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SOLVE THIS Age Puzzle.......

CMA. CS. Sanjay Gupta ("PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN") (114225 Points)

05 May 2010

Mathematics Age Puzzle

At a census there is the following dialog:

Field helper: number of children?

Citizen: three!

Field helper: age of Your children in whole numbers?

Citizen: The product of the years is 36.

Field helper: This not a sufficent answer!

Citizen: The sum of the ages equals the

number of our house.

(Field helper acquires the number.)

Field helper: That is still not a sufficient answer!

Citizen: Our eldest child plays the piano.

Field helper: (after some mental calculations) – Fine, now I know the age of your three children. But it would not have been possible without the last clue.

How old are the three children?

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31 Replies

GAYATHRI RAM (CA FINAL) (94 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

ONLY IF U GIVE ME THE NUMBER OF THE HOUSE.. I'L BE ABLE TO TELL U THE ANSWER

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Anil Sharma (Accounts Officer) (62 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

three childern ages are: 9, 12, 15 yrs

Anil Sharma 9990887515

CMA. CS. Sanjay Gupta ("PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN") (114225 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

GAYATRI JEE THAT'S THE TRICK..........ANYBODY WILL BE ABLE TO TEEL AFTER GETTING THE HOUSE NO.......TRY U CAN SOLVE THIS....

CMA. CS. Sanjay Gupta ("PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN") (114225 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

ANIL JI PLEASE TELL ME HOW COME THE PRODUCT OF 9,12 & 15 IS 36.

9*12*15=1620. YOUR ANSWER IS WRONG.

rohit jain (------) (28 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

ur ans is 2,3,6

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CMA. CS. Sanjay Gupta ("PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN") (114225 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

ROHIT JI YOUR ANSWER IS NOT CORRECT. PLEASE GIVE LOGIC FOR YOUR ANSWER........

WHY IT CANT BE 3,3,4 OR 9,4,1 OR 18,2,1 ETC

Anil Sharma (Accounts Officer) (62 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

Sanjay Ji,

It's not product. As per Citizen reply :"The sum of the ages equals the

number of our house."

and the sum of 9+12+15 = 36

Anil Sharma

Mukesh Katara (Account manager) (533 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

36 = 2^2 x 3^2. If one considers also the one year olds, then there are the following combinations:

1st 2nd 3rd sum
1 1 36 38
1 2 18 21
1 3 12 16
1 4 9 14
1 6 6 13
2 2 9 13
2 3 6 11
3 3 4 10

Only in case of sum 13 there are 2 combinations so we need another hint. But there is an oldest child only if the family has 2 years old twins and a 9 years old child.

Maheshwari

1 Like

CMA. CS. Sanjay Gupta ("PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN") (114225 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

WELL DONE DEAR............YOUR ANSWER IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT...............

LAST HINT WAS MOST IMPORTANT......

Amir (Learner) (4016 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

Hi Sir,

Nice question...........!

I couldn't linked the answer with the no. of houses & piano clue....but I think answer is 6 yrs, 3 yrs & 2 yrs.....

Dear Anil sir,

I think u slightly misread the question it says the product of the ages is 36 & not the sum of ages....:)

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GAYATHRI RAM (CA FINAL) (94 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

Maheswari Mam had given so many combos,.. but then my doubt is that why should we consider the other two as twins?.. how does this gets justified?

Punit Tibrewal (student ) (1684 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

the answer by maheshwari is correct

1 Like

CA Naveen Kumar Agrawal (Chartered Accountant) (36 Points)
Replied 05 May 2010

Originally posted by : Amir
	Hi Sir, Nice question...........! I couldn't linked the answer with the no. of houses & piano clue....but I think answer is 6 yrs, 3 yrs & 2 yrs..... Dear Anil sir, I think u slightly misread the question it says the product of the ages is 36 & not the sum of ages....:)