Math puzzle

[TheRic]

Tom already know there are three children, and about knows how old they are, since he asks "Hello John, how old are your three children now?" At least I think he would remember that there are twins, if he remembers that there are three. I would think he would also remember if the twins were older or young than the third. He probably has an idea on how long it's been since he knew their ages.

1+ 1+ 36 = 38
1+ 6+ 6 = 13
2+ 2+ 9 = 13
3+ 3+ 4 = 10

Since this would be the only possible combinations of twins (unless I miss one) he could have figured out from the first part how old they were: "Well, if you multiply their ages together you get 36......"

[radhak]

Unfortunately, that's what makes the puzzle flawed and, ultimately, a failure. There are two entirely legitimate, possibly correct answers. One twin always is older than the other, and this would make him the oldest of three children (grammar again). Even if one twin is considered the same age in years on the calendar, it doesn't preclude him being the actual oldest child of these three. And six-year-olds are old enough to play piano.

I'm sure the author of the puzzle intended 2, 2, and 9 to be the only possible correct answer, but ... he blew it.

Now we are getting into the pedantic plane... ...but two six year olds are always called 'same age', even if not twins, so we could allow that much of a latitude...

[LarryG]

two six year olds are always called 'same age', even if not twins, so we could allow that much of a latitude...

That's exactly my point, though: a logic puzzle must be flawless. No latitude. No loopholes, not even of the smallest kind.

Ric raises a good point, too. Better than mine, actually.

[Russianwolf]

Now we are getting into the pedantic plane... ...but two six year olds are always called 'same age', even if not twins, so we could allow that much of a latitude...

And if you want to get REALLY technical, if they are identical twins, they were conceived at the same moment and thus would be the exact same age regardless of which was "Birthed" first.

If they are Fraternal, the older could actually be "birthed" second and be both the oldest AND youngest of the two.

[Russianwolf]

And just to open up a whole other can of worms, what if the ages are:

18 months, 18 months and 16 years?

[LarryG]

Or along the same lines ...

Oldest is 6 years old, and his 7th birthday is tomorrow.

Middle is 6 years old, and his 6th birthday was yesterday.

Youngest is 1 year old, birthday doesn't matter.

[vaking]

One more problematic part with the puzzle:
Presume answer is 6;6;1.
John is Tom's OLD teacher, Tom knows John has 3 children, youngest child is 1 year old. When did Tom stop being John's student? The problem exists to a lesser degree if the answer is 9,2,2 but still exists. At least one child was born while Tom was a student, more likely twins were born and Tom stopped being a student within the last 2 years. Description "Old teacher" does not fit, Tom has no reason to be puzzled at all. So in my opinion the problem has no adequate solution.

[LCHIEN]

IMO there's some of you that are nit-picking, poor loser, lawyer wannabes who just can't stand it that someone got it right and you did not. You know who you are!
Accept that Radhak got it right first and you missed the easy clues.
Stop making excuses.

[gsmittle]

That soft "pop" you just heard was my brain exploding...

g.

[JR]

IMO there's some of you that are nit-picking, poor loser, lawyer wannabes who just can't stand it that someone got it right and you did not. You know who you are!

That would be me, if only I was smarter.

When I saw these questions:
How old are the three children?
What number is on the bus?

I thought, surely, obviously, the answer must be, "Who cares?"

Then i saw all those other other clever solutions and realized how wrong I was. This has been a week of facing hard reality for me. It has just about put the cherry on the cake, to realize I will never reach the lofty height of nit-picking, poor loser, lawyer wannabe.


JR

[TheRic]

One more problematic part with the puzzle:
Presume answer is 6;6;1.
John is Tom's OLD teacher, Tom knows John has 3 children, youngest child is 1 year old. When did Tom stop being John's student? The problem exists to a lesser degree if the answer is 9,2,2 but still exists. At least one child was born while Tom was a student, more likely twins were born and Tom stopped being a student within the last 2 years. Description "Old teacher" does not fit, Tom has no reason to be puzzled at all. So in my opinion the problem has no adequate solution.

"Old" can be either in age of teacher, "old" as in the past. John could have taught Tom 8 years ago, and Tom could still be in school. Math taught could have been Grade School, High School, College, private tutoring.

IMO there's some of you that are nit-picking, poor loser, lawyer wannabes who just can't stand it that someone got it right and you did not. You know who you are!
Accept that Radhak got it right first and you missed the easy clues.
Stop making excuses.

An engineer comes up with a logic puzzle with holes in it. And you don't expect us to nitpick it. The shoe is on the other foot now!!!


Oh and congratulations Radhak!!!

[gerti]

And technically, even if the twins WERE the oldest, one of them would have been first-born, so "the oldest plays the piano" could still be true.

How about twins delivered by Caesarian? They see the light of day at the same time if they weren't blinking...

[cabinetman]

I caught this thread too late, and missed the action. The question seemed like it could be off of a Mensa test.
.

[Black wallnut]

How about twins delivered by Caesarian? They see the light of day at the same time if they weren't blinking...

We've been there done that and the birth interval is one minute, actually and officially.

[jseklund]

Shouldn't we all be off woodworking?

Do we need to apply this logic to woodworking?

If I have an Octagon and one angle is...nevermind.