Max Maths, Year 6, Try it, Prime and composite numbers (1)

In a mathematics exercise designed for Year 6 students, the concept of prime and composite numbers is explored through visual representation. The activity, titled "Let's Try It," encourages students to observe arrangements of dots that represent different numbers and determine their factors. Factors are numbers that divide into another number without leaving a remainder, and identifying them is key to understanding the nature of a number.

The exercise presents three scenarios, each with a set of dots representing a number. Students are tasked with examining these arrangements to find the factors of the given number. In scenario (a), a certain number of dots are arranged, and students must identify its factors, which are listed as blank spaces for them to fill in after determining the correct values. Similarly, scenarios (b) and (c) provide a list of factors with blanks for students to complete. This exercise not only helps with recognizing prime numbers, which have only two distinct factors (1 and the number itself), but also composite numbers, which have more than two factors. Through this practical activity, students enhance their understanding of fundamental number properties.