Question

One day a friend visited my house and asked me the ages of my threesons. I replied that the product of my son's ages is 36 and the sum of theirages is equal to my house number. My friend who has a sharp and logical mind,requested me for another hint. I then told him that my eldest son has blueeyes! Following this he quickly told me their ages.Tell me how old are my three sons?

Answer 1

wts ur house no ?

Answer 2

it must be 6,2,3 if they r older then 1....

Answer 3

i dont like this problem >.>

Answer 4

y joemath ?

Answer 5

hey guys the options are 1) 1,1,36
2)1,4,9
3)2,2,9
4)3,3,4

Answer 6

i dont know. the solution is weird. first you write out all the possible ages these kids could be (for their product to be 36), and what each case sums up to. one sum will be repeated twice. Youre supposed to assume that the reason the logical person needs the other hint is because the house number just happens to be the the number that repeated twice. So he gets another hint (the oldest has blue eyes), and that lets him know that there is an oldest person, or something like that.

Answer 7

i think before he needs the second hint his only options are 1, 6, 6 and 2, 2, 9. So because the father has :an olderst son" it cant be the 1, 6, 6.

Answer 8

something like that, seems flimsy at best to me. thats why i dont like the problem.

Answer 9

sounds good to me its the first time i've come across a problem like this :)

Answer 10

can u plzz try it again

Answer 11

its 2, 2, 9.

Answer 12

i even know the ans...but i dont understand how tat has come...the ans is 1,1,36

Answer 13

The product of the ages of the three children is 36.
Thus, their possible ages and the sum of their ages are:
1 year, 1 year, 36 years; Sum = 38
1 year, 3 years, 12 years; Sum = 16
1 year, 4 years, 9 years; Sum = 14
1 year, 6 years, 6 years; Sum = 13
2 years, 2 years, 9 years; Sum = 13
2 years, 3 years, 6 years; Sum = 11
3 years, 3 years, 4 years; Sum = 10

In this case, every combination of possible ages has a unique sum of ages - except for two cases, both of which have 13 as the sum. Since the friend could not figure out the ages after looking at the house number, the house number must be 13, because then, the ages could be either 1, 6, 6 or 2, 2, 9. When he was told that the eldest son has blue eyes, he immediately ruled out the set of 1 year, 6 years and 6 years as in this case, the eldest children have the same age. Thus, only one possibility remained, i.e., the ages of the children are 2 years, 2 years and 9 years.