Riddle:
A man has three daughters. A second, intelligent man, asked him the ages of his daughters. The first man told him that the product of their ages (them all multiplied together,) was 36. After thinking the second man was unable to find the answer and asked for another clue. The first man replies the sum of their ages is equal to his house door number. Still the second man was unable to answer and asked for another clue. The first man told him that his youngest daughter had blue eyes, and suddenly second man gave the correct answer. What were the ages of the first man's 3 children?
Show Hint
Hint:
Everything the
2 men say here is a clue:
3 daughters, product of their ages is 36, then he gives him an estimate that the second person knows but we do not (the house door number), when the second man needs one more piece of information, the first man tells him the youngest has blue eyes.
So to solve, you want to write down all the
3 numbers whose product is 36, then to find the last hint, knowing that there IS a youngest child...
Show Answer
Answer:
The ages are 6, 6 and 1.
to solve, you want to write down all the
3 numbers whose product is 36.
1, 1, 36
1,
3, 12
1, 4, 9
1,
2, 18
1, 6, 6
2,
2, 9
2,
3, 6
3,
3, 4
Here's the hardest part, the fact that the doorbell clue was not enough to solve the puzzle means that if we add up each of these options, we get at least two results that are the same, and we need more information to decide which one.
These are
13: 1, 6, 6
13:
2,
2, 9
Then to find the last hint, knowing that there IS a youngest child, means the smallest child doesn't have another sibling in the same age, meaning that 2,2,9 doesn't work, and we are left with 1, 6 and 6.