How Many Were Going To Saint Ives?
As I was going to Saint Ives,
I crossed the path of seven wives.
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kittens,
Kittens, cats, sacks, wives,
How many were going to Saint Ives?
No one has confirmed a correct answer here and I think part of it is based on interpretation. The guy "crossed the path" of 7 wives who could've been heading to St. Ives also. Sacks are inanimate objects so they don't count. So 7 wives x 7 cats x 7 kittens = 343 + the guy going to St. Ives who is telling the story is 1 which equals 343 + 1 = 344 were going to St. Ives and I'm not counting sacks. How you view "crossed the path" can really change the answer in this riddle.
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Guest Message by DevFuse
Best Answer unreality , 12 September 2007 - 02:36 AM
It is 1
you are PASSING those ppl.. you are the ONLY person going from X to St Ives, they are going from St Ives to X
this is an old one... saw it in the Moscow Puzzles, i think, a while ago (i love that book)
Go to the full post 
48 replies to this topic
#42
joekemon
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Posted 28 August 2011 - 05:34 PM
it is 1 if those people are coming from st ives (me) or, if those people are going to st ives then it is 70 + 71 + 72+ 73+ 74 = 1 + 7 + 49 + 343 + 2041 = 2801
#43
thoughtfulfellow
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Posted 30 August 2011 - 07:17 AM
The original riddle was "As I was going to St. Ives I met a man with seven wives,
Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits: kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives? " this poem is traceable back to a first publication of 1730 and St Ives is a village in Cornwall, England. I guess someone in recent history chose to remove the polygamy concept from the poem and changed "met" to "crossed the path" to keep the poetic meter (or metre sice this was a British poem) of the original. Yes, For anyone wanting confirmation, the answer is one, regardless of the amount of desire to rationalize a difficult solution. The real questions are: 1. Since the village was so remote and rarely visited except by sea until late 1800's with railroads, why were so many using land trails? 2. How did he know the number of cats and kittens inside the sacks? 3. Where was SPCA and PETA and other animal rights groups? (had to be inhumane conditions in those sacks!. 4. If you wanted to count those in the other direction, cats, kittens and sacks should not count, if I met a man when out walking and he was walking 7 dogs, I would not report that I met 8, but rather 5. Hopefully, this ends the topic to everyones satisfaction so we can get back to more current logic puzzles.
Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits: kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives? " this poem is traceable back to a first publication of 1730 and St Ives is a village in Cornwall, England. I guess someone in recent history chose to remove the polygamy concept from the poem and changed "met" to "crossed the path" to keep the poetic meter (or metre sice this was a British poem) of the original. Yes, For anyone wanting confirmation, the answer is one, regardless of the amount of desire to rationalize a difficult solution. The real questions are: 1. Since the village was so remote and rarely visited except by sea until late 1800's with railroads, why were so many using land trails? 2. How did he know the number of cats and kittens inside the sacks? 3. Where was SPCA and PETA and other animal rights groups? (had to be inhumane conditions in those sacks!. 4. If you wanted to count those in the other direction, cats, kittens and sacks should not count, if I met a man when out walking and he was walking 7 dogs, I would not report that I met 8, but rather 5. Hopefully, this ends the topic to everyones satisfaction so we can get back to more current logic puzzles.
#44
Amiab
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Posted 02 September 2011 - 05:07 AM
John McClane is asked this riddle in Die Hard With a Vengeance. Good Movie too.
#45
beryong27
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Posted 06 September 2011 - 11:49 AM
Spoiler for Asnwer
[spoiler='']400[/spoiler]
#46
Jungleboy
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Posted 21 October 2011 - 07:46 AM
Only one person was going to Saint Ives.
If he or she crossed the path of the seven wives, then the kittens, cats, sacks, and wives were all going in a different direction
If he or she crossed the path of the seven wives, then the kittens, cats, sacks, and wives were all going in a different direction
#47
johnpatrick20
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Posted 08 December 2011 - 09:53 AM
Only one, cause you just saw them.
#49
joef1000
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Posted 15 December 2012 - 11:23 PM
1 or 2801. It's all down to interpretation of who's going TO st Ives and who's coming FROM st ives.
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