Believe it or not, great minds have been challenging themselves with advanced math problems at least four thousand years now. The earliest recorded mathematical challenge is from a papyrus scroll dated back to about 1850 BC. These math puzzles continue to stimulate the minds of young mathematicians. Here are a few of these excellent puzzles.

We will begin with the one located on the papyrus. Here is a paraphrase of what that Egyptian mind teaser said: There are seven homes, and in each there are seven cats. Each one of these cats eats seven mice. These mice had each eaten seven ears of grain. Each one of these ears of grain would have produced a total of seven hekats of wheat. How much wheat would have been produced had the grain been left to grow?

Fibonacci, while famed for his sequence, was also a fan of bunnies, at least for the sake of a mathematical puzzle. He created this problem: Let us say a man put two bunnies in a room. Then, let us assume that each pair produces a further pair of bunnies, and that each of these pairs becomes productive toward procreation on its second month, while the original pairs remain productive. How many bunnies would there be at the end of a year?

Math boards have also been used for puzzles such as these. One Guarini di Forli took a three square by three square board and placed two white and two black knights in the corners of it. He then posed a simple puzzle: using the rules that are normal for knights in the game, how can these colors of knights switch sides?

Bachet is famous for his “weighing problems,” including the “weighing pan problem.” The problem can be paraphrased as this. First, assume that there is a weighing pan with two sides, and that weights can be put on one side to subtract from the other. What is the very smallest number of weights that can be used in order to have a scale and weight system which can weigh any whole number between one and forty?