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Worksheet generator
Pick what you want, print the page. The answer key comes with it, on its own sheet, and it tells you the mistake behind every wrong choice — not just which letter is right.
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1.Eight people meet and everyone shakes hands with everyone else exactly once. How many handshakes take place?[3]
A16
B28
C36
D56
E64
2.How many three-digit numbers can be written using only the digits 1 and 2, with repeats allowed?[3]
A2
B3
C4
D6
E8
3.A password is one letter from A, B, C followed by two digits from 1 to 5. Digits may repeat. How many passwords are possible?[4]
A13
B30
C60
D75
E125
4.In a class of 30, 18 play football and 14 play chess. 6 play both. How many play neither?[4]
A2
B4
C8
D10
E26
5.Four beads - one red, one green, one blue, one yellow - are threaded on a circular bracelet. Two bracelets are the same if one can be rotated into the other. How many different bracelets are there?[5]
A3
B4
C6
D12
E24
6.On the street grid shown you may only walk right or down. One junction is closed. How many routes go from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner?[5]
Text description of the figure
A grid of streets with junctions arranged 4 across and 4 down. The junction one step right and one step down from the top-left corner is marked closed with a cross.
A8
B10
C12
D18
E20
7.Five children sit in a row. Two of them are twins who insist on sitting next to each other. In how many orders can the five sit?[5]
A12
B24
C48
D60
E120
8.How many three-digit whole numbers contain at least one digit 7?[5]
A243
B252
C271
D280
E648
9.A box holds 4 red, 5 blue and 6 green balls, mixed up. How many must be taken out without looking to be sure of having 3 of the same colour?[5]
A3
B6
C7
D9
E13
10.A cube 3 units on each side is painted all over and then cut into unit cubes. How many of them have exactly two painted faces?[5]
A6
B8
C12
D24
E27
Math Kangaroo Star · https://kangaroo-atlas.vercel.app · seed 10 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Independent project, not affiliated with Math Kangaroo in USA, NFP.
Answer key — Math Kangaroo practice
Each wrong choice carries the thinking that produces it. When a student picks C, this is what they were doing.
1.B — 28KA-0035Handshakes and pairs
AI doubled the number of people, as if each person made two handshakes in total.
CI let each person shake hands with all eight people including themselves before halving.
DI multiplied 8 by 7 and forgot that each handshake was counted from both sides.
EI multiplied 8 by 8, counting every ordered pair including a person with themselves.
2.E — 8KA-0143Systematic listing
AI counted the two available digits rather than the numbers they can build.
BI counted the three positions instead of the numbers.
CI used only two of the three positions when multiplying.
DI multiplied 2 by 3, mixing the number of digits with the number of positions.
3.D — 75KA-0023The multiplication principle
AI added the number of options at each step instead of multiplying them.
BI treated the two digits as one choice of ten rather than two independent choices of five.
CI assumed the two digits had to be different, so I used 5 times 4 for them.
EI used 5 choices for the letter position as well, forgetting there are only three letters.
4.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.
5.C — 6KA-0025Counting up to symmetry
AI also treated bracelets that are mirror images as the same, but only rotations were allowed.
BI divided the number of beads by itself rather than dividing the number of arrangements by the number of rotations.
DI divided the 24 arrangements by 2 instead of by the 4 rotations of a circle of four beads.
EI counted every arrangement in a line and forgot that rotating a bracelet gives the same bracelet.
6.A — 8KA-0031Counting paths on a grid
BI assumed closing one junction removes about half the routes and halved the total of 20.
CI counted the routes that pass through the closed junction and gave that instead of the ones that avoid it.
DI subtracted only the 2 routes that reach the closed junction, not all the routes that continue through it.
EI counted every route on the open grid and forgot to remove the ones through the closed junction.
7.C — 48KA-0070Counting with restrictions
AI treated the twins as one child and forgot they can also swap places with each other.
BI glued the twins together into a single block but then forgot that the block can be arranged with the others in more ways than I counted.
DI halved the 120 total, assuming the twins are together in exactly half the arrangements.
EI counted every arrangement of five children and forgot the twins' condition entirely.
8.B — 252KA-0075Complementary counting
AI counted the numbers made entirely of digits other than 7 in every position, including a leading zero.
CI counted the numbers with a 7 in each position separately and forgot that some were counted twice.
DI added three lots of 90 and one extra hundred, double counting the 700s.
EI counted the numbers with no 7 at all and gave that instead of subtracting it.
9.C — 7KA-0077The pigeonhole principle
AI answered with the luckiest case, where the first three balls happen to match.
BI found the worst case of two of each colour and forgot to take one more.
DI multiplied the three colours by the three balls I need, rather than thinking about the worst case.
EI worked from the number of balls of each colour rather than from the number of colours.
10.C — 12KA-0090Counting cubes in a stack, including hidden ones
AI counted the middle cube of each face, which has exactly one painted face rather than two.
BI counted the corner cubes, which have three painted faces.
DI counted every cube that is painted at all except the corners, without separating one face from two.
EI gave the total number of small cubes rather than the ones with exactly two painted faces.