Inequality Puzzle - [Futoshiki]

I find that students assosciate > with the words "greater than" and assosciate that with "bigger", as if it goes through a "terminology phase" in their head. Two steps means it's twice as likely to go wrong!

I wanted to get rid of the words and let students get used to how the inequality signs interact with the values directly. The words can come later on.

So, here is a worksheet with 8 inequality puzzles. Place the numbers 1 to n in the grid such that each number appears exactly once in each row and column. There are some inequality signs that also have to be obeyed. I've found that Key Stage 3 classes spend 15-30 minutes on it.

Here's a teaser version.

Since creating this and using it a few times, I've learned that this type of puzzle is called Futoshiki, translating to "More or Less". If you want more, there are plenty out there. I think this one is pretty good and have used this on the board as a time filler in lessons. Just a heads up that some require an awful lot of logic and deduction which may be too much for some students, whereas the ones in my worksheet were aimed at getting used to inequalities with a gradual increase in logic.