[Guest]

Joe and Frank get together at Joe’s home. Joe says” I have three daughters. The product of their ages is 36 and the sum of their ages is the house street number across the yard – what are their ages?”. Frank peers thru the window, clearly sees the number of the house across the yard and says “I don’t have sufficient information” . Joe says” Your right, I forgot to mention that my oldest daughter has blue eyes”. Frank says, “Thanks, that is just the info I needed”

What are their ages?

[Guest]

Joe and Frank get together at Joe’s home. Joe says” I have three daughters. The product of their ages is 36 and the sum of their ages is the house street number across the yard – what are their ages?”. Frank peers thru the window, clearly sees the number of the house across the yard and says “I don’t have sufficient information” . Joe says” Your right, I forgot to mention that my oldest daughter has blue eyes”. Frank says, “Thanks, that is just the info I needed”

What are their ages?

3, 3, and 4. The 2 youngest are twins and have a different eye color than blue.

Edited January 15, 2009 by middas

[Prof. Templeton]

8 possible age combinations

1,1,36

1,2,18

1,3,12

1,4,9

1,6,6

2,2,9

2,3,6

3,3,4

of these only 1,6,6 and 2,2,9 have the same sum. Since a third clue was needed this eliminates all the other sums that are not the same. Only one child is the oldest so the ages must be 2,2, and 9

[Guest]

3, 3, and 4. The 2 youngest are twins and have a different eye color than blue.

Sorry Midas, 2,2,9 also have the two youngest twins, see Prof Templeton's answer - he got it right!

[Jiminy Cricket]

8 possible age combinations

1,1,36

1,2,18

1,3,12

1,4,9

1,6,6

2,2,9

2,3,6

3,3,4

of these only 1,6,6 and 2,2,9 have the same sum. Since a third clue was needed this eliminates all the other sums that are not the same. Only one child is the oldest so the ages must be 2,2, and 9

Wow, a similar one to this was just posted and I commented how it reminded me of a variant of this one!

Good job, Prof. T!

[Prof. Templeton]

My daugter is the "oldest" of my twin children and she has blue eyes. I made some assumptions with my answer.