Stumped: Cat with a wooden leg
Mike King
avail.. can someone put me out of my misery please?
Thanks
A census taker calls at a house
He asks the woman there, the ages of her three daughters.
The woman says "if you multiply their ages the total is 72.
If you add their ages together the
total is the same as the number on my front door,
which you can see".
The census taker said that he had insufficient information to
calculate their ages.
"Well", said the woman,
"My eldest daughter has a cat with a wooden leg"
"Thank you", said the census taker
as he walked away chuckling.
What were the ages of the three daughters ?
Jandel
Mike King <ki...@nospam.uk.ibm.com> wrote in message
news:371f0960...@news.uk.ibm.com...
I guess that the woman could live at number 14!
Then her children could be,
3,3, and 8
or 6,6, and 2
When the woman said her oldest child had a cat with a wooden leg the census
taker assumed this meant they were 3, 3, and 8 as in a census taker's mind
if two children are 6 then there isn't one older than the other.
The cat with the wooden leg is there to take your mind away from the rest of
the sentence.
Only a suggestion...
:¬)
Cheers
Pete
gbar...@my-dejanews.com
ki...@nospam.uk.ibm.com (Mike King) wrote:
> I have been trying to figure this one out for a while now to no
> avail.. can someone put me out of my misery please?
>
> Thanks
>
> A census taker calls at a house
> He asks the woman there, the ages of her three daughters.
>
> The woman says "if you multiply their ages the total is 72.
> If you add their ages together the
> total is the same as the number on my front door,
> which you can see".
>
I've heard this one before. You're missing the information that 2 of the
daughters are twins. If so, the possible ages are 18-2-2 for a house number of
22 or 8-3-3 for a house number of 14. Because there is an eldest daughter and
not two, the 6-6-2 for a house number of 14 can be eliminated.
> The census taker said that he had insufficient information to
> calculate their ages.
>
> "Well", said the woman,
> "My eldest daughter has a cat with a wooden leg"
>
> "Thank you", said the census taker
> as he walked away chuckling.
>
> What were the ages of the three daughters ?
>
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
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Ronald Osher
>
> Possible spoiler...
>
> Mike King <ki...@nospam.uk.ibm.com> wrote in message
> news:371f0960...@news.uk.ibm.com...
> > avail.. can someone put me out of my misery please?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > A census taker calls at a house
> > He asks the woman there, the ages of her three daughters.
> >
> > The woman says "if you multiply their ages the total is 72.
> > If you add their ages together the
> > total is the same as the number on my front door,
> > which you can see".
> >
> > calculate their ages.
> >
> > "Well", said the woman,
> > "My eldest daughter has a cat with a wooden leg"
> >
> > "Thank you", said the census taker
> > as he walked away chuckling.
> >
> > What were the ages of the three daughters ?
>
ages. Every other house number would result in only one set of ages.
Since the census taker said the information given was insufficient, the
house number must be 14.
>
> Then her children could be,
>
> 3,3, and 8
>
> or 6,6, and 2
>
> When the woman said her oldest child had a cat with a wooden leg the census
> taker assumed this meant they were 3, 3, and 8 as in a census taker's mind
> if two children are 6 then there isn't one older than the other.
> The cat with the wooden leg is there to take your mind away from the rest of
> the sentence.
Right, so the answer must be 3,3,8 unless... of the twin 6 year olds,
the cat belongs to the one born first! Then what do you do?
>
> Only a suggestion...
> :¬)
>
> Cheers
>
> Pete
Ron Osher
il...@isgtec.com
> avail.. can someone put me out of my misery please?
>
> Thanks
>
> A census taker calls at a house
> He asks the woman there, the ages of her three daughters.
>
> The woman says "if you multiply their ages the total is 72.
> If you add their ages together the
> total is the same as the number on my front door,
> which you can see".
>
> The census taker said that he had insufficient information to
> calculate their ages.
>
> "Well", said the woman,
> "My eldest daughter has a cat with a wooden leg"
>
> "Thank you", said the census taker
> as he walked away chuckling.
>
> What were the ages of the three daughters ?
>
SPOILER
A list of all triplets of integers with product 72 is given below together
with their sums.
1 1 72 74
1 2 36 39
1 3 24 28
1 4 18 23
1 6 12 19
1 8 9 18
2 2 18 22
2 3 12 17
2 4 9 15
2 6 6 14
3 3 8 14
3 4 6 13
Only 2 6 6 and 3 3 8 have the same sum, 14. Therefore one of them must be the
answer (otherwise there would have been enough information).
"My eldest daughter ..." means that the answer is 3 3 8.
__/\__
\ /
__/\\ //\__ Ilan Mayer
\ /
/__ __\ Toronto, Canada
/__ __\
Paul Boddice
when added they produce a different sum and we don't know the house number
although the census taker clearly did. Since he was still unable to
calculate the daughters ages there must be more than one set of numbers
whose product is 72 and whose sum is the same.
These are 8 3 3 and 6 6 2.
Since the mother had an eldest daughter the correct solution must be 8 3 3
and the house number is 14.
Mike King wrote in message <371f0960...@news.uk.ibm.com>...
JP
>
>These are 8 3 3 and 6 6 2.
>
>Since the mother had an eldest daughter the correct solution must be 8 3 3
>and the house number is 14.
>
Even with twins there is an eldest...
