The reward is satisfaction.

Two old friends had not seen each other for awhile and met in a restaurant. One friend decided to challenge the other with a puzzle:

  • I have 3 daughters, if you sum up their ages together, you will get the address number of this restaurant.

  • If you multiply their ages together, you will get 36.

The friend thought carefully for awhile and then said:

  • I can not answer yet because I am still missing one more clue.

The other friend then said:

  • Yes, you are right. I forgot to tell you my oldest daughter wears glasses...

The friend then gave the correct ages of all 3 girls.

What are the ages of the 3 girls? Please justify your answer, no guesses. I will tell you if it is right by

THERE IS ONLY ONE POSSIBLE UNIQUE SOLUTION/ANSWER. That is why you have to justify (explain how you arrive at) your answer.

12 years ago*

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I'm very interested to hear the answer on this one.

12 years ago
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2, 3 and 6.

The key information is that there IS an oldest daughter (the other solution is that there could be two six year old twins, and a one year old).

Of course, we are discounting the possibility that "oldest" just meant the first twin out of the hatch...

12 years ago
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That's not the answer I got. Hrmm...

Edit: Checking my math, there are 6 possible combinations with an "oldest daughter", and only one with oldest twins. Only one of these 6 possibilities is the correct one.

12 years ago
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Oops. Indeed, there are several. One, three and twelve for instance. My bad :D

12 years ago
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You're on the right track though. ^_^

12 years ago
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By that same logic (3, 3 and 6), (1, 2 and 9), (1, 1 and 36) as well as several other combinations are also possible answers.

The problem is that we don't know the address of the the restaurant, so my guess is now WE'RE missing 1 piece of information.

12 years ago
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You don't need to know the address of the restaurant...

12 years ago
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Yes. I shall boil my head :D

12 years ago
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Ok - try again:

There are 7 combinations which can make up the 36:

3,3,4
2,3,6
2,2,9
1,6,6
1,2,18
1,4,9
1,1,36

These all add up to different numbers, other than 2,2,9 and 1,6,6, which is the cause of the ambiguity. This is resolved when it is revealed that there is an "oldest" daughter, rendering the 1,6,6 invalid (assuming as above that the "oldest" daughter is not a twin, "older" by a minute or two by virtue of being first out.

Correct answer is 2,2,9?

12 years ago
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Amirite?

Sorry about the formatting fail. Every group of 3 numbers above should be separated by a line:

3,3,4

2,3,6

2,2,9

1,6,6

1,2,18

1,4,9

1,1,36

12 years ago
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only assuming someone cannot be for example 4.5 year old :D

12 years ago
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^_^

12 years ago
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But if we give the answer away here, no one else will bother with the puzzle...

12 years ago
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Hehe crazy coincidence yesterday someone gave me that puzzle although the setup was quite different, the solution is the same. Won't spoil it tho. Unless you actually were on the chat then and saw that riddle just made a different setup for it

12 years ago
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Oh, no. My dad got this while reading something.

12 years ago
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Wouldn't the friend answering already know the address number of the restaurant? If that's the case, would we not also need that information? Otherwise, all I know if there IS an oldest, and I should multiply numbers until I hit 36 (3 4 3, 6 2 3, 12 1 3, 9 2 2, etc). Assuming that two of them are twins, 3,3,4 or 2,2,9 would make more sense. If neither are, it would be 2,3,6 or 1,3,12. The only logical conclusion I can get from the glasses is two lenses that are similar = twins. I could be totally wrong, however.

EDIT: Some of what I've said has been referenced, and it appears I've missed two combinations.

12 years ago
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We don't need to know the address answer. Just know that every bit of the conversation is a hint.

12 years ago
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You don't need to know the specific address in order to reach the right answer.

Also, don't assume that there are twins. There might be twins, but it's not important. That's not the right path.

12 years ago
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If it helps...

Possible sets:

  • 1, 1, 36 (not likely)
  • 1, 2, 18 (not likely)
  • 1, 3, 12
  • 1, 4, 9
  • 1, 6, 6
  • 2, 2, 9
  • 2, 3, 6
  • 3, 3, 4 (See, I knew I missed one)

The answer can only be one of these. Which one, and why?

12 years ago
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3,3,4 as well.

EDIT: Moot point, you noticed :P

12 years ago
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Remember the first hint.

12 years ago
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Oh, I already have the answer. :-P I'm just leaving it for others to figure out.

12 years ago
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2,3 and 6 isn't it?

12 years ago
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What is your reasoning?

12 years ago
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I'm not doing your homework for you! o_O

12 years ago
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Ah, right, I see what you did there. We don't need the address? Ok. :D
But I'm too lazy right now to do even a little bit of math for that, so, yeah, will wait and see if it was right.

PS: Never mind, others did the math already- 2, 2, 9?

12 years ago
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What is your reasoning?

12 years ago
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2+2+9 = 1+6+6 = 13
Otherwise there being an oldest would be unneeded for the guy knowing the address to solve it.

For the record, I got that conclusion by looking at your possible sets post and not higher than it. :P

12 years ago
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Closed 12 years ago by Seranok.