Riddle for te prople that can't sleep...

[xchangx]

A professor gave us this riddle last week and I still can't figure it out.

Can anyone figure it out and explain...



There are two professors, Professor A and Professor B. Prof. A asks Prof B the following, "How old are your children?". To which Prof. B responds, "The product of my three children's ages is equal to thirty-six.".

Prof A responds by saying, "That's not enough info.". Prof B responds, "The sum of all thier ages is equal to my house number.".

Prof A responds, "That's still not enough info.". Prof B responds, "My oldest child plays the violin.".

Prof A reponds, "Oh, now I know how old they are!".

How old are his three children?




Chang

 

[bolomite]

What the heck? No other info?

 

[N8Magic]

His daughters are ages 8, 3 and 3.

Simple mathematics man!

 

[somethingwitty]

i think you or your professor might have misquoted something...either that or im not catching something:

clue #1 is supposed to narrow your possibilities to
1,1,36
1,2,18
1,3,12
1,4,9
1,6,6
2,2,9
2,3,6
3,3,4

I think #2 is misworded, and there is supposed to be some hint regarding the house #...?

#3 is supposed to cross out the one(s) that involve twins as the eldest; 1,6,6...

edit: not misworded, my mistake. see below.

 

[way]

8x3x3 = 36 ?

I want some of what you're smokin'.

 

[59Vette]

6, 2 and 3

 

[somethingwitty]

<< His daughters are ages 8, 3 and 3.

Simple mathematics man!

>>



that was a joke, right? 8*3*3!=36

 

[N8Magic]

<< I want some of what you're smokin' >>



It's quite good, actually. You'd be surprised.

 

[somethingwitty]

oh, i get it now...one sec for edit

the sums of the possible combinations only contain one repeat-13...thats 1,6,6 and 2,2,9. clue 3 removes 1,6,6, so they are:

2, 2, and 9

 

[Windogg]

EDIT: Whoops, gave the answer to a variation.

 

[xchangx]

Why does the sum equal 13?

 

[somethingwitty]

check out the 8 possibilities I listed, they add up to 38,21,16,14,13,13 (again), 11,10. the fact that clue #2 DIDN'T give the answer away suggests that you need to pick one of the two 13's; clue #3 knocks out the 1,6,6...

 

[Vincent]

We assume that Professor A knows Professor B's house number. The only way this knowledge is not enough information is if two combinations of ages summed to the same house number. Thus, the house number must be 13 because there are two ways that the ages could sum to 13.

 

[monto]

<<

<< His daughters are ages 8, 3 and 3.

Simple mathematics man!

>>



that was a joke, right? 8*3*3!=36 >>

hahaha...unsurpassed irony, another reason i luv ATOT

 

[AznMaverick]

but what if there the older twin thing was true but he was just talking about his oldest twin?

 

[Omegachi]

this riddle is dumb