[deannadream]

A census taker asked a housewife how many people lived in her house and what their ages were. The housewifetold him that three daughters lived in the house, and the product of their ages was 36. She also told him that the sum of their ages was the house number of the blue house next door. The census taker left and discovered that the house number of the blue house was 13. He came back and told the housewife that he didn't have enough information. The housewife sighed and said, "My oldest daughter is sleeping upstairs." The census taker thanked her and promptly figured out the ages of all three daughters.

What are they and how did he know?

[Guest]

9,2,2. There can be 2 options with the man; either 6,6,1 or 9,2,2. But as the lady says her oldest dauther is sleeping in the room above he understands that there is jut 1 girl who is older than the rest. Hence former was his answer.

[deannadream]

9,2,2. There can be 2 options with the man; either 6,6,1 or 9,2,2. But as the lady says her oldest dauther is sleeping in the room above he understands that there is jut 1 girl who is older than the rest. Hence former was his answer.

Woah, you're good!!!

[Guest]

You are not supposed to reveal the actual house number. The beauty of the puzzle is that you don't initially know the house number. In the original problem, you are merely told that there is a house number. When you go through the possible factors, there's only 2 combinations that add up to the same value (13). So when the census taker sees the house number and still can't discern the ages, you know the house number is 13. If it were 10, or 11, or 14, he would have known the ages. The way you're currently displaying the puzzle makes it far too obvious what the solution is.

Edited July 10, 2011 by ihavenoidea

[deannadream]

oh.

[bhramarraj]

let the age of three daughters be a, b, and c.

Then according to the given conditions : a * b * c = 36 and a + b+ c = 13.

There are two combinations possible: 1,6,6; 2,2,9;

Then mother said that her oldest daughter was sleeping upstairs, which indicates she had only one daughter as oldest, so the combination 2,2,9 is correct.

Edited September 16, 2011 by bhramarraj

[bhramarraj]

let the age of three daughters be a, b, and c.

Then according to the given conditions : a * b * c = 36 and a + b+ c = 13.

There are two combinations possible: 1,6,6; 2,2,9;

Then mother said that her oldest daughter was sleeping upstairs, which indicates she had only one daughter as oldest, so the combination 2,2,9 is correct.

Sorry forgot to use spoiler.

[Guest]

9,2,2. There can be 2 options with the man; either 6,6,1 or 9,2,2. But as the lady says her oldest dauther is sleeping in the room above he understands that there is jut 1 girl who is older than the rest. Hence former was his answer.

Well there could be two 6 year olds who are nto twins - just one may be something like 6yr 1month and the other 6year 10-11month