A logic problem by Finn C
"How many children do you have, and how old are they?" asked the guest, a mathematics teacher.
"I have three boys," said Mr. Smith. "The product of their ages is 72, and the sum of their ages, is the street number, which is 14." Mr. Smith continued saying "I hope the oldest boy wins the Stanford maths competition."
What are the ages of the boys?
Note: Present your answer, like, say their ages are 1, 6, 7, you'd make the answer 167 starting from the lowest number, to the highest number.
The answer is 338.
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1 solution
Moderator note:
Simple standard approach (for this variant of the problem).
The only sets of three numbers thats sum is 14, and product is 72, are 3, 3, 8, and 2, 6, 6. Given that the problem says " the oldest boy wins the Stanford maths competition, implying their is one older boy.
Therefore, the answer is 338.