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P6 Seeing it move

Today’s problem — free all day, every step. Every day has one.

Folded napkin — the angle at the crease

During a busy dinner service, a waiter folds a rectangular paper napkin along a diagonal crease running from its top-left corner to its bottom-right corner, as shown. At the bottom-right corner, the angle between the right-hand edge of the napkin and the folded-over edge is 24°, and x is the angle between that folded edge and the crease. Find angle x.

One step of the worked solution to Folded napkin — the angle at the crease, drawn in pencil.
5 steps, drawn in pencil

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The pattern behind it: Seeing it move

Work out where the pieces land after a fold, cut or stack.

In this one. A fold is a reflection, so the crease bisects the angle between an edge and its folded image.

ABCDEFa straight strip of three: the two ends land opposite

How to spot it

Words like 'folded', 'cut along the dotted line' or 'stacked' appear beside a shape, and the question asks for a length or angle that only makes sense once the pieces are in their new positions.

Common mistake

Children try to calculate the answer before working out where the pieces actually end up, skipping the visualisation step that the whole question depends on.

Try one like it

Challenging Canvas — cut into a square and eight triangles Ravi has a square piece of canvas of side 31 cm. He cuts along the dotted lines to get one small square of area 289 cm² and 8 iden…
All 9 with this pattern →

The 33 problem patterns

All 33 patterns, one to a page — the 19 behind Primary 5 and 6 word problems, and the skills the younger years are built on. The bar model, how to spot it in the question, and the mistake children make. A booklet you can print. Free.

A PDF, and a note when new solutions go up.