today's puzzle

[hugme]

I am going to number the lines for this one to make it a little easier to explain.

Two ladies are talking:

1 The first one says "I can't remember the ages of your 3 childern"
2 The second one says "The product of their ages is 36"
3 The first one says "I still don't know their ages"
4 The second one says "the sum of their ages is your house number"
5 The first one says "I still don't know their ages"
6 The second one says "The child with the highest age has red hair"
7 The first one says "Thank you"

Question: What are the ages of the childern?

I am going to give you a BIG hint on this one



The line number that really gives the answer away is 5 when the second woman says "I still don't know their ages"

Comments

[asbrand.livejournal.com]

My Answer: Listen bitch...just answer the fuckin' question!

;-)



-Az

[lovelylotus.livejournal.com]

That's my AZ!!!!

*hugs* to you!

[dwivian]

I don't like this problem, because it fails to note that there is ALWAYS an oldest child, and sometimes the eldest brags on this fact when it is really a very small deal....

[melonaise.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing specifying the eldest's hair color is supposed to indicate something about twins. I suppose even though the twins themselves may differentiate between which of them is older, the mom is unlikely to do so when talking to an acquaintance.

[dwivian]

Eh... people are always a problem, aren't they....

If that's the case, 2-2-9.

[hugs.livejournal.com]

why wouldnt' it be 1-1-36?

[melonaise.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing with that one we're limited to the typical fertility range of a woman (although it could be possible to have one kid at, say, 11 and the other two at 47, it'd be awfully hard on the body to have twins at that age), and assuming all her kids are biological.

[dwivian]

Because there is exactly one way to derive the sum 38....

[hugs.livejournal.com]

or for that matter, why couldn't it be any formula where there is a higher age?

[i-am-devilbunny.livejournal.com]

Dammit! You're making me think!
3x3x4=36
I don't do math and don't know if this is correct since the #5 isn't in the equasion.

[eeyore-sings.livejournal.com]

I can't figure it out, but in line 5, it's the first woman that says "I still don't know their ages."

[taps7734.livejournal.com]

1,4,9

[taps7734.livejournal.com]

Actually... just re-read the problem....

I am gonna go with 2,2,9.

[hugs.livejournal.com]

a few of you got it... the answer is 2, 2, and 9

but why? and what does it have to do with line 5

well... line 2 is "the product of their ages is 36", line 3 the second lady doesn't know the answer because there is more than one answer for 3 numbers with the product of 36.

line 4 "the sum of the ages is your house number" now YOU don't know her house number but she does... so if she knows her own house number then she would know what the answer is...

line 5... she doesn't know what the ages are.. why? well, for the same reason as why she didn't know it the first time.. there is more than one possible answer. 2,2,9 and 1,6,6

and finally the one with the higest age has red hair... so it must be 2,2 and 9... now I didn't say oldest because in the case of twins one is older... OR the two could have only been born 10 months apart so they are the same age for 2 months.

there you go.. like I said, line 5 is the key.