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Topic: This one will keep you up all night

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All Forums : [General] : General Trivia > This one will keep you up all night
10 JAN 2003 at 2:04pm

Agustín Cordes

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Two friends meet after a long time without seeing each other and they have the following conversation:

John: It's been a long time, how are your three daughters doing?
Peter: Fine.
John: How old are they?
Peter: The product of their ages is 36 and the sum of them equals the number of that bus line (pointing at the bus).
John thinks for a while.
John: The oldest is blonde?
Peter: Yes.
After a while.
John: Then the ages are A, B and C.
Peter: Right.

How many years has each one of the daughters and why?

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10 JAN 2003 at 3:19pm

Aya

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wouldn't it be funny to meet an old friend, ask him about his kids and actually get the above answer?!

- hey nick, long time no see... so how old are your sons
- the younger is the square root of the sum of the two orders, while the older is the 5th number of past month's lotto


btw don't have time now, i'll think about it later tonight

You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.


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10 JAN 2003 at 5:45pm

Prince_Charles

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Well, the question doesn't really make sense.  One of the clues is "the older one is blonde?"  If there are three daughters, it would be "oldest", not "older."  Not sure what to make of that.

Plus my Webster's dictionary has no listing for "summatory."  
o you mean the sum of their ages?

Sorry, the question is incoherent.


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10 JAN 2003 at 5:56pm

Agustín Cordes

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Sorry sorry, I translated it in a rush
(I speak Español, hombre) I made the corrections. Please, read it again!

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10 JAN 2003 at 5:58pm

Gayle

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Hi,

I understood you but my question is, I think I need the number in the bus line to get that equation.  You have given the equation for the total age but pointing a bus line and not giving an equation has me stumped.

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10 JAN 2003 at 5:59pm

Prince_Charles

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Well, your English is MUCH better than my Espagnol!!  I'll give it another try.


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10 JAN 2003 at 6:25pm

MichalN

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I'm afraid the question is incomplete. I can see at least two possible answers - the ages could be 2, 3, 6 or 1, 3, 12. This is assuming that the younger two are not twins. I don't see why either of the above possibilities wouldn't fit.
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10 JAN 2003 at 7:57pm

Agustín Cordes

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Absolutely not. The question has everything you need to solve the enigma.
C'mon people, go grab a pencil and paper

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10 JAN 2003 at 8:28pm

Gayle

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You are Rael.  I don't need the bus line.  But will keep working on it later tonight, I keep coming up with different possibilities.

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10 JAN 2003 at 8:31pm

szcax

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Originally Posted By MichalN (10 JAN 2003 6:24pm)
I'm afraid the question is incomplete. I can see at least two possible answers - the ages could be 2, 3, 6 or 1, 3, 12. This is assuming that the younger two are not twins. I don't see why either of the above possibilities wouldn't fit.


I came up with the same thing... only I think that the answer is probably 2, 3, and 6 because the two friends hadn't spoken for a long time... so if the guy had a one year old daughter, the other guy wouldn't know about it...

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10 JAN 2003 at 8:47pm

MichalN

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Originally Posted By szcax (10 JAN 2003 8:30pm)
I came up with the same thing... only I think that the answer is probably 2, 3, and 6 because the two friends hadn't spoken for a long time... so if the guy had a one year old daughter, the other guy wouldn't know about it...

But that's not very convincing is it... 10 months or something can be a long time too.

After all, if one of the daughters is 2 years old, they must have seen each other less than two years ago!
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10 JAN 2003 at 9:31pm

Agustín Cordes

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The theory is nice (it was one of the first things I thought) but that's not it.

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10 JAN 2003 at 10:57pm

Aya

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i hope this hasn't got smth do with buses in Argentina not having some specific numbers or smth?
cause unless a decuction can be made there, i see 4 different answers: 1, 3, 12 - 2, 3, 6 - 3, 3, 4 - 2, 2, 9... the last one is the only one that doesn't include a 3 y.o. daughter, but why shouldn't there be one anyway?! :


rael if the answer to this turns up smth like the sordid-sorbet question i'll personally fly to argentina to see to your merciless execution

You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.


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10 JAN 2003 at 11:20pm

Revliskci

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what about 1, 1, 36?

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10 JAN 2003 at 11:32pm

Aya

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Originally Posted By Revliskci (10 JAN 2003 11:20pm)
what about 1, 1, 36?

didn't think of that... most improbable of course (in real life), but sure is a possibility

You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.


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10 JAN 2003 at 11:34pm

Agustín Cordes

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Originally Posted By Aya_Brea (10 JAN 2003 10:57pm)
i hope this hasn't got smth do with buses in Argentina not having some specific numbers or smth?

Don't worry


rael if the answer to this turns up smth like the sordid-sorbet question i'll personally fly to argentina to see to your merciless execution

Trust me, this is a very logical problem. There is a solution and a very clever one.

what about 1, 1, 36?

Oh, beautiful answer... WHY?

Keep thinking

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10 JAN 2003 at 11:41pm

Aya

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Originally Posted By Rael (10 JAN 2003 11:33pm)
Oh, beautiful answer... WHY?

indeed?
is it because the 1 yearolds have no hair at all?!

You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.


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10 JAN 2003 at 11:45pm

MichalN

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Their ages are 2, 2 and 9 and you screwed it up Rael.

Here's the explanation: John knows the number of the bus. If he still asks for more information, that means there are two possible sets of ages with the same sum. I believe those are 6, 6, 1 and 9, 2, 2 (sum 13). If one of the daughters is oldest, it can't be 6, 6, 1.

I found a better worded version of this puzzle via Google (but the solution is my own, honest!) at http://www.math.utah.edu/~cherk/puzzles.html (second from the bottom).
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10 JAN 2003 at 11:48pm

Aya

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Originally Posted By MichalN (10 JAN 2003 11:45pm)
via Google

Cheater!

You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.


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10 JAN 2003 at 11:51pm

szcax

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Ooh ooh I know (waves hand wildly in the air and jumps up and down)!!! Their ages are 2, 2, and 9

The logic: the possible factors of 36 are
1, 1, 36
1, 2, 18
1, 3, 12
1, 4, 9
1, 6, 6
2, 2, 9
2, 3, 6
3, 3, 4
Ok the trick of the puzzle is John doesn't know the ages after he sees the sum and product. Therefore, there must be at least two age combinations that add up to the bus number and multiply out to be 32. In consecutive order, the sums are 38, 21, 16, 14, 13, 13, 11, 10. So the bus number must be thirteen so the combination is either 1, 6, 6 or 2, 2, 9 and since there is a definite "oldest" child it would have to be 2, 2, 9

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10 JAN 2003 at 11:51pm

MichalN

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Originally Posted By Aya_Brea (10 JAN 2003 11:48pm)
Cheater!

Since I didn't find the answer, I don't see how that is cheating. I just found the real question

I forgot my sig.

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10 JAN 2003 at 11:53pm

Aya

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Originally Posted By MichalN (10 JAN 2003 11:51pm)

Since I didn't find the answer, I don't see how that is cheating. I just found the real question

you just didn't give the link to the answer!

You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.


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10 JAN 2003 at 11:54pm

szcax

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Oooooh man... Im going to kill you Michael, you little slimy person who posts the answer while someone else is typing up the answer...  


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10 JAN 2003 at 11:55pm

MichalN

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Originally Posted By szcax (10 JAN 2003 11:50pm)
Ooh ooh I know (waves hand wildly in the air and jumps up and down)!!!

Too bad that Rael's wording sucks - it makes it sound like John already knew that one of the daughters was oldest, which destroys the puzzle.

BTW a nice variation would be the same puzzle but ask "What was the bus number" at the end

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10 JAN 2003 at 11:55pm

Elfstone

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A "long time" is quite relative, but it implies that each of the three daughters was born quite a while ago.
There is an "oldest" daughter. Rael, maybe the translation "older one" was correct? It would imply that two of three are of the same age?

Here is my attempt:
The sum of their ages equals to the number of the bus line. Now John asks about the oldest daughter. I think this is a clue that there are two possible sums which are equal to each other and we have to take the one with the single highest number.

Aaaaaah Michal!  >

I see you already posted the solution - if it is the correct one, which I strongly assume - whilst I'm writing this... *grumble*
You suck.  


Quite cool. We had the same thought just a few minutes separated from each other.
Then it was correct when I assumed that the wording isn't right? Yes, it was "the older one of the three".

LOL
Szcax, you too???
That's three with exactly the same thought within minutes...mysterious, isn't it?

Hmmm, I think your alternate version gives very much of the solution away Michal. In Rael's version the effect was much stronger as you are at first puzzled how to solve it. This version is banging your head against the solution...you can't miss it that way.
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