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Riddle.

First to correctly solve the riddle wins! (+gets rep whoohoo!)

I am doing a survey on children’s ages in my village. A woman in my village is very private, and will only tell me that she has 3 sons, and that the product of their age is 36.

This was not enough information to work out their ages, so I asked for more.

She told me that the sum of their ages is equal to the house number of her neighbour. I went to see what number house it was, but this still didn’t help me.

Finally she told me that her eldest son plays the violin. 🎻

What are the three sons ages?

Please no cheating !
Reply 1
2, 2 and 9.
This is because the product of these numbers is 36, 9 would be the oldest son.
36 = 2^2 * 3^2
Possible ages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 36
Since we need to multiply three numbers, the possibilities are as follows:
1*1*36 = 36, sum = 38
1*2*18 = 36, sum = 21
1*3*12 = 36, sum = 16
1*4*9 = 36, sum = 14
1*6*6 = 36, sum = 13
2*2*9 = 36, sum = 13
2*3*6 = 36, sum = 11
3*3*4 = 36, sum = 10

The only repeated sum is 13 (looking at the neighbor's house would not give you one answer)
Eldest implies superlative, so I'd assume the answer is 2/2/9

Anyways, why is this woman so cryptic and reluctant to give you a straight answer? I can only imagine the horrible parenting that must come with that kind of person...
(edited 6 years ago)
Products of 36= 1,2,3,4,6,9,12,18,36
1,2,18 (neighbour lives at 21)
1,3,12 (neighbour lives at 16)
1,4,9 (neighbour lives at 14)
1,6,6 (neighbour lives at 13)
2,2,9 (neighbour lives at 13)
2,3,6 (neighbour lives at 11)
:confused: what have I missed?
One can learn to play violin at any age, but the optimal age is the first nine years. Doesn't say he's learning though.
13 isn't normally a house number because it's unlucky. :fyi:

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