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Math Trivia Questions
Times tables at one end, topology and Goldbach at the other. Play the round, then read every question and answer below.
Keys 1-4 pick an answer, Enter moves on. Nothing is saved to an account.
Math trivia has an advantage over almost every other subject: the answers are not opinions and they will not age. A right angle will still be ninety degrees in a century, and no new discovery will change what two thirds is worth. That makes this the most durable round in a quiz, and the least likely to start an argument once the answer is read out.
The set moves from arithmetic and shape names into constants, notation and named results. Where a question could sound ambiguous it has been tightened, because the frustration in a maths round almost always comes from wording rather than difficulty. Every note explains the reasoning as well as the answer, so a player who guessed wrong still leaves with the method rather than just the number.
Arithmetic and numbers: math trivia questions
What is 7 multiplied by 8?
Answer: 56 EasyIt is one of the two products people most often stumble over in the times tables.Why?
What is 10 per cent of 250?
Answer: 25 EasyFinding ten per cent only means moving the decimal point one place left.Why?
What is the square root of 144?
Answer: 12 EasyTwelve twelves is 144, so twelve is the root.Why?
What is 3 cubed?
Answer: 27 EasyThree multiplied by itself three times gives 27.Why?
Which fraction is larger, two thirds or three fifths?
Answer: Two thirds EasyOver fifteenths they become ten and nine, so two thirds wins.Why?
What is 15 squared?
Answer: 225 EasyAny number ending in five squares to something ending in 25.Why?
What is the answer to a division problem called?
Answer: Quotient EasySum, product and difference belong to addition, multiplication and subtraction.Why?
What do the first ten positive whole numbers add up to?
Answer: 55 EasyPairing 1 with 10, 2 with 9 and so on gives five pairs of eleven.Why?
What is the value of zero factorial?
Answer: 1 MediumThere is exactly one way to arrange nothing, so the empty product is one.Why?
What is 2 to the power of 10?
Answer: 1024 MediumIt is why a kilobyte was originally 1024 bytes rather than 1000.Why?
Which Roman numeral stands for 500?
Answer: D MediumC is 100, L is 50 and M is 1000.Why?
Which number base does hexadecimal use?
Answer: Sixteen HardThe extra six digits are written as the letters A to F.Why?
Shapes and geometry: math trivia questions
The angles inside any triangle add up to how many degrees?
Answer: 180 EasyTear off the three corners and they line up flat against a straight edge.
How many sides does a hexagon have?
Answer: Six EasyRegular hexagons tile a flat surface with no gaps, which is why honeycomb uses them.Why?
How many degrees are in a right angle?
Answer: 90 EasyFour of them meet at the centre of a square.Why?
What is the name for a polygon with eight sides?
Answer: Octagon EasyThe prefix is the same one used in octopus and octave.Why?
The angles inside any quadrilateral add up to how many degrees?
Answer: 360 MediumA quadrilateral splits into two triangles, so it is twice 180.
A triangle with all three sides equal is called what?
Answer: Equilateral MediumIts three angles must each be 60 degrees.
How many sides does a dodecagon have?
Answer: Twelve MediumThe same prefix appears in dodecahedron.Why?
In a right triangle, which side is the hypotenuse?
Answer: The longest side, opposite the right angle MediumIt is always opposite the largest angle, which in a right triangle is the right angle.
Which formula gives the circumference of a circle?
Answer: 2 x pi x radius MediumThe second option is the area rather than the perimeter.Why?
How many faces does a regular dodecahedron have?
Answer: Twelve HardEach face is a regular pentagon, and it is one of the five Platonic solids.Why?
Famous constants and sequences: math trivia questions
Pi rounded to two decimal places is what?
Answer: 3.14 EasyIt is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, whatever the circle's size.
The constant e is approximately what?
Answer: 2.718 MediumIt turns up wherever growth compounds continuously.
In the Fibonacci sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, what comes next?
Answer: 21 MediumEach term is the sum of the two before it, so 8 plus 13.
Roughly what is the value of the golden ratio?
Answer: 1.618 HardIt is the positive solution of x squared equals x plus one.
The recurring decimal 0.999... is equal to what?
Answer: Exactly 1 HardOne third is 0.333..., and three times each side gives the result.
Primes, proofs and famous problems: math trivia questions
A number divisible only by itself and 1 is called what?
Answer: Prime EasyBy convention 1 itself is excluded from the primes.
Which ancient Greek is credited with the theorem linking the squares on the sides of a right triangle?
Answer: Pythagoras MediumThe relationship was known to earlier cultures, but his school carried the name.
Which is the only even prime number?
Answer: Two MediumEvery other even number has two as a factor, so it cannot be prime.Why?
Who published a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem in the 1990s?
Answer: Andrew Wiles HardThe problem had stood unsolved for more than three centuries.Why?
Who wrote the Elements, the foundational text of classical geometry?
Answer: Euclid HardIt set out geometry from a handful of postulates and stayed a textbook for millennia.Why?
What does the fundamental theorem of algebra guarantee about a non-constant polynomial?
Answer: It has at least one complex root HardAllowing complex numbers is what makes the statement come out clean.Why?
A number that cannot be written as a ratio of two integers is called what?
Answer: Irrational HardThe square root of two was the classic first example.
Which mathematician introduced the letter i for the square root of minus one?
Answer: Leonhard Euler HardHe also gave the identity that ties together e, i, pi, one and zero.Why?
Which conjecture proposes that every even number above two is the sum of two primes?
Answer: Goldbach's conjecture HardIt has been checked to enormous values but never proved in general.
Symbols, stats and higher maths: math trivia questions
Which Greek letter is used to mean 'sum of' in mathematics?
Answer: Sigma MediumDelta signals a change, and sigma signals a total.Why?
In a set of numbers, the mode is which value?
Answer: The most frequent value MediumThe middle value is the median and the average is the mean.
Which branch of mathematics studies properties unchanged by stretching and bending?
Answer: Topology HardIt is why a mug and a doughnut are treated as the same shape.Why?
What is the derivative of sin x with respect to x?
Answer: cos x HardDifferentiating four times brings you back to where you started.Why?
A square matrix that equals its own transpose is described as what?
Answer: Symmetric HardReflecting it across the leading diagonal changes nothing.
Rolling two fair six-sided dice, what is the probability the total is seven?
Answer: 1 in 6 HardSix of the thirty-six outcomes give seven, the most of any total.
Answer key
- 56
- 180
- Six
- 25
- 3.14
- 12
- Prime
- 90
- 27
- Two thirds
- Octagon
- 225
- Quotient
- 55
- 360
- Equilateral
- Pythagoras
- 1
- Sigma
- 2.718
- Two
- Twelve
- The most frequent value
- 1024
- 21
- The longest side, opposite the right angle
- 2 x pi x radius
- D
- Andrew Wiles
- 1.618
- Topology
- Sixteen
- Euclid
- It has at least one complex root
- Irrational
- Leonhard Euler
- cos x
- Goldbach's conjecture
- Twelve
- Exactly 1
- Symmetric
- 1 in 6
How to play
- Pick a mode: multiple choice, true or false, a 60-second sprint, or the daily quiz.
- Answer with a tap, or press 1 to 4 on a keyboard. The right answer appears straight away with a line explaining it.
- Finish the round to see your score, copy the result grid, and step up a difficulty.
- Hosting a night? The full math list and a separate answer key are printed below, and the print layout drops the game and keeps the paper.
Tiebreaker questions
Closest guess wins. Read one out when two tables finish level.
How many books make up Euclid's Elements?
Answer: 13 books They run from plane geometry through number theory to the five regular solids.
How many problems did David Hilbert set out in his famous list of 1900?
Answer: 23 problems Some remain unsolved, and the list steered mathematical research for the whole twentieth century.
In what year was Newton's Principia Mathematica first published?
Answer: 1687 It set out the laws of motion and universal gravitation, and was edited and funded by Edmond Halley.
Common mistakes in math trivia
- Zero is not a number, just a placeholder.
Zero is a full integer with its own arithmetic rules. It is even, it is the additive identity, and it has been treated as a number since Indian mathematicians formalised it.
- One is a prime number.
A prime must have exactly two distinct divisors. One has only itself, so it is excluded, which keeps prime factorisation unique.
- Pi has been calculated exactly.
Pi is irrational, so its decimal expansion never ends or repeats. Computers have found trillions of digits but can never finish.
- Multiplying always makes a number bigger.
Multiplying by a number between zero and one makes a positive number smaller. Half of ten is five, and ten times a half is also five.
- 0.999 recurring is slightly less than one.
They are exactly equal. Multiply 0.999... by ten, subtract the original, and you get nine times the number equals nine.
Running this round at a quiz night
Maths frightens some teams, so open with arithmetic they can do in their heads and let the shape questions build confidence before anything with Greek letters. Alternate a mental-arithmetic question with a history or vocabulary question so the round never feels like an exam. Give thirty seconds for anything involving a calculation and say the numbers twice. Disputes arise over notation: state whether you want a decimal or a fraction, how many decimal places, and that 3.14 and 3.142 are both pi rounded. Decide in advance whether working shown on paper counts. For tiebreakers prefer fixed historical numbers, such as the year the Principia appeared or how many books are in Euclid's Elements, rather than anything computed under pressure.
Frequently asked questions
Do players need a calculator for this round?
No. Every question is designed to be answerable by reasoning or recall, and the multiple-choice options are far enough apart that estimating is enough. Banning calculators keeps the round fast.
Is 0.999... really equal to one?
Yes, exactly equal, not merely close. One third written as a decimal is 0.333..., and multiplying both sides by three gives the result. It is a definition of what an infinite decimal means, not a rounding trick.
Which band suits a school quiz?
The easy fourteen map onto primary and early secondary work, and the medium fourteen suit older students. The hard band is aimed at adults or anyone who studied maths beyond school level.
Not in a quiz mood?
The question games are a different kind of round: no right answers, just prompts you read out and argue about. Would You RatherNever Have I EverTruth or DareThis or That