Plz if u would actually read all of this information. TY
A traveling salesperson shows up at the apartment of a math teacher to peddle her wares. During the course of her spiel, the salesperson discovers that the teacher has 3 children and inquires as to their ages.
The teacher answeres, "The sum of my children's ages is the same as my apartment number."
The salsperson immediately declares, "That's not enough information to deduce tour kid's ages!"
The teacher continues," Well, the product of their ages is the same as my apartment number."
After taking a quick check of the apartment number, the salesperson thinks for a minute but then sighs, "That's STILL not enough information for me to figure it out."
So the teacher says,"Oh, I forgot to mention,my eldest vhild is allergic to chocolate."
At which point the salsperson exclaims,:Aha, now I know all their ages!"
What are the ages of the children?
Plz can someone find the answer?
2006-12-04 10:13:03 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
no its a math challenge i dont have the apt number and im not suppose to..if i had it i wouldve figured out the answer already.
2006-12-04 10:20:59 · update #1
I would go with Paul B's answer. It's the only combination of numbers that will work (assuming these are integers-- a good assumption!) I've seen variations like this where a chocolate allergy or something is revealed about "eldest" child in order to eliminate the possibility of triplets or older twins. In this case however, it doesn't really matter!
Answer: 1,2,3
2006-12-04 10:34:07 · answer #1 · answered by bromothymol 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first answer is right, but doesn't match the rest of the story.
There are other versions of this story, where the salesman has two choices of possible answers until the last clue is given (which tells him the oldest children cannot be twins, which eliminates one of the age combinations and leaves only one possible answer). Since the answer 1, 2, 3 works and there are no other options, the salesman would not need to ask for information and the teacher's last clue does not apply. Weird indeed!
Example:
The host at a party turned to a guest and said, "I have three daughters and I will tell you how old they are. The product of their ages is 72. The sum of their ages is my house number. How old is each?" The guest rushed to the door, looked at the house number, and informed the host that he needed more information. The host then added, "The oldest likes strawberry pudding." The guest then announced the ages of the three girls. What are the ages of the three daughters? (All of the ages are whole numbers. It is possible that they may be twins or triplets.) Explain your answer.
2006-12-04 10:29:10 · answer #2 · answered by emilynghiem 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1*2*3=6
1+2+3=6
2006-12-04 10:17:17 · answer #3 · answered by Paul B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you have the apt number?? W/o it, I can't think of a way. If you do, it could be set up as a system of equations.
x+y+z=apt number
x times y times z =the same
Then use elimination method to get two variable, and sub to get the last one.
I'll be interested to watch and see what everyone else thinks.
2006-12-04 10:19:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
try to look at the the question to see if there are any clues u can get from the wording or the way they use the words. and do some research and if u can get the ansyer tell me please because it would be really cool if u could tell me. thx
2006-12-04 10:21:29 · answer #5 · answered by Anne W 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
try not to worry about it...it wont do any good...i should know...sometimes we try our best and we still dont know...just give it all you got...sorry that i could help much! =(
2006-12-04 10:18:04 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋