The Take-Away Trick
- Explorers
- Levels 1 and 2
- Matchstick puzzle
A tricky take-away: 0 − 1 = 8. Move one matchstick to fix it.
Move one matchstick so the sum is true.
This one comes back on . You can solve it then, signed in.
Last set on . The answer stays inside Kiwimath, and here is why.
What the board shows
- As laid out, the sum reads 0 − 1 = 8, which is not true.
- There are 18 matchsticks on the table, and the same 18 must still be there after the move.
- You may move one stick, and only once.
How do matchstick puzzles work?
The sum is built from matchsticks, with each figure made the way a calculator shows it: seven places for a stick, like an 8 with every stick in place. The plus sign is two sticks, the minus sign one, and the equals sign two.
A move means picking up one stick and putting it down somewhere else. It can go back into the same figure, into a different figure, or into a sign. Nothing can be thrown away or added from outside.
After the move every figure has to be a proper digit and the sum has to be true. A child who finds a true sum can check the move by counting the sticks: there should be exactly as many as at the start.
What it trains: Number sense, careful checking and seeing digits as shapes.
Puzzles like this are part of olympiad preparation from the first classes. See the plan for Class 1 or Class 3.
What to ask while your child works
Questions like these keep a child thinking without giving anything away. They work for every puzzle of this kind.
- Can you read the sum aloud and say why it is not true?
- How many sticks does each figure use?
- After your move, did the number of sticks stay the same?
Warm up with one like The Take-Away Trick
This warm-up is not the puzzle above, and its answer is below. It is a different puzzle of the same kind, made for this page, so your child can practise before The Take-Away Trick comes back.
Move one matchstick so the sum is true.
See the warm-up answer
The sum becomes 5 + 4 = 9.
- Nine plus four is thirteen, too big for one figure, so the 9 needs to get smaller. The stick it gives up can fix the answer as well.
- Take the top-right stick from the first 9. It becomes a 5.
- Put it on the top left of the 3, which becomes a 9.
- Now it reads 5 + 4 = 9.
Questions parents ask about The Take-Away Trick
When can my child solve The Take-Away Trick?
The Take-Away Trick is due back as the Explorers puzzle of the week on Saturday 17 October 2026, opening at 6 PM India time. Your child can solve it then, signed in, with hints that open one at a time.
Who is The Take-Away Trick for?
It is an Explorers puzzle, for Levels 1 and 2, roughly Class 1 to 4. A younger child can try it with a grown-up reading the story aloud; the thinking matters more than the reading.