Worksheet generator

1.C — 16KA-0050Working backwards

• AI added the 4 and the 6 and stopped, forgetting to undo the halving.
• BI doubled the 6 first and then added the 4, reversing the steps in the wrong order.
• DI doubled the total at the end rather than doubling only the amount left after the first spend.
• EI doubled twice because spending half felt like it needed undoing more than once.

2.C — 750KA-0113Unit conversion

• AI worked in kilograms and gave the answer in kilograms when grams were asked for.
• BI converted 2.5 kg to 250 g rather than 2500 g.
• DI subtracted 1750 from 3000, mis-converting 2.5 kg as three thousand grams.
• EI subtracted without converting at all, taking 2.5 away from 1750.

3.B — 280KA-0114Money and change

• AI subtracted the cost of one notebook rather than all three.
• CI bought two notebooks instead of three.
• DI gave the total cost of the notebooks instead of the change.
• EI converted the 10 euro note to 1000 cents but subtracted the price of only one notebook after doubling it.

4.B — 8KA-0119Find what is actually being asked

• AI halved the difference, as if the question asked how many Bo should hand over to make them equal.
• CI gave how many Bo has now rather than how many more he has than Ana.
• DI gave the number Bo started with, without doing anything.
• EI added the two amounts together instead of comparing them.

5.C — 4KA-0120Draw the diagram

• AI assumed the walk was a loop because the north and south distances match.
• BI gave one of the distances walked rather than the distance from the start.
• DI added the two different directions together instead of drawing where the cat ends up.
• EI added up the whole distance walked, which is not the same as the distance from the start.

6.C — 16KA-0019Multi-step arithmetic word problems

• AI found what one child has left and gave that instead of the total for all four.
• BI divided 24 by 4 and then subtracted 2 twice, mixing up per-child steps with total steps.
• DI subtracted 2 pencils once from the whole pack instead of once from each of the four children.
• EI subtracted the 2 before sharing, so only one lot of 2 ever came out of the total.

7.C — 61KA-0030Arithmetic sequences and the nth term

• AI added the step 18 times, counting the gaps between terms one too few.
• BI multiplied the step of 3 by 20 and forgot that the first term is already in place.
• DI used a first term of 3 instead of 4 while adding 20 steps.
• EI added the step 20 times to the first term instead of 19 times.

8.D — 9KA-0046Counting by position (sliding window)

• AI cut the board into four separate 2 by 2 blocks instead of sliding the square one step at a time.
• BI counted the three sliding positions along the top and doubled them for two rows.
• CI counted the positions along the top row and down the left column and added them.
• EI counted the sixteen small squares on the board rather than the 2 by 2 squares.

9.C — 11KA-0066Means, and working backwards from a mean

• AI assumed the missing number must be the mean itself.
• BI averaged the three known numbers instead of working from the total.
• DI repeated one of the numbers already given rather than computing the missing one.
• EI used a total of 37 instead of 36, adding the mean in once too often.

10.B — 4KA-0069Inclusion–exclusion with two sets

• AI added 18 and 14 without removing the overlap, then subtracted from 30.
• CI subtracted the 6 who play both twice instead of once.
• DI subtracted only the footballers from the class and forgot the chess players entirely.
• EI found how many play at least one sport and gave that instead of how many play neither.

11.D — 24KA-0073Arrangements of a few objects

• AI counted the letters rather than their arrangements.
• BI multiplied 4 by 3 and stopped, forgetting the last two positions.
• CI used 4 choices for every position, as if letters could repeat.
• EI used 4 choices in each of four positions, which allows every letter to repeat.

12.D — 1200KA-0128Check units and re-read before bubbling

• AI worked entirely in metres and gave the answer in square metres.
• BI multiplied 30 by 0.4 without converting the metres to centimetres at all.
• CI converted 0.4 m to 4 cm rather than 40 cm.
• EI converted 0.4 m to 400 cm, moving the decimal point one place too far.

13.A — 40 percentKA-0165Mixtures and weighted averages

• BI averaged 25 and 50 without weighting by how much of each solution there was.
• CI added the two percentages together, which cannot be right because a mixture can never be stronger than its strongest ingredient.
• DI weighted the percentages by the wrong volumes, giving the 25 percent solution the larger share.
• EI used only the acid from the weaker solution and spread it over all ten litres.

14.C — 4KA-0040The pigeonhole principle

• AI answered with the lucky case, where the first two socks happen to match.
• BI used the number of colours as my answer without adding one for the sock that must repeat.
• DI worked from the number of socks of each colour instead of the number of colours.
• EI took the whole drawer, guaranteeing a pair but far more socks than are needed.

15.D — 12KA-0060Operation puzzles and cryptarithms

• AI added the digits of 132 instead of working out what A and B must be.
• BI found A + B correctly and then halved it, as if the question wanted one digit.
• CI spotted the 11 in the working and gave that instead of the sum it multiplies.
• EI found a pair of digits by trial and misadded them by one.

16.D — No, because the number of moves is oddKA-0097Parity arguments

• AI assumed enough moves can undo anything, without asking what each move preserves.
• BI tried a few sequences that nearly worked and assumed a better choice would finish the job.
• CI reached for the number of items rather than for what a single swap actually changes.
• EI thought the choice of swaps could change the outcome, when every swap has the same effect.

17.D — 8KA-0134Paper folding and hole punching

• AI forgot that the punch goes through every layer, not just the top one.
• BI undid only one of the two folds before counting.
• CI doubled twice for the folds but added the second hole instead of doubling for it too.
• EI counted three folds instead of two, doubling one time too many.

18.C — 14KA-0139Dice and cube face relationships

• AI subtracted only the top face from 21, forgetting the hidden bottom face as well.
• BI guessed four middling numbers and added them without using the total of all six faces.
• DI subtracted only the bottom face of 4 from the total of 21.
• EI added the four largest numbers on the die rather than the four that are actually at the sides.

19.C — 4KA-0140The multiplication principle

• AI counted the codes that do start with A rather than the ones that do not.
• BI counted the letters available for the first position instead of counting whole codes.
• DI counted every arrangement of the three letters and forgot the restriction.
• EI allowed letters to repeat, which the words each exactly once rule out.

20.B — 7KA-0157The pigeonhole principle

• AI thought that one more than the number of colours must give three of a kind, which only guarantees a PAIR.
• CI got to two of each colour, then added one more for each colour instead of one more in total.
• DI assumed the worst case meant emptying the largest pile of 12 reds first.
• EI answered with the number of socks I want rather than the number I must take to be sure of them.