Puzzler worthy of Car Talk

[pokerfan]

No fair googling the answer...

A census taker knocks on a door and asks the woman inside how many children she has and how old they are.

"I have three daughters, their ages are whole numbers and the product of their ages is 36," the mother answers.

"That's not enough information," replies the census-taker.

"I could tell you the sum of their ages but you'd still be stumped."

"I wish you'd tell me something more."

"Okay, my oldest daughter Annie likes chocolate."

[rug]

1. It's the carburetor.

[struggle4progress]

13. Well, I just tried that, and I don't think carburetors really like chocolate much

At least, mine doesn't. Do you know how to get the chocolate back out?

[rug]

16. Put the gear in reverse.

[jobycom]

2. I googled the answer.

Oh well. :)

[Deep13]

3. 2-yr.-old twins, 9.

[Dr Morbius]

20. That works as well as my answer below, a 4 yr old and twins at age 3. (nt)

[EOTE]

4. I don't know the answer yet, but I think I know how to figure it out.

I'm guessing the pertinent piece of information is this "I could tell you the sum of their ages but you'd still be stumped." So I'm guessing you have to find all the appropriate groups of three whose products would equal 36 and one of the results should be listed at least twice. That would most likely be the correct answer.

On edit: Is it 3,3&4?
2nd edit: Looks like Deep13 is right. 13 can be formed by 2,2,9 or 1,6,6. However, I would think that 1,6,6 could also be correct as it's possible to have two 6 year old daughters of different ages.

[pokerfan]

6. remember the third clue

My oldest...

[EOTE]

7. Why couldn't one of the 6 year old daughters be the oldest?

I know it's unlikely, but a family could have two daughters, both 6, and one of them be almost a year older.

[pokerfan]

9. What is this, Wasilla?

:)

[EOTE]

11. Hey, it happens.

It may most frequently appear on the Springer show, but I've known families with siblings separated by less than a year. I'd imagine some of the Duggars are separated by less than a year.

[pokerfan]

12. There's also adoption to consider, I suppose

:shrug:

[Richardo]

5. 6, 3 and 2

If there were twins she'd have said "My older daughter"

[pokerfan]

8. But 6. 3 and 2 results in a unique sum

So providing the sum wouldn't have stumped the census-taker.

[Richardo]

10. Yes - basing the answer on the mother's grammar is the wrong approach

:D

[Twillig]

14. got it!

If I'm wrong, I'll be gone for a couple days..

[RandomThoughts]

15. Will you be out having a beer?

if that is a case, that is a good argument for being wrong :)

[Twillig]

18. I'm having a beer(s) right now,

but my paper and pencil calculations tell me I'll be posting nonsense tomorrow if I find something
that catches my interest.

The second clue and the third are important to my hypothesis.

But, if my peechee was lying about the multiplication tables I'm screwn.

:toast:

[RandomThoughts]

21. I think I know your hypothesis.

Win or lose does not effect anything, in my view, but I understand that doctrine. If you check after presidential primaries you can see a similar event without those reasons, a long pause after a big win. The pausing is not win/loss related, that is thinking in terms of games.


And glad you got a beer :)

AC/DC - Thunderstruck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvoeeq-BH4w

[Duer 157099]

17. Was this census taker carrying a gun?

Probably not

[Dr Morbius]

19. A four year old and two three-year old twins.

3 x 3 x 4 = 36.

I didn't google this, I just thought about it for a minute.

[pokerfan]

22. but would providing the sum of those ages still leave the census-taker stumped?

That's the key to the second clue: "I'd tell you the sum of their ages but you'd still be stumped."

[Dr Morbius]

24. Well, based on your question, apparently I've given the wrong answer even though it fits.

So I must admit I don't know.

After a moment, I realized that 9, 4, and 1 also work. The product is 36; their combined ages are 14. But I still don't see why that would stump the census worker.

[pokerfan]

27. it wouldn't

The clue is that providing the sum would still stump the census-taker implying that the sum is not unique to that set of ages.

[EOTE]

29. I think the "correct" answer is 2, 2 and 9.

The reason being that of all the combinations of 3 whose product is 36, only 2,2,9 and 6,6,1 produces a sum that is not unique (13). So, you could assume that he knew it was either 2,2,9 or 6,6,1 when he informed the mother that he didn't have enough information. When she said that her oldest daughter likes chocolate, he could have to assume that it's 2,2,9 rather than 6,6,1 because she used the term "oldest". I'd argue that 6,6,1 would still work as the mother could have two six year old daughters with one being the oldest (technically, one sibling would be the oldest no matter what the circumstances).

[Dr Morbius]

30. Thank you!

Such puzzles annoy me because they confound me. They should be really simple and yet aren't. Thanks, now I can clear this from my head.

[RagAss]

23. Colonel Mustard with the candlestick in the study.

[RandomThoughts]

25. Ha! That is great.

:rofl:

Well said!!!!!!!


AC/DC - Thunderstruck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvoeeq-BH4w

[Ikonoklast]

26. Fix It Again, Tony.

Either that, or it's Lucas Electrics.

[pokerfan]

28. Feeble Italian Attempt at Transportation

I met a guy that owned a Fiat and asked him if he knew what FIAT stood for. He rolled his eyes, expecting the usual joke but I was able to surprise him with that one.

I used to drive a Big Ugly Indestructible Car Killer but now I drive the The One You Ought To Avoid.

[Ikonoklast]

31. I will admit, only under duress, that at one time I owned a FIAT 128.

Damn thing would eat batteries with reckless abandon due to a charging system that wasn't designed to produce electricity, for some strange reason, so I just gave up and push-started it every time.

There was usually enough juice to flash the field and get spark going, and I just ran the thing like it was a total-loss system.

It was always nice to have a slight grade to park on, so when it was time to go, I only needed a few good steps, jump in, pop the clutch, and trundle away.

I will say one thing a about the power plant in that POS, it was almost indestructible. The rest of it was made out of parmesan cheese.

[baldguy]

32. It only works if the answer is 2.