Why Strawberries?
A man conducting a survey asked families the ages of children in their home. This man stumbled across an interesting house with a number written on the front door. He knocked and was greeted by a math professor who told him that he had three children, whose ages have a product of 72. The man asked him for another clue. The math professor said that the three ages of his children had a sum of the number on the front door. The man thought for a while, looked at the number again, and asked the professor for a third and final clue. The professor said, "The oldest child likes strawberries," Immediately, the man figured out the three children's ages. Assume that the man is perfectly logical and needed all three clues to find out the ages. What was the age of the oldest child?
The answer is 8.
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1 solution
1 2 36=39
1 3 24=28
1 4 18=23
1 6 12=19
1 8 9=18
2 3 12=17
2 4 9=15
1 1 72=74
2 2 18=22
3 4 6=13
3 3 8=14
2 6 6=14
These are the combinations for three numbers that have a product of 72. Only two of the products add up to the same number: 14 Therefore the only number he could have seen was 14 because if it was anything else he would have figured out.
The statement: the oldest child likes strawberries helps not because of the strawberries part, that was a red herring.
The oldest one implies that there is indeed an oldest child. Therefore it has to be 3,3, and 8 because 2,6, and 6 would have two oldest ones, changing the statement to the oldest ONES.
Therefore the age of the oldest child is 8 years old.