Maths Sum to work on?

Question

A woman has 3 school age children. The product of her age and the ages of her 3 children is 16 555. The difference betweem the ages of her elest and youngest children is?

It is possible. The options are: 4, 5, 6, 7, 11

Thank you theFoOt

Answer 1

So since we are talking about ages we can assume that the ages are whole numbers. So if we factor 16555 it will give us the ages

16555 factored is 5 * 7 * 11 * 43 = 16555

So the answer is 11 - 5 = 6

Answer 2

if we factorize 16555 into prime factors we will get 16555=43*11*7*5
Since the mother is the oldest her age will be 43 yrs
The eldest child will be 11yrs and the youngest 5yrs .
Therefore the difference between the eldest and the youngest is 6 yrs

Answer 3

Mother = 43
Children = 5, 7, 11

Difference between eldest & youngest = 6

Answer 4

Difference is 6 years. 16555 is product of only 4 prime numbers, 5, 7, 11 and 43.

edit- Rats, I thought I might be first...not by a long shot, eh?

Answer 5

it is very simple ...

the product of the mother and three children are,

m*c1*c2*c3 = 16555

but when we factroize v get four prime numbers ...
ie
43*5 * 7 * 11 = 16555

so the diff between eldest and youngest children is 11-5 =6

Answer 6

You wouldn't think there's a lot of info to go on in this problem -- but the number 16,555 doesn't have a lot of factors. In fact, it only has four prime factors. Find them, and you'll have your answer. :)

Hope that helps!

Answer 7

Kinda impossible to work out isn't it? You haven't given all the facts ...

Answer 8

613.15-204.38=408.77