Maths Fun for JP - can you do it?

A census taker approaches a house and asks the woman who answers the door,"How many children do you have, and what are their ages?"
Woman: "I have three children, the product of their ages are 36, the sum of their ages are equal to the address of the house next door."

The census taker walks next door, comes back and says, "I need more information."

The woman replies, "I have to go, my oldest child is sleeping upstairs."

Census taker: "Thank you, I now have everything I need."

What are the ages of each of the three children?

I know!!

Lets post answers at high noon and ill give the result at 12:30pm

Mathmaster Phil

Will we have to give our workings?

Bonus points are given for workings. - and will be used to decide a tiebreaker - 1st prize - ill buy you a drink @ the next Living room you attend.

is the answer 2, 2, 9

I think then house next door stuff might be a red herring

all shall be revealed at 12:30 - JP - can you show your working for bonus points?

o dam and blast 1 is a number to

If the woman has three children and the product of their ages is 36, all the possible combinations of age are as follows:

6,6,1 sum 13
3,3,4 sum 10
9,2,2 sum 13
9,4,1 sum 14
18,2,1 sum 21
36,1,1 sum 38

The sum of their ages is equal to the addrss of the house next door.

As the cencus taker can't work it out based on that information it must mean that their are two possible combinations of ages with the same sum. Only leaving:

6,6,1 sum 13
and
9,2,2 sum 13

as the posibilities of the childrens ages.

When the woman says that her eldest is sleeping the census taker realises that there is an eldest child and not a pair of eldest children therefore the only combination of childrens ages left are:

9,2,2

(Note: the other combination 6,6,1 could also be true if the woman concieved her second child almost imediately after giving birth to her first and therefore the eldest child could be almost 7 whereas the second cnild will have only just had its sixth birthday, or in the unlikely event that she cosiders the first born of her twins to be her eldest)

so its either

2 2 9

or

1 4 9

gulp !

Sorry about that I meant to leave the answer I had typed in the post reply box and post it at 12, but when I finished I clicked on "post reply" by accident. If you want to remove the post and I can repost it later.

Sorry!

I tip my hat.

no worries sir - you shall not be penalised as were are not anal here!

2 hours 2 go till result

phil get on with your work, if you can't use msn you certainly can't use wan! gah, good impression and all that....

I cant use MSN as loads of ppl will start chatting to me and ill get no work done.

This way i can still chill, chat and do some work.

WAN Is King

Jody - stop stalking me and do some work

The result:

The Reason the census taker could not figure out the childrens ages is because, even with knowing the number on the house next door there were still two possibilities. The only way that the product could be 36 and still leave two possibilities is if the sum equals 13. These possibilities being 9+2+2 and 6+6+1. When the home owner stated that her "Oldest" child is sleeping she was giving ths census taker the fact that there is an "oldest." The childrens ages are therefore 9,2, &2.

Well done davey - find Lord Bridge the next time your at the livign room and a drink is yours

Fancy another quiz tomorrow?

Does that happen a lot in Cambridge then? Residents being difficult little bastards.

More to the point why do census takers entertain that sort of thing? Is intelligence and an interest in inane mathematical problems just part of everyday life?

Do people give out their telephone numbers as a product of their primes and things.

Woman: "I have three children, the product of their ages are 36, the sum of their ages are equal to the address of the house next door."

Census Taker: "Tell me how old your kids are before I put you down as a crack-whore"

Larf though.