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Secret Trails

Under Review

Need a fun activity for students to practice their addition and subtraction skills? Try the Secret Trails exercise set.

A square of numbers is generated with start and finish points in circles (the finish point is in the box below the square). The finish point has a total. Students must use either addition or subtraction to find the order of numbers that lead to the total using only vertical or horizontal moves.

BONUS! - The answer key shows only one solution, but there may be other solutions for some puzzles. Challenge your students to locate any additional solutions.

Change the number of exercises

  1. Click on the box labeled "Number of Exercises" in the options panel.

  2. Type in a new number or use the up and down arrows to change the value. You can choose any number from 1 to 200.

Change the number of exercises in a row

  1. Select "Exercises per Row" in the options panel.

  2. Click the down arrow to choose a new number from the list or use Auto.

Notes:

  • If you are using the default auto settings, the number of questions per row will change automatically when you adjust the font size or the low/high number ranges.

  • For word problems exercises sets, you can only choose 1 or 2 exercises per row.

Change the row spacing

Set the spacing between rows of exercises in 100ths of an inch (25 = 1/4 inch, 40 = 1cm).

  1. Select the input field for the Row Spacing option in the options pane.

  2. Type a new value in the field or use the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the value. Valid range is 0 to 300.

Show title

  1. To show the exercise set Title, select the check box for the Show Title option in the options pane.

  2. To hide the exercise set title, deselect the check box.

Show instructions

  1. To show the exercise set Instructions, select the check box for the Show Instructions option in the options pane.

  2. To hide the exercise set instructions, deselect the check box.

Show duplicate warning

When this option is selected, a warning is displayed if there are any duplicate exercises in the exercise set. To hide the duplicate warning, uncheck the Show Duplicate Warning option in the options pane.

Set the operation

  1. To set the operation, select the Operation option in the options pane.

  2. Select the desired operation.

Set the trail size

  1. To set the trail size, select the Trail Size option in the options pane.

  2. Select the desired size.

Change the range of values

To achieve values within a set range, set the the high end of the range and the low end of the range.

  1. To set the high end of the range, select the input field for the Range High option in the options pane and enter a new value to the maximum allowed for that exercise.

  2. To set the low end of the range, select the input field for the Range Low option in the options pane and enter a new value to the minimum allowed for that exercise.

Note

To locate the range for any particular option, check the definition area at the bottom of the options pane when an option is selected. Some exercises allow negative values to be entered for either the high or low end of the range by using the hyphen as the negative sign, i.e. -10, -999, -1000.

Use or change decimal values

  1. To use or change decimal values, select the drop-down arrow for the Decimals option in the options pane.

  2. Select the desired decimal place values.

  3. Click OK to apply the selected values.

Note

Examples - If you have a number like 256

  • select 1 decimal place, the number will become 25.6

  • select 2 decimal places and the number will become 2.56

  • select 4 decimal places and the number will become 0.0256

Change the cell size

Sets the cell size in 100ths of an inch (25 = 1/4 inch, 50 = 1 cm).

  1. Select the input field for the Cell Size option in the options pane.

  2. Type a new value in the field or use the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the value. Valid values are 25 to 100.

Optional Display Settings