How many squares are there on a chess board? Well lets investigate!

8 X 8 = 64 Well, that is easy! A chess board has 8 squares along….. …and 8 squares down 8 X 8 = 64

4 Well done, you know your square numbers! 1 x 1 = 1 2 x 2 = 4 etc..etc.. 4 But the answer is still wrong.

4 “Miss….Miss…. The whole board is a square! So there are 65.” Well done Johnny, you’re thinking on the right lines.

Go into groups and investigate. But the answer is not quite right. Go into groups and investigate. What did you find out?

Blue table, what did you find out? “Well Miss, there are lots more squares, look..” “A 2 by 2 square, and there are lots of them.” And we worked together and found there are 49 2 by 2 squares!

Green table, what did you find out? “Well Miss, there are lots more squares, look..” “A 3 by 3 square, and there are lots of them.” And we worked together and found there are 36 3 by 3 squares!

Yellow table, what did you find out? “Well Miss, there are lots more squares, look..” “A 4 by 4 square, and there are lots of them.” And we worked together and found there are 25 4 by 4 squares!

So the tables continued... Red: “There are 16, 5 by 5 squares.” Purple: “There are 9, 6 by 6 squares.” White: “There are 4, 7 by 7 squares.” Well done class, lets put our findings together.

4 1 x 1 = 1 “That’s the big board.” 2 x 2 = 4 “7 by 7” 8 x 8 = 64 “That’s all the squares” 4 Well done, you know your square numbers!

So, 64 + 49 + 36 + 25 + 16 + 9 +4 + 1 equals 204 4

So, how many squares are there on a chess board? It depends on your level of learning. With a little help from your friends... 64 or 204