Math Drill Generator

What you get

One sheet of practice problems with a ruled space to write each answer, and the answer key on a separate page so you can hand out the worksheet without it.

You choose the operation, the range of numbers, and whether the page holds 20, 50 or 100 problems. Problems run down each column and then across, which is how most people work through a drill sheet.

Two things the generator will not do. Subtraction never produces a negative answer: the numbers are ordered before the problem is written, so a child learning to subtract never meets "7 − 9" by accident. And division always comes out exactly: the divisor and the answer are chosen first and the dividend is worked out from them, so a remainder is impossible rather than filtered out afterwards. Nothing is ever divided by zero.

Choosing a range

For addition the two ranges bound each number, not the answer, so the simplest way to keep sums within 20 is both numbers at 0 to 10: the biggest sum is then 10 + 10, and crossing ten (8 + 5) is still in. The maker opens at 0 to 20 on both sides, which lets totals reach 40. Subtraction is the other way around, because the larger number always comes first: both numbers at 0 to 20 keeps every answer within 20.

For multiplication, setting both numbers to 1 to 12 gives the traditional tables: 144 facts when 6 × 9 and 9 × 6 count separately, so even the hundred-problem page never asks the same one twice. For two-digit practice, set the first number to 11 to 99 and the second to 2 to 9.

For division the two settings mean something slightly different. "Divide by" is the divisor, and "Answers between" bounds the result. Setting divide-by to 2 to 10 and answers to 1 to 12 gives you the inverse of the times tables, which is exactly the practice most children need after learning multiplication.

Every page is drawn without repeats for as long as the ranges can supply different problems, and only then does a problem come around again. Fractions of a number use only halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths and tenths, so answers 1 to 10 can make at most 70 different problems and a hundred-problem page will repeat at least 30.

How many problems

Twenty is a warm-up or a homework strip: three columns, two of seven and one of six, with plenty of room to write.

Fifty is the everyday drill sheet: four columns of thirteen, with the last column two short. It takes steady attention without dragging on, and the rows are still tall enough for most children to write their answers comfortably.

A hundred is a timed-test page, five columns of twenty. It is genuinely dense, so it suits children who are already fluent and are working on speed rather than accuracy. It is worth printing one and looking at it before you hand out thirty.

The sheets are made in your browser

The problems are generated where you are, when you ask for them. No range you set and no sheet you make is uploaded, stored or logged, and there is no account keeping a history of what a child has been practicing.

It is testable rather than promised. Load this page, disconnect from the internet, and "New problems" and "Print this sheet" keep working, because the problems are made on your device, which is also why a new set appears instantly. "Download PDF" fetches its code the first time you press it, so press it once before going offline.

A note on drills

Practice sheets do one job well: they make recall automatic so that attention is free for the harder thinking that comes later. They do not teach the concept, and a child who does not yet understand what subtraction means will not learn it from a page of it.

That is worth saying because it changes how you use them. Drills are best once the idea has landed, in short and frequent doses rather than long ones. Five minutes daily beats forty minutes on a Friday.

Mixing operations on alternate days tends to hold up better than blocking one operation for two weeks, because it forces a choice about which operation to use rather than just the arithmetic.