Math worksheet generator, any mix of problems, with an answer key.

A math worksheet generator makes a fresh page of practice problems on demand. This one covers addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, alone or mixed, and gives you control over the things that make a sheet easy or hard: how many digits each number has, whether carrying or borrowing is needed, which times tables appear and whether division leaves a remainder. Every sheet has an answer key, and no problem repeats on a sheet or across the sheets you make together.

How to use it

1. Pick a Quick start such as Times tables 2 to 5, or tick the Kinds of problem you want. Each kind you tick shows its own settings.
2. For addition and subtraction, set the digits of the First number and Second number, and choose whether Carrying or Borrowing is any, always needed or never needed.
3. For multiplication, set the range for the first and second factor. For division, set Divide by from and Answer from, and tick Allow remainders if you want them.
4. Choose a Layout, Columns, Problems on a sheet and the number of Sheets.
5. Leave Add an answer key ticked. Press Save the PDF for sheets and key, or Answer key only to print the key separately.
6. Press New sheet for a different set. Copy link keeps the code and settings together.

How the sheet code works

The code is a short mix of letters and numbers. The program turns it into a stream of repeatable choices, so the same code with the same settings always gives the same problems in the same order. Share the link with a colleague and they print the same sheet. Change one setting and you get a different but related sheet. Sheet two of a set uses the same code with a number added, so the sheets differ from each other.

No repeats, and what that means

The generator does not repeat a problem on a sheet. For addition and multiplication, 3 + 5 and 5 + 3 count as the same problem, because they are the same fact, so only one of them appears. For subtraction and division the order matters, so 8 minus 3 and 3 minus 8 are different, and the second is not allowed anyway because the answer must not be negative.

Small settings have a limit. Adding two numbers from 0 to 9 gives 55 different problems, counting each pair once. Asking for 100 problems with those settings gives 55, and the status line says so. Multiplying whole numbers from 2 to 12 by each other gives 66. Division with divisors 2 to 9 and answers 1 to 12 gives 8 times 12, which is 96. When you ask for several sheets, the program tries to avoid repeating a problem from one sheet to the next, and tells you if the settings are too small to manage it.

Carrying and borrowing

Carrying happens when the numbers in a column add up to ten or more: in 47 + 38, the ones add to 15, so one carries over. 23 + 41 needs no carrying. Borrowing happens when a column of the top number is smaller than the one below it: in 52 minus 27, the 2 is smaller than 7, so the top number borrows. 58 minus 23 needs none. The generator checks every problem against the setting you choose, so Never needs carrying never gives a carry. For a first sheet on a new idea, choose never. For a challenge sheet, choose always.

Settings for different stages

These are starting points, not a curriculum. Change one setting at a time, and keep the code of a sheet that worked well so you can print it again.

Across or stacked

Across prints each problem on one line with a blank for the answer, which suits facts and mental maths. Stacked, in columns lines the digits up with a rule under them, which suits written methods. Stacked division uses the bracket shape. The numbers are set in a monospaced font, so the digit columns line up.

The answer key

The key comes at the end of the PDF, with one block for each sheet, numbered the same way as the problems. Division with remainders is shown as 7 r 2. Every answer is computed by the program, so there are no typing mistakes to find.

Need times tables to learn from? See the times tables chart. For addition only, with missing numbers, use the addition worksheets. For counting patterns, try the skip counting worksheets, and for fractions the fraction calculator.