Print a dynamically generated worksheet with 100 random addition problems perfectly tailored for your student or class level. All free with no strings attached. Print as many as you want, just download the spreadsheet and go. Click this link for the 100Facts.xls file.
It is an Excel spreadsheet, using formulas to generate random problems that are customized to the exact level of difficulty you need at any given time. You can print test after test, and they are never the same. Practice a different timed test every night if you want!
Navigating the File
The Excel file actually has four tabs or worksheets, one each for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. On each tab or sheet, there are 100 problems that are randomly generated, with an answer key below. If you print the tab as set up in two pages, the first page is the test, and the second page is the answer key. You can skip the answer key by just printing page 1.
Printing the Test
The sheet is set for automatic recalculation, which means after every entry you make, the problems will all be changed per their formulas for random problems. You can turn off the automatic calculation by going to the options portion of the Excel menu and making calculations manual. On most versions of Excel, you can manually calculate by pressing the “F9” key. Every time you press this key, all the problems and their answers will be changed to new problems. If you want three tests with different problems for three different nights, print one test, hit “F9”, print again, hit “F9”, and print again- you’ll get three different tests, all completely different, but the same level of difficulty.
Changing the Difficulty
On the right side of each sheet are a colorful couple of blocks that determine the values that will be chosen from for the problems that are randomly generated. For addition, the user can choose up to 11 values for the upper addend and 11 other values for the lower addend. Then the user picks how many of those values will actually be used. On the example to the right from the Addition tab, the settings are set for a simple test, both addends will range between zero and 5, generating problems like 1+1 or 5+0 or 2+3. The “Range Index” in each box refers to the first and last index value from the “Choices” list to be used. To make this more clear, the first and last choices are color-coded. In the example, both boxes have “1” as the first “Choice” and have “1” as the top “Range Index” value. This means that the first value in the choice list, which happens to be “1” will be the top of the range of values to be used. To hopefully make this a little more clear by contrast, the last choice that is to be used is “0” which was placed in the sixth spot in the “Choices” list. The “6” in the lower “Range Index” refers to the sixth value in the “Choices” list. So, the problems will have either 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 0 for each addend, based on the setup. The point is that you don’t have to use numbers in order, or use all of the choices. You can pick and choose.
On each example I’m showing on the site, I’m showing one column of problems that were generated by this sheet, so you can get a feel for the connection between the setup and the result.
Let’s look at a tougher addition setup. Here the problems can have answers over 100. The choices are the same as before, except that 6 is in the sixth position for each list, but the range goes from the first to the eleventh value, which makes many more possibilities.
While the “Choices” lists are almost identical in these examples, you could make them completely different or even double up some numbers. Perhaps your little one is having difficulty with addition that involves eights and nines. Put 8 in place of 1, and 9 in place of 2, and you’ll have almost half of the problems with 8 or 9 in the top and almost half with 8 or 9 in the bottom. Likely 3 out of every 4 problems will have 8 or 9 in the top, bottom, or both. Make it any way you want. You’re the boss! After you put the settings you want, hit “F9” or re-calc a few times to see that you are getting what you wanted. Remember that each time you re-calc, you’ll get a different group of problems that match your criteria.
Remember that the numbers of the “Range Index” are referring to the box number under “Choices,” not the value in the boxes. Notice that the example to the left shows the bottom “Range Index” each pointing to the eleventh box, not at the value “100.”
Generally, if a user of the file avoids changing formulas in the sheets and follows the above instructions, the file should work fine. However, if you received this file from a source other than this website and experience difficulties, try downloading a fresh free copy from this link for the MathFacts.xls file.
Remember, this file does have other math worksheets including dynamic 100 problem math facts for simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. For an explanation of the rest of the Math Facts Excel workbook, see the Math Facts webpage for the rest of the worksheet also on this website.
You may want to consider downloading the later FractionTests.xlsx file for math problems with fractions. There are also sheets for long addition through long division, including division with or without remainders. And there are versions for decimals of each type. With more complex problems, the answers will actually “show the work” needed to solve the problems, not just the answer, so you or your student can compare how they solved it compared to the correct answer. And in all versions, you can tailor the difficulty of the worksheets, and every version you make will have different problems, so you never run out of different worksheets.
If you spot an error or have suggestions for improvement or other sheets, leave a comment below and I’ll look into it and make improvements if required. I’m sorry that it is a bit of a pain to add a comment, but to keep the spambots out this is what we have to do.