Question

As I was going to St. Ives
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits;
Kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?

Answer 1

you can start counting

Answer 2

1 lol

Answer 3

lol eyad. wow you just threw it out like that

Answer 4

lol

Answer 5

lol sry :s

Answer 6

You do well my pupil (; lol

Answer 7

I was going to let her count and then at the end of the calculation ask her why did she count LOL

Answer 8

Indeterminate.

Answer 9

I knew the answer... I'm just posting up riddles at the moment. (:

Answer 10

keep on !!! ^_~

Answer 11

It's ambiguous and lacks information. Are they all coming with the man to St. Ives? Are we only counting kits, cats, sacks, and wives? or do the narrator and the man count? etc. This is a pretty old math riddle but it's not a real math problem since it's so poorly defined.

Answer 12

that is not what riddle is about, @oldrin.bataku
you solve it by what you are given.

Answer 13

That's why its a riddle, I never said it was a math problem. "As I was going to St. Ives". The only one we can infer is traveling to St.Ives is the narrator.

Answer 14

Exactly what thinker said.

Answer 15

I know very well what this riddle is about and you're correct that problems are solved from what is given. Inferring is assuming, however, and assumptions do not necessarily hold. Coming from math backgrounds I'm surprised you don't understand the importance of precise language in specifying the problem and the dire necessity that each step be justified logically.

Answer 16

did any of the sacks have money in them

Answer 17

That is the original riddle, copied and pasted with no editing.
The purpose of a riddle is to make you use logic. Hence it might seem to be missing information, yet it isn't.

Answer 18

lol @iforgot maybe cats had money hidden. :P

Answer 19

logic right ... thats y ppl will start counting

Answer 20

.-.

Answer 21

I think I'll close the post now. (:

Answer 22

go go go
lol