Maths Murder Mystery 10 – Death at the Campsite

In the second week in August, Farmer Jenkins was pleased that his campsite was full.

However most of his campers were not happy. Their complaints centred on the Gobbler

family (whose cousins were holidaying in Mallorca). The three Gobbler teenagers nick-

named Weasel, Bugs and Crackers found camping boring. To liven things up, they devised

their own competitions.

On Sunday, Weasel won the competition to collect the most tent pegs in one night (142).

Five tents fell down.

On Monday, Bugs was adjudged to have made the most disgusting mess in one of the few

camp toilets.

Tuesday’s competition involved seeing who could bring in the most dangerous animal in-

to the camping field. Weasel came third, having shepherded 20 free range hens into the

field. Bugs lured Neddy the horse into the camping field with carrots pinched from near-

by field. The winner however was Crackers, who risked life and limb to open several gates

and allow Beavis the bull to enter the camping field and give a scare to the early morning

risers.

Wednesday’s activity was a joint effort. They “borrowed” buckets and spades from the

Blad family and collected cow pats and then smeared it on the windscreens of the cars in

the camp car park.

On Thursday morning, the Gobbler adults were surprised that their teenagers had not

stirred from their single tents by midday. On further investigation, they discovered that

they had all been murdered in the night.

The 32 other campers were all suspects and the police found 5 clues in code. Each of the

clues eliminates half of the suspects. The killer is referred to as M in the clues.

Title Surname fav activity Tent type Cooking fuel Sleeping bag Fav Camping food Guilty?

Ben Williamson bird watching tunnel Wood Vango bacon

Jermaine Williams theme park tunnel Propane Vango sausages

Grace Lewis beach instant Butane Trail chips

Seth Malcolm amusement arcade instant Propane Trail chips

Mia Smith theme park tunnel Propane Gelert sausages

Connor Grant beach ridge Butane Vango burger

Saskia Saddle amusement arcade geodesic Propane Lichfield burger

Adil Gupta walking tunnel Butane Vango sausages

Stephen Pickles visit National Trust house inflatable Charcoal Vango veal

Bethany Sanders bird watching tunnel Wood Vango bread

Sam Walker amusement arcade dome Propane Vango chips

John Blad theme park tunnel Propane Vango sweets

Ruby Jones cinema tunnel Wood Snugpak bacon

Jeremy Sugden sun bathing trailer Charcoal Coleman biscuits

Orla Precious theme park tunnel Propane Gelert sweets

Tim Whitely visit National Trust house frame Charcoal High Peak veal

Tia Spencer visit National Trust house pod Charcoal Vango biscuits

Anushka Singh walking tunnel Butane Gelert sweets

Fiona Collins beach dome Butane Vango chips

George Jones beach geodesic Butane Lichfield burger

Amira Khan walking tunnel Butane Vango sweets

Rufus Weaver cinema tunnel Wood Highlander bread

Brandon Jackson bird watching tunnel Wood Snugpak bacon

India Boarder sun bathing pod Charcoal Vango biscuits

Ryan Delaney amusement arcade ridge Propane Vango burger

Rainbow Brooks cinema tunnel Wood Vango bacon

Rebekah Blad cinema tunnel Wood Vango bread

Cheryl Atkinson bird watching tunnel Wood Highlander bread

Jane Plover sun bathing frame Charcoal High Peak veal

Antonio Van Pullis walking tunnel Butane Gelert sausages

Hannah Rawlinson sun bathing inflatable Charcoal Vango veal

Winston Clarke visit National Trust house trailer Charcoal Coleman biscuits

1

1 1

1 1

1 j 1

1 q v 1

1 x k 1

1 f p 1

1 r c h 1

1 y b m 1

1 l a 1

1 s d u 1

1 n 1 i

1 z w t e 1 g o

Clue 1 Pascal’s Triangle

Complete Pascal’s triangle by adding the numbers in the 2 squares above.

Find out which number represents each letter and decipher the message.

A B C D E F G H I M L J K

N O P Q R S T U V Z Y W X

28 210 165 210 462 66 924 45 120 126 792

924 45 462 462 792 84 924 792 462 924

Message:

-2

3 x2 +3

+7

+3

+7

+3 -4

x3 +2

5

+2 -1

+7

-3 +8

6

+7

+7 -2 x3

-1

5

-3 +4 +8

x2

9

-2

+8

x2 -1

+7 -2

8

x1 +6

-3 4

+2

x5

Clue 2—The net closes in. Start with the number in the triangle. Follow the arrows round each cube net (calculating as you go) until you reach a hexagon. Can you work any of these out without making the cubes?

x2

+1 -1

+2 7

-3

1) 2) 3) 4)

5)

6)

7) 8)

+3

-2

+4 -6

8

+10

-4 -6

x7

+4 9

-2

+5 +9

+5

-7

+1 10

+4

3 -2

-7 +7

+6

-6

+5 -2 5

+11

+3

+1 x2 +3

+2

-7

5

6

+7 +5 +2

-1

x3

9) 10) 11) 12)

13) 14) 15)

Clue 3—Horatio’s biscuits.

Horatio’s biscuits are made with many recipes, each with a different ratio of the ingredients.

Find out how many grams of cherries are needed for each recipe and then divide that by 10.

Then decode (a=1, b=2, c=3 etc)

dates almonds cherries sugar butter Total

weight

Cherries

g

letter

1 3 4 2 2 390

1 2 1 3 3 400

4 2 5 5 4 600

1 1 1 1 1 250

1 1 4 1 1 380

4 5 2 4 420

2 4 6 3 3 450

3 2 3 4 1200

2 5 7 5 2 570

3 2 1 4 600

4 5 2 8 1 500

4 6 1 8 1 1000

1 3 2 3 480

2 3 2 3 2 540

3 2 4 5 2 560

5 3 3 6 4 70

4 5 3 3 660

2 3 2 2 3 60

1 1 1 1 1 700

6 2 3 3 490

3 4 3 4 4 900

Clue 4—the odds are against you!

A B C

3

<0.5

0.5

>0.5

D E F

3

<0.5

0.5

>0.5

P Q R

3 <0

.5

0.5

>0.5

G H I

3

<0.5

0.5

>0.5

J K L

3

<0.5

0.5

>0.5

S T U

3

<0.5

0.5

>0.5

M N O

3

<0.5

0.5

>0.5

V W X

3

<0.5

0.5

>0.5

Y Z .

3

<0.5

0.5

>0.5

2 2 2

<0.5

<0.5

<0.5

>0.5

>0.5

>0.5

0.5

0.5

0.5

1

1. What is the probability of getting an odd number?

2. What is the probability of getting a number greater

than 5?

3. What is the probability of getting a square number?

>0.5 <0.5

0.5

10 7 1

2

8

3

4 6

9 1 4

1 2

3

4 36

9 7 16

64 9 1

4

8

3

3 2

1

2 36

5 9 16

2 6

9 1 3

49 9 1

2

8

3

1 16

64 36 3

3 2

5

4 36

9 3 1

49 16 2

64

8

3

1 5

64 33 3

5

25

4

1 2

36

7 16

49 9 1

2

4

4

1 20

64 36 3

8 2

5

4 36

7 6 1

25 3 16

2

4

64

1 49

25 4 3

2 2

25

4 36

8 6 1

25 5 4

3

4

36

1 81

25 2 9

14 -2 3

81

2

2

Each spinner represents one letter. Answer each of the 3 questions in order, to find out which.

Clue 5—Venn diagrams

Each Venn diagram will give you the jumbled up letters for one word. Put the

numbers into the Venn diagrams. Take the numbers in the section(s) marked x

and decode them (a=1, b=2,c=3 etc). Rearrange the letters to make a word.

1) 3, 13, 5, 6, 18, 25, 7, 15, 12

2) 10, 5, 9, 20, 16, 19, 11, 25, 22, 4, 8, 12, 3

Multiples of 3

x x

Prime numbers

Prime numbers

Numbers >10

Numbers <15

x

3) 2, 5, 9, 6, 15, 18, 5, 21, 25

4) 15, 7, 18, 15, 10, 4, 1, 15, 14, 20, 21, 12, 24

5) 1, 14, 12, 19, 42, 3, 18, 5, 24, 20, 21, 9, 6, 9, 12, 20, 9, 7, 22, 6

Prime numbers Even numbers

x x

x x

Multiples of 3 Multiples of 4

Multiples of 6 Multiples of 7

X