Author
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monkeytroll
Boot
Joined: 23 Oct 2005 Posts: 33
#108 - Green - My Three Children During one of the weekly tutorials I give in basic puzzle design, one of my students arrived early and we started chating about my kids. "I think you mentioned you had three children, how old are they now?" she asked. Sensing the opportunity to give a bit of extra tuition here, I replied, "The product of their ages is 36. Oh, and the sum of their ages is this room number."
She glanced up at the door, mulled this over for a while and eventually said, "I still can't work it out with that." "You're absolutely right. Did I mention that my youngest daughter has blue eyes?" I said helpfully. And with that, she'd worked it out. Can you figure out how old my children are?
Puzzle set by Anna.
Unable to scan, background shows Anna and student in the room, but no number visible on door. The puzzle is written in a font similar to StudlyCaps, but only size of letters changes not the case - and is consistent, eg. all lower case e's are the same size as Capitals.(sorry, I expect someone knows the name of this font, but not me)
Map shows Aurora Lane, Sidney Lane, Free Flow and Anthro Replication building.
Grand Frederik's Station.
Grand Frederik's Station is the new central hub for rail and subway transportation in Perplex City. From the air, the station has a wasp-like shape with a black climate-controlled semipermeable roof and two transparent retractable wings for shelter against weather.
_________________"I have not failed. I've just found ten thousand ways that don't work." Thomas Edison (unless he stole it from Tesla)
Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:55 pm
Kvasir
Boot
Joined: 15 Oct 2005 Posts: 48
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Not entirely sure about this but...
36 = 2*2*9 = 3*3*4 = 3*6*2 = 6*6*1 = 4*9*1
The sums of these products are 13, 10, 11, 13, and 14.
The only sum to appear more than once is 13, so they must have been in room 13 or she couldn't have not known the answer.
Of the two age sets which add up to 13 only one of the options could have a single "youngest daughter": 6*6*1
Please don't argue about how even with twins born seconds apart one is always the youngest....
Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:46 pm
European Chris
Unfictologist
Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 1264 Location: London's trendy Whitechapel
Blue eyes? i don't understand that part.
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 8:29 pm
QuadsChick
Boot
Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 38 Location: Richmond, VA, USA
"youngest daughter" is the part to pay attention to, he just threw in blue eyes
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 10:58 pm
European Chris
Unfictologist
Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 1264 Location: London's trendy Whitechapel
Of course [doing the spaz noise] durrhhhgggg [/doing the spaz noise]
_________________
http://www.hayfestival.com/archive/2006/05/blasphemy-debate.aspx
The internet, giving the entire world a license to opine, since 1989.
http://littleatoms.com/
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 11:28 pm
robspot
Boot
Joined: 28 Nov 2005 Posts: 17 Location: Bournemouth, UK
I have a different take on the blue eyes part
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Apparently all babys' eyes are a blue-grey colour up to about 12 months when they change to whatever colour they will be for the rest of their life. Therefore the youngest daughter is at most 1 year old
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:35 pm
pharzo
Boot
Joined: 27 Nov 2005 Posts: 13
robspot wrote:
I have a different take on the blue eyes part
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Apparently all babys' eyes are a blue-grey colour up to about 12 months when they change to whatever colour they will be for the rest of their life. Therefore the youngest daughter is at most 1 year old
That's doesn't quite work though...
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
There are multiple groupings that could fit that description then. 1 1 36, 1 2 18, 1 3 12, 1 4 9. This is quite a famous puzzle, and the so called "trick" is the youngest daughter clue.
Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:40 pm
Wowbagger
Boot
Joined: 22 Aug 2005 Posts: 69 Location: Leafy Surrey, UK
robspot wrote:
I have a different take on the blue eyes part
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Apparently all babys' eyes are a blue-grey colour up to about 12 months when they change to whatever colour they will be for the rest of their life. Therefore the youngest daughter is at most 1 year old
Not so sure why this is spoilerised, but *shrug*
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Most of the time a baby will have developed its permanent eye colour by 6 months, although it will often get darker after this. It would be rare for a baby to completely change as late as 12 months. And of course this only applies to Caucasian babies! I agree it's an interesting take though.
Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:13 pm
Bluzu
Boot
Joined: 28 Nov 2005 Posts: 11
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Can confirm Kvasir is correct 1 6 6
Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 7:35 pm
Escapist
Boot
Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 14 Location: Guernsey
That's stupid...
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
what about non-identical twins?
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 4:36 pm
Telumehtar
Greenhorn
Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3
Kvasir wrote:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Of the two age sets which add up to 13 only one of the options could have a single "youngest daughter": 6*6*1
Perhaps I'm being slow this afternoon, but...
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Why can't 2*2*9 have a youngest daughter? One daughter of 2 and one of 9?
Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 11:13 am
duckiemonster
Unfettered
Joined: 10 Dec 2005 Posts: 554 Location: Oxford, UK
Why the answer is what the answer is, apart from the maths bit :
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
On card #24, we learn that Anna has twin boys. In the picture there's also a baby.
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:56 am
MentalMan
Kilroy
Joined: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 2 Location: San Jose, Ca.
But on her website www.perplexcityacademy.com/ah328451/aboutme.html we learn her twin boys are just now in school, and her daughter, eva, is 2yo.
But then it's possible that at the time of the writing of this card, eva was only 1yo. How the heck do we know what room number she is in?
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:46 am
Grizy
Veteran
Joined: 19 Nov 2005 Posts: 89 Location: Preston, UK
The student knows the room number.
She also knows the product of the kids ages is 36.
She does the maths (finds the factors of 36).
By declaring that she still can't work it out she indicates that there are two sets of factors that add up to the room number.
Then Anna gives her the final clue.
Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:13 pm
wizzsteve2
Boot
Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 52 Location: The Murder Scene
can i have a confirmed answer plz ive tried:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
2 2 9 and 1 1 6
Note: Just realised what i did lol
_________________Love is the Red, The Rose, On you coffin door, WHats life like bleeding on the Floor?
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:55 pm
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