Using a Calculator Code Breaker GCSE Puzzle

A code breaker puzzle on using a calculator. Students type each of the 13 calculations exactly as it is written, covering squares, cubes, square roots and brackets, look the answer up in the Code Box and write down the letter it unlocks. The thirteen letters then unscramble to a two-word answer, with a clue to help.

The Code Box includes deliberate traps: the answers you get by leaving out the brackets, or by multiplying by the power instead of squaring or cubing, are listed with their own letters, so only careful calculator use cracks the code.

Answers are included as a separate file. Two copies per A4 page.

Suitable for GCSE Foundation (AQA N3) and for Key Stage 3 classes practising calculator skills.

AI was used to help create this resource, working from my own lesson design.