Really HARD Riddle! HELP!!!

[JMWarren]

OK Guys, I've been posed the following riddle

A man has 3 sons.
Their birthdays fall on the same day of the year.
The sum of their ages is 13.
The product of their birthdays is the same as the house number for the house across the street.
The oldest can play violin.

How old are they each?????

Good Luck!

Thanks for the Help, Not sure if it's even possible

Mike

 

[desk]

i really dont think thats possible

 

[MacBaine]

Sounds like an idiot thought that one up...good work.

 

[Pepsi90919]

it's not possible.

oh and ignore that crap about the violin, the man, and the house numbers.

 

[dugweb]

no identical 3 numbers can add up to 13, unless they were born on a fraction

 

[Legendary]

How does one sum birthdays?

 

[MacBaine]

Originally posted by: JudistPriest
no identical 3 numbers can add up to 13, unless they were born on a fraction

It just says their B-days fall on the same day, of the year, not that they are all the same age... so it could be anything

1 2 10
3 4 6
5 5 3
etc...

 

[amoeba]

are you sure it says the sum of their birthdays and not the sum of their ages?

like judistpriest says no identical 3 numbers can add up to 13.

 

[Gibsons]

they were born on the 4.33333333333

 

[Syringer]

Sum of b-days = 13?

Meaning.. 26/6 = June 26th?

26/6 * 3 = 13

Shrug.

 

[isasir]

I assume they're all born on February 29th. (Triplets) Leap year happening everying 4.333 years.

 

[LED]

They were all born on the last day of Feb....with one being the leap year. Their age is 4,4,5

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

S1 S2 S3 SUM Product
1 1 11 13 11
1 2 10 13 20
1 3 9 13 27
1 4 8 13 32
1 5 7 13 35
1 6 6 13 36
2 2 9 13 36
2 3 8 13 48
2 4 7 13 56
2 5 6 13 60
3 3 7 13 63
3 4 6 13 72
3 5 5 13 75
4 4 5 13 80


i think there are 14 possibilities based on the first 3 clues. last two are either bogus, or reallty obscure.

 

[Tifababy]

The last hint is to show that the two youngest are twins and the older one is not. So that means that it is either 2,2,9 or 6,6,1 since they both have the same product (the address across the street), you needed the last hint, so the answer is 2,2,9.

 

[bsobel]

Come on guys.....

Let me get you started. One is older (can play an instrument) the other two are twins (same age). So, 11, 1 or 9, 2 or 7,3.

Bill

edit: Tifababy beat me to it...

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: Tifababy
The last hint is to show that the two youngest are twins and the older one is not. So that means that it is either 2,2,9 or 6,6,1 since they both have the same product (the address across the street), you needed the last hint, so the answer is 2,2,9.

don't forget

1 1 and 11

so your interpretation (which i don't agree with) of the last clue doesn't help distinguish between 1,1, and 11 and 2,2, and 9

 

[EngenZerO]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
S1 S2 S3 SUM Product
1 1 11 13 11
1 2 10 13 20
1 3 9 13 27
1 4 8 13 32
1 5 7 13 35
1 6 6 13 36
2 2 9 13 36
2 3 8 13 48
2 4 7 13 56
2 5 6 13 60
3 3 7 13 63
3 4 6 13 72
3 5 5 13 75
4 4 5 13 80


i think there are 14 possibilities based on the first 3 clues. last two are either bogus, or reallty obscure.

your almost there the correct answer is 2 2 and 9.

This is a classic microsoft question during their interviews.

HomeBrewerDude got most of it. All you had to do after that was apply the oldest sun plays violin. We do not know the number accross the street, so we have to assume that their will be two sets whose product is equal. Which turns out to be 1 6 and 6 and 2 2 and 9. From that you should be able to deduce 2 2 and 9 are the ages of the boys.

edit... crap got beat to the answer by a few a mins LOL

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

even twins have an oldest and a youngest.

 

[Tifababy]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude

Originally posted by: Tifababy
The last hint is to show that the two youngest are twins and the older one is not. So that means that it is either 2,2,9 or 6,6,1 since they both have the same product (the address across the street), you needed the last hint, so the answer is 2,2,9.

don't forget

1 1 and 11

so your interpretation (which i don't agree with) of the last clue doesn't help distinguish between 1,1, and 11 and 2,2, and 9

You don't know the house number, but you can assume it's 36 since there are two cases which the product is the same. The 1,1,11 case has a product of 11 and no other combination of ages has this, so the house address clue would be useless. If you need all the clues to get the answer, then 2,2,9 is the only option. If you only use 1-3 of the clues, then there is no definitive answer.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
even twins have an oldest and a youngest.

The violin clue is to tell you that only one of the siblings is 'older', the other 2 are young. Yes you can argue that of two 11 year olds, only one can play the violin and it's a bad clue. I didn't right it, I just know how these puzzles go, thats the clue...

Bill

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: EngenZerO

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
S1 S2 S3 SUM Product
1 1 11 13 11
1 2 10 13 20
1 3 9 13 27
1 4 8 13 32
1 5 7 13 35
1 6 6 13 36
2 2 9 13 36
2 3 8 13 48
2 4 7 13 56
2 5 6 13 60
3 3 7 13 63
3 4 6 13 72
3 5 5 13 75
4 4 5 13 80


i think there are 14 possibilities based on the first 3 clues. last two are either bogus, or reallty obscure.

your almost there the correct answer is 2 2 and 9.

This is a classic microsoft question during their interviews.

HomeBrewerDude got most of it. All you had to do after that was apply the oldest sun plays violin. We do not know the number accross the street, so we have to assume that their will be two sets whose product is equal. Which turns out to be 1 6 and 6 and 2 2 and 9. From that you should be able to deduce 2 2 and 9 are the ages of the boys.

edit... crap got beat to the answer by a few a mins LOL

Why wouldn't 4 4 5 work? There's an oldest there as well.

 

[EngenZerO]

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: EngenZerO

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
S1 S2 S3 SUM Product
1 1 11 13 11
1 2 10 13 20
1 3 9 13 27
1 4 8 13 32
1 5 7 13 35
1 6 6 13 36
2 2 9 13 36
2 3 8 13 48
2 4 7 13 56
2 5 6 13 60
3 3 7 13 63
3 4 6 13 72
3 5 5 13 75
4 4 5 13 80


i think there are 14 possibilities based on the first 3 clues. last two are either bogus, or reallty obscure.

your almost there the correct answer is 2 2 and 9.

This is a classic microsoft question during their interviews.

HomeBrewerDude got most of it. All you had to do after that was apply the oldest sun plays violin. We do not know the number accross the street, so we have to assume that their will be two sets whose product is equal. Which turns out to be 1 6 and 6 and 2 2 and 9. From that you should be able to deduce 2 2 and 9 are the ages of the boys.

edit... crap got beat to the answer by a few a mins LOL

Why wouldn't 4 4 5 work? There's an oldest there as well.

because you have to go on the assumption on the street number of the house (which is unknown). Seeing that the next clue states that the oldest plays violin you have to assume two products will end up being equal to each other. Thus from that you have to deduce 2, 2, and 9.

 

[rudder]

42.

 

[MacBaine]

I don't see where you all are getting that two of them are twins... nothing in that riddle even remotely suggests that.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: EngenZerO
Seeing that the next clue states that the oldest plays violin you have to assume two products will end up being equal to each other. Thus from that you have to deduce 2, 2, and 9.

I don't follow your reasoning on this.