’t say I completely enjoyed my time at university, if anything, the final year of my degree has been…
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Blogs, Videos, Shorts
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Blogs, Videos, ShortsToday I wrote two blogs, filmed two videos and one short. The goal is to publish one of each on…
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Another Barry?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Another Barry?My day was very productive, Our work meeting went through the many events the team can go to. Then I…
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A Full Day
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: A Full DayI had the pleasure of paying a visit to Ryton Pools Country Park located in the south of the outskirts…
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Racing To The Bottom
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: Racing To The BottomImagine there were only two companies A and B in the economy. It’s of no pertinence to our discussion whether…
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Sunset
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: SunsetIt was an overall gloomy day with melancholic weather. That being said, Seb and I were pleasantly surprised to witness…
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Uber Eats Waitrose Offer
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Uber Eats Waitrose Offer -
Good Food & Good Vibes
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Good Food & Good Vibes -
Blueyard
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Blueyard
Ludi Mathematici
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Are You Smart Enough To Solve These 7 Brain Teasers?
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: Are You Smart Enough To Solve These 7 Brain Teasers?Instead of highly mathematical puzzles, let’s take down a notch and have some fun solving these 7 brain teasers instead.…
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Let’s Look At This 2018 Maths Exam For Gifted Students in Britain Together
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: Let’s Look At This 2018 Maths Exam For Gifted Students in Britain TogetherOkay to be clear, this is a practice paper that follows the Pearson Edexcel Syllabus, and was designed for first…
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A Wine Measurement Problem
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: A Wine Measurement ProblemA barrel contains exactly 9 liters of red wine. Max is going to a party and wishes to share 8…
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Can you find the 3 Areas? 🟦🟧🟥
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Can you find the 3 Areas? 🟦🟧🟥The figure above shows a unit square target for shooting on the rectangular coordinate plane. The target is divided into…
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Actually You Will Never Be Correct: A Tricky Question From MIT Puzzle Club
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Actually You Will Never Be Correct: A Tricky Question From MIT Puzzle ClubI have seen this maths puzzle circulating on the internet for the umpteenth time. It gets a little boring at…
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You Roll These Dice. Which Outcome Is More Likely?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: You Roll These Dice. Which Outcome Is More Likely?Either you roll a 12-sided fair die once. Either you roll a 6-sided fair die twice. So in which game…
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So Which Outcome Is More Likely? A or B? Or Both?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: So Which Outcome Is More Likely? A or B? Or Both?Here’s a fun teaser for you. Consider the following scenarios: So can you tell me which outcome is more likely?…
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An American President’s Proof of The Pythagorean Theorem
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: An American President’s Proof of The Pythagorean TheoremUS President: James A Garfield As the 20th President of the United States in 1881, James Garfield came up with an…
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How Would YOU Find The Total Shaded Area?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: How Would YOU Find The Total Shaded Area?This is another geometry puzzle by Catriona Agg on X. Both the regular hexagons have area 6. What’s the total…
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What Is The Area Of The Square?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: What Is The Area Of The Square?The circle has a radius 1. The diagonal of the square extends to be a tangent of the circle. The…
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A Critique of The Dark Night of Mathematics by Kirwin Hampshire
barry leung
12–17 minutesRead more: A Critique of The Dark Night of Mathematics by Kirwin HampshireThe following is a Substack essay on the existential implications of AI for mathematics by Kirwin Hampshire. In this post…
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How Would You Tether Your Goat?
barry leung
4–7 minutesRead more: How Would You Tether Your Goat?A goat is tethered to the edge of a circular paddock, with a lead adjusted so that the goat can…
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A Maths Puzzle About Pirates Shooting In A Circle🏴☠️
barry leung
3–4 minutesRead more: A Maths Puzzle About Pirates Shooting In A Circle🏴☠️ Here’s a classic maths retold: 1,024 pirates stand shoulder to shoulder in a circle, numbered 1 through 1,024. On the…
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Let’s Look At This 2026 Maths Exam For Gifted Students In Iraq
barry leung
3–5 minutesRead more: Let’s Look At This 2026 Maths Exam For Gifted Students In IraqI was scrolling on Reddit today and came across this difficult maths exam from Iraqi High School for gifted students.…
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Can You Solve This Classic Geometry Puzzle?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Can You Solve This Classic Geometry Puzzle?I was browsing through Twitter and came across this very interesting problem by @Pratik Matematik. There are two ways to solve…
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Twin Stars: Deng Yu, Hong Wang, and the Proofs That Moved a Century-Old Mountain
barry leung
9–13 minutesRead more: Twin Stars: Deng Yu, Hong Wang, and the Proofs That Moved a Century-Old MountainOn July 23, 2026, at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Philadelphia, the Fields Medal went to four mathematicians. Two…
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How To Find The Arc Length And Its Surface Area?
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: How To Find The Arc Length And Its Surface Area?In this article, we will take a deep dive into the derivations of the arc length of a curve and…
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Do You Think You Can Study Maths At Oxford University?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Do You Think You Can Study Maths At Oxford University?The function f, defined for whole positive numbers, satisfies f(1) = 1 and also the following rules f(2n) = 2f(n)…
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A Classic Maths Puzzle: How Many Cats Are Needed?
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: A Classic Maths Puzzle: How Many Cats Are Needed?If three cats catch three rats in three minutes, how many cats will catch 100 rats in 100 minutes? I…
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Should You Roll Or Not?
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: Should You Roll Or Not?Two bullets are loaded into a gun’s round barrel consecutively. The barrel has a capacity of 6. The gun is…
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So How Does The Koch Snowflake Have Finite Area?
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: So How Does The Koch Snowflake Have Finite Area?Following part one of the series, we will now look at the area of a Koch snowflake starting with an equilateral triangle…
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What If Even Your Point of View Is Uncertain? Quantum Physics Says It Can Be.
barry leung
7–10 minutesRead more: What If Even Your Point of View Is Uncertain? Quantum Physics Says It Can Be.Picture yourself standing on a railway platform as a trolley rolls by. A young girl riding inside lets go of…
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Even A 6 Year-Old Kid Can Solve This In 7 Seconds. But Can You?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Even A 6 Year-Old Kid Can Solve This In 7 Seconds. But Can You?The area of a triangle is 1/2(b)(h), where b is the base and h is the height. What that means…
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How Does The Koch Snowflake Have Infinite Perimeter?
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: How Does The Koch Snowflake Have Infinite Perimeter?What is the perimeter of the above Koch snowflake starting from an equilateral triangle with side length 1? This is…
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Student Finds Embarrassing Error in Cambridge Exam
barry leung
3–5 minutesRead more: Student Finds Embarrassing Error in Cambridge ExamThe Cambridge IGCSE is the international equivalent of England’s GCSE, a qualification typically taken by students aged 14 to 16.…
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Are You Smart Enough To Get Into Cambridge University?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Are You Smart Enough To Get Into Cambridge University?This maths challenge comes from the University of Cambridge. It’s a test for students looking to study computer science and…
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What’s the Area between the Curve and the x-axis?
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: What’s the Area between the Curve and the x-axis?This is the Witch of Agnesi, a bell-shaped mathematical curve named after the Italian mathematician Maria Gaetana Agnesi, famous because…
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How Many Duplicate FIFA World Cup Stickers Should You Expect?
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: How Many Duplicate FIFA World Cup Stickers Should You Expect?I don’t watch the World Cup, or sports in general. I never get excited about it, and I certainly do…
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Hawking’s Black Hole Prediction Faces a Mathematical Challenge
barry leung
7–11 minutesRead more: Hawking’s Black Hole Prediction Faces a Mathematical ChallengeTo understand the universe, scientists often seek the strange wanderers at its edges. “You always want to know about the…
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Try This Sum Of Sums Problem!
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Try This Sum Of Sums Problem!The challenge for you is to solve for x. Here’s a hint: think of triangular numbers! Once again, this is…
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Do You Think YOU Can Solve This In 10 Seconds?
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: Do You Think YOU Can Solve This In 10 Seconds?The prompt I used to generate this image on ChatGPT is “generate a Zelda breath of the wild inspired blog…
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What Fraction Of The Decagon Is Shaded?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: What Fraction Of The Decagon Is Shaded?What fraction of this regular decagon is shaded? Give this problem a try before jumping in for the solution! Solution:…
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So How Far Has The Ant Walked?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: So How Far Has The Ant Walked?This is a question on the application of complex numbers. The standard solution requires us to formulate a function to represent…
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Apparently There’s A Math Problem In America
barry leung
2–4 minutesRead more: Apparently There’s A Math Problem In AmericaIf I were to tell you that your go-to meal at the local steakhouse has a price reduction of 600%,…
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Calculus Challenge: A Slanted Revolution
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Calculus Challenge: A Slanted RevolutionIn this entry, we will solve the above problem using a rotational matrix. Give this problem a try before jumping…
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Math Genius Mary Adler’s Calculus Problem
barry leung
2–3 minutesRead more: Math Genius Mary Adler’s Calculus ProblemThe real Math Girl Mary Adler is a fictional character from the movie ‘Gifted’. In the Gifted universe, she is…
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University Has Become A Wealth Extraction Machine And Taught Me Absolutely Nothing Useful
barry leung
7–11 minutesRead more: University Has Become A Wealth Extraction Machine And Taught Me Absolutely Nothing UsefulAn Absurd Price Hike When I did my mathematics degree, I was charged around £28,000 each year for a 3-year undergraduate…
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Here’s How Archimedes Measured a Curve Without Calculus
barry leung
5–7 minutesRead more: Here’s How Archimedes Measured a Curve Without CalculusArchimedes tackled the long-standing problem of finding the area of a parabolic segment (the region between a parabola and a…
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An Oxford MAT Exam Question
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: An Oxford MAT Exam QuestionThis is a fairly standard exercise in integral calculus. I guess the standards for getting into Oxford to read mathematics…
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Oxford University Mathematics Challenge
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Oxford University Mathematics ChallengeA simple cubic equation sort of looks like a snake meandering through the origin. Adding other terms changes the way…
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Can ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot Pass The Apple-Orange Interview At Apple 🍎?
barry leung
3–4 minutesRead more: Can ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot Pass The Apple-Orange Interview At Apple 🍎?Two years ago, I wrote an article on the above logical puzzle about correctly labelling the three boxes containing apples,…
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How Big Is The Red Area?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: How Big Is The Red Area?I was walking by the cathedral in town today and found out it was Ash Wednesday today thanks to the…
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Are You Smart Enough To Find A + H?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Are You Smart Enough To Find A + H?Come not between the dragon and his wrath. Apparently this is a quote from Shakespeare, and I happened to have…
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An Algebra Puzzle
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: An Algebra PuzzleThere are many ways one can solve this. It all boils down to what sort of techniques you are most…
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Can You Count Them All?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Can You Count Them All?So we have a star, a mountain and another shape today. Our job is to carefully count all the triangles…
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Happy Valentine’s Day: Can You Maximize The Love On This Day?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Happy Valentine’s Day: Can You Maximize The Love On This Day?Happy Valentine’s Day everyone, I hope you are having a euphoric moment, but if not, you can try this algebra…
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A Geometry Puzzle: What’s OC?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: A Geometry Puzzle: What’s OC?Honestly please share your approach to this one in the comments below because there are at least 7 different ways…
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What Day Of The Week Is It?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: What Day Of The Week Is It?As a kid, I used to hear stories of child prodigies being able to figure out what day of the…
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A Cambridge University Admission Question
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: A Cambridge University Admission QuestionThis is question 4 from the Test of Mathematics for University Admission practice paper by the University of Cambridge. The…
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Will Homer Simpson Get His Own Seat?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Will Homer Simpson Get His Own Seat?A line of 100 airline passengers is waiting to board a plane. They each hold a ticket to one of…
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Can You Outsmart Jane Street’s Tic Tac Toe Bot?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Can You Outsmart Jane Street’s Tic Tac Toe Bot?I found this nice brain teaser from Jane Street’s Puzzles, it’s about you playing against an imperfect computer program in…
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Can You Find All Possible Solutions In Both Cases?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Can You Find All Possible Solutions In Both Cases?Apparently a version of this puzzle appeared in ‘Nouvelles Annales de Mathématiques’. So we want to arrange the nine digits…
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Can You Find The Number Below 400? This question took me less than a minute!
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Can You Find The Number Below 400? This question took me less than a minute!This math puzzle is about a pyramid made up of consecutive integers starting from 1. So on the first row,…
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Can You Solve This Oxford University Math Challenge?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Can You Solve This Oxford University Math Challenge?This algebra challenge comes from the 1997 Oxford University’s Entrance Exam. And to be honest, any student with a good…
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An Oxford MAT Question from 1997
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: An Oxford MAT Question from 1997This is honestly one of the best puzzles for students and anyone looking to test their understanding of calculus. It…
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So What’s The Most Number of Hats You Can Make?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: So What’s The Most Number of Hats You Can Make?You are making clown hats from a circular piece of cardboard. The circumference of the base of each hat equals…
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Which One Is The Smallest?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Which One Is The Smallest?In school, we learn that a surd is an expression containing an irrational root, such as √11, √2, √5. They…
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Can You Find The Total Length Of The Border Of The Cyan Design?
barry leung
1–2 minutesRead more: Can You Find The Total Length Of The Border Of The Cyan Design?The shaded figure is formed by eight circular arcs of equal radius. Four arcs are centered at the vertices of…
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Ⓒ 2026 MATH GAMES By Barry Leung, KoMG